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The Filth and the Fury - A Sex Pistols Film

The Filth and the Fury - A Sex Pistols Film

List Price: $19.98
Your Price: $15.98
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A solid movie
Review: This is an outstanding film, even if you happen to hate the music. John Lydon's narrative is full of wit, wisdom, humor and pathos, and the pacing of the film is outstanding. I particularly like it where someone will recite a Pistols' myth, and then Lydon will set the record straight with something much more mundane. Also, I didn't know the music was dubbed over the film until I read a review, so don't even worry about that, it works fine. Oh yes, the music is great by the way. There was a reason for the Pistols popularity besides social history.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: a good documentary
Review: Before i saw this film, all i knew about the Sex Pistols was what i heard from the albums Bollocks and R&R swindle, and some stories here and there that seem mostly exaggerated to fit them into some legendary punk rock god status.

So, for me, this movie was very interesting. The thing that is most interesting about it is that it seems to document both the birth and death of the entire Punk Rock spirit as it existed in England all in 100 minutes.

The whole "story" is told very simply and as clearly as it can be. We see a small group of people having fun and expressing themselves in new ways grow into a very large group of people who buy into the whole "look and feel" of the movement as a trend, and through it all, we get anecdotes about how the members of the Sex Pistols fit into the whole thing... from their first gig to the very last.. all the way to the death of Sid.

I think anyone interested in music would enjoy this movie. I don't mind that the concert footage is overdubbed, or that the songs are interrupted with "chatter" as one reviewer stated. After all, that "chatter" is why i bought the movie in the first place. I knew i wasn't buying a concert film.

But, it would be very cool to have another film comprised of nothing but that concert footage uninterrupted, and without musical overdubs as a companion dvd.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: if you like the pistols you won't like this DVD
Review: the director julien temple didn't understand what a great band the sex pistols were. he had all this great film-material of the pistols live-performances. what did he do? he wripped it all apart. every song is permanently interrupted by some footage that is supposed to illustrate some part of the pistols history. you have the pistols playing a song and after the first chorus it cuts to some actors in an old play or a tv-show with comedians. it is really annoying. this film is more about the director trying to be creative and illustrating his associations with absurd metaphors than about the band the sex pistols. it seems one more example of some filmmakers thinking the only thing interesting about a band is a whole lot of unknown music-journalists talking about them. how sad! the footage of the pistols on stage looks like it's great. why didn't they show the footage. why didn't they have them play their songs from the beginning to the end??

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?
Review: After 20+ years you would've thought Temple could have made a film without rehashing swindle. 99% of the footage has been seen before, the only new stuff is the interviews carried out in pitch darkness - probably sounded good in theory, in reality it is profoundly dull.

No complete performances, overdubbed music, endless footage of council flats, endless rehashed footage from Swindle. A complete and utter wasted opportunity.

Ever get the feelin you've been cheated?

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Chatter vs Music
Review: For years I'd waited for a great Sex Pistols movie, without the Swindle-like [stuff]. Now Julien Temple gives us another look at the great band...

I tell you why I am dissatisfied with this new movie. I'd expected to see the band in performing, in their energy (what they were all about), but not sitting in the chairs telling how it was. (You really want to know how it all was? just pick up either "The Sex Pistols Inside" or Rotten's book.)

You get here no complete song performed, each performance is interrupted with interviews and Temple's morbid humor. What's more, all the "live perfomances" are overdubbed and lose their feel. Ha, it would go well with Biography channel.

The only good thing about this movie is that there are some rary shots and funny episodes.

Thus, this is almost as horrible as "Swindle...", though without McLaren's paranoia. I only wonder if there'd be a perfectly good movie.

So if you need chatter rather than music, this is it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A raw and honest film
Review: This is a great film on an interesting cultural subject -- The Sex Pistols! I remember seeing the Sex Pistols documentary 'DOA' in the early eighties. This was another great Sex Pistols film, but TF&F takes an even closer look at the Pistols.

