Product: Filth to Fury [VHS]
Rating: 2.0
Finally Canned the Whirlwind
After that funereal Pistols reunion, only thing missing from the glass exhibition case was a "rockumentary". Here it is, kids: a shiny lead pin through the heart of this terrible butterfly. Doesn't it look dainty on our parlor wall?Nice the way Temple trimmed all the ambiguities and extremities out of the Pistols' story: They were (pencils ready, class?) an Eruption of Working Class Outrage and a Grassroots Response to Social Elitism, period. Just like the Rolling Stones back in the 60's, dig? If not, we can repeat it another ten times. There will be no questions.I have some anyway. Why:...repeatedly intercut band footage with British music hall comedians? What these baggy-panted, gladhanding old tossers had to do with Rotten's adolescent cool is anyone's guess. (Mine would be: geriatric hindsight.)...such dishonesty in a film ABOUT honesty? All throughout we're told how "raw and honest" the Pistol's live sound was, eschewing studio polish to grab audiences by the bollocks, etc., etc. But ALL of the live footage in this movie, besides one short segment, is overdubbed by STUDIO recordings. Sometimes a totally different song is dubbed over the one Rotten is singing. It's bizarre to see footage of a furious, ramshackle gig paired with the slick, overproduced swamp of the Pistols' album, with its twenty guitar overdubs. Why was this done? The original soundtrack was not only "honest", but sounded much better! I know because I've heard it; this film offers NO live footage not available elsewhere.The cheesy history lesson about Britain's social strife (largely a media fantasy) is interesting, and there's a rarely-seen interview with Sid Vicious. All in all it's a cute, bangin' little documentary, concise and entertaining. If it were about, say, The Who it would be fine.But the heart of this story is missing. The Pistols were a tone-deaf little pop band who recorded almost nothing and played only a few gigs, yet they were denounced in Parliament. MP's shrieked about them like they were German rockets spiraling toward Buckingham Palace. Rotten and Cook were beaten and razored by mobs on the street. Classic rock fans (in America!) would try to stomp you just for liking them. Why?Could it be that we saw something in them, fans and foes alike, that can't be nailed down by Class Struggle cliches or clips of Benny Hill?Figures the little gray men would finally get a hold of them. Here's your film about the Pistols, folks, a staid nostalgia exercise with four neat corners. There they are for the ages, wrapped in a big academic ribbon and comfortably set in stone. Glad we can forget about them now.