I suppose the interested would have already sort this one out, others who really thought they knew about the Punk scene would be in for a bit of a culture shock when they watch this one. Johnny Rotten is one of the few who is qualified to corroborate the fact that 'Punk' was about individuality but to eminate the gift of being individual, PUNK was destroyed once everyone got in on the act. Drugs, managers and hangers on, 'they spoiled it' he says and you can clearly see why in this film.

Johnny, John, Paul, Sid and Glen with the help of Julien Temple brilliantly tell the tale of this band and the time in history when Britain and the World were kicked into moving those moral boundaries. They explain what happened and exactly why it HAD to happen. Fully expressive, the film is so well made, that even those who don't understand the music will appreciate and respect what it's about. I was not a Punk in the 70's, but a TRUE ROOTS ROCKERS Casual girl, totally 'ism'd' about my Roots/Lovers music. It seems I missed out on a lot of fun, this film is really a must if you're the least bit curious about the REAL PUNK SCENE.

This is not only one of the best documentaries that I've ever seen, but ranks up there with the best films I've seen full stop. This Julien Temple made documentary puts to shame the cartoonish mish mash of falsities and self aggrandizement that is Malcolm Maclarens 'The great Rock 'N' Roll Swindle'. There is some fantastic early footage here that I've not seen before - check out the Pistols doing 'Bodies' in the studio - Rotten is at his scathing, pranksterish best. And is there any image so basically cool - Rock 'N' Roll - as that of Rotten and the Pistols singing 'God Save The Queen' on the riverboat during the Queens silver jubilee celebrations? It's also great to hear him speaking of his London Irish childhood and of the era in which the pistols formed. Whoever thought that Johnny Rotten was influenced by, among other things, Vaudeville, and Ken Dodd? Also, if you can manage to hold back the tears at the end when Johnny is interviewed about the death of Sid Vicious then your stronger than me. Rotten was a highly intelligent, iconoclastic, rebellious prankster that lent an almighty kick in the face to the mediocrity and stunted possibilities of the time. The Pistols gave a shot in the arse to the mucic 'industry' and the culture as a whole, and we should all be grateful to him for doing so. This is a superb film and should be seen by anyone interested in the possibilties of music to, if not change the world, then at least to severly ruffle it's feathers.

This documentary contains an inspiring amount of footage. It's really lively and feels like it gets right to the heart of the band and the punk movement.
What I particularly enjoyed was the way it cut Malcom McClaren down to size. For years people have been saying that he "invented punk" and that the Pistols were a "projection of his fantasies" and silly things like that. But as John Lydon retorts here "I invented me, no one else did." McClaren's boastfulness blows up in his face. He's really made to look stupid, and, whether rightly or wrongly, completely selfish and ruthless.
The interviews with Lydon are funny, clever and moving in turn. When he talks about the death of Sid it's very sad. It's actually quite a tragic tale this. It's easy to forget that Sid was not just an icon but, as Lydon puts it as he tries to hold back the tears "my mate, one of the four Johns."

'The Filth and The Fury' stands out as a much better film than Temple's original 'Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle'. The only flaw in the film is the overdubbing of album tracks over original live footage. The Pistols were very much a reaction against the prevailing social and cultural outlook of Britain at the time and Temple does his best to transport us there through splicing clips of riots in Northern Ireland and London with TV commercials of that era. Although many people would deny any influence, 'The Fury' does share similiar qualities in form with Guy Debord's movie 'The Society of the Spectacle'. Along with montage images of political unrest and everyday consumerism, there's also the use of Shakesperian characters as narrators to the story. Orson Welles' Macbeth in 'The Spectacle' and Lawrence Olivier's Richard III in 'The Fury'.

The best parts of the film are when various establishment figures e.g. city councilers and vicars, start to raging against the Pistols and the punk movement. From our vantage point it's difficult to see how some people could become so enraged over a rock group. Punk attitude today is almost a prerequisite for becoming a successful rock act. Another irony looking back from now is how ultimately contemporary the Pistols look. Almost conventional compared to the large hair and trousers they had to contend with. Which just goes to show how in terms of attitude and fashion, the Pistols were completely ahead of their time.

Directed by Julien Temple, a first-hand witness of the 1970's UK Punk scene, The Filth and the Fury is an excellent docimentary of that most essential and influential of UK