I don't know why the decision was made to do the silhouetted interviews with the surviving Pistols, however. Were they being shy and timid? Unlikely.. John Lydon's sarcasm and wit are so enjoyable that we must hope he continues to never like anything or anybody in the future.

Purchase the DVD and enjoy. Show the non-believers that musical integrity does/did exist and not every puff musician is a bought and sold commodity.. Can you really believe what they call 'Punk Rock" these day! Bollocks! "Thank you" Sex Pistols!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: a great documentary
Review: as a true sex pistols fan, i really enjoyed that movie when i first saw it at the movies. But, there there is one thing that could've make it better. All the songs are pasted on the performances from Nevermind the Bollocks except a few ones. The original sound must've been in really bad shape if Temple had to do that. But frankly, that's all that's negative about it, the rest is very good and any sex pistols fan with self-esteem must see this, trust me.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Ultimate Rockumentary!
Review: WARNING: This documentary is loud, crass and in-your-face. Sex Pistols fans will love it! Love 'em or hate 'em, the Pistols had a huge impact on music which is still being felt 25 years later. Bands like Nirvana simply would never have existed without their example. Culled from hours of interviews and concert footage, this is as close as you can get to the reality that was punk rocks' ultimate bad boys. Just watching this gives a real feeling of the energy, angst and ultimately, the doom which the band came to. In a particularly telling clip of Sid, an interviewer asks him: "Where do you want to be?" to which he responds: "Underground." He got his wish and so did the band. The no holds barred look at this time in history in England gives an inciteful 'Why' to their over-amped 'How.' The surviving members are shown in silouette throughout and give commentary which helps explain the phases that they went through before imploding in San Francisco circa January of '78. Their manager--- Malcolm McLaren is exposed as the exploitative svengali who made money while the band more or less starved during their prime. Overall, a very rounded portrait of a very important band. Not to be missed by fans of this genre.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Filth review
Review: The film was a documentary on the Sex Pistols. They were the start of the punk era in
Europe. They started the whole sene and even started riots at shows.
I didn't care to much for the film but it did show music and how it influences its
followers. To really enjoy this movie you have to have a knowledge of the Sex Pistols to
understand it fully. I am sure that if you were a fan of them that you would enjoy this film. It
also was hard to understand their English. You had to listen real close to understand what they
were saying. I would highly recommend this film to people that like or even know a little bit
about the band. Otherwise I would not recommend it to others.
I couldn't identify with any of the characters because they were the opposite of me. They
were hard partying musicians. They were rude and dressed in torn clothes. But I could identify
with their being (upset) at how the world was treating them.
I think the message in the film of teen culture was that you can be anything you want.
That you don't have to sct a certain way if you don't want to. It gave teens a difference between
their parents which is needed to "find yourself." It is a good point in the movie but it is difficult
to pay attention to the movie to understand the message. I think that other movies have stressed
this message a little better than this one just because they are an older band and aren't as
relevant as they once were.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: The Sex Pistols
Review: I truly enjoyed this film. I first heard the Sex Pistols a few years ago becuase my best friend is obssesed with them. If you enjoy the Sex Pistols then you will enjoy this film. It is a movie for fans really, it would not be a good introduction to the band. Or if you enjoy punk rock but haven't heard the Sex Pistols then this would be good. The accents are difficult to follow occasionally but in general it flows well.
Some of the best parts of this movie are the live concert footage. I've not seen many good representations of punk shows on film and these all were excellent. I also like how much time was spent showing the audience, each of them as individuals. I just loved seeing all the kids out there with their mohawks and leather. Its really very much a documentary of the rise of the youth culture in Britan. Punk is a culture within itself and this film documents that rise in England. Also the audience is always being shown as nice, not as scary people like punks are often shown. It sends a message that the punk youth culture is not a bad group of people. The movie gives a very positive image of the youth culture becuase mostly only the band is outrageous.
I feel the film really captures the realities of teenage youth culture as a punk in England in the late 70's. The movie is still relevant today becuase the culture is still thriving tody and its a documentary of its roots. Its an excellent film that anyone with an appreciation for punk culture will enjoy.


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