Product: Filth to Fury [VHS]
Rating: 5.0
visually filthy lucre...essential viewing
this film shows exactly why the sex pistols were and still are one of the scariest, yet smartest, bands to ever exist. rare film footage shows them performing for audiences that at times do not know what to do to this new music called punk, other times they begin the punk protocol of slam dancing, spitting, etc. john lydon, mr. rotten to you, is the voice most heard here, and he tells things the way they really were (does he know any other way? hell no), and his candor is refreshing: genuine passion for an art form that he helped create, and genuine disgust for the movement of punk (stating that when the rich kids started punk fashion it began to die, since punk was never a 'fashion' but a statement and a style). he also surprised me by showing real emotion for john ritchie, the bass player known to all of us as sid vicious. the perpetually strung-out, image conscious, there-for-the-ride, clueless bass player still strikes a chord in lydon's heart, and i could swear i hear a tear from lydon. the tensions within the band are also documented very well: were they malcolm mclaren's trained seals or a genuine rock band? towards the end you can tell that lydon, in film clips and recent interview, feels they were there for the delight of mclaren's ego, nothing more. 'exist to strike controversy, nothing more'. lydon is too smart for that junk, and it's fitting that the final clip of the movie is him telling a san francisco audience 'ever have the feeling you've been cheated?' after singing 'no fun' for 15 minutes, then walking off in disgust . apparently lydon did. but watching this will leave you exhilarated, making you realize that all the 'punk' bands out there now are really as dangerous as britney spears. it's all cookie-cutter now; looking at this film will make you realize that the myth and legend behind this band is the real deal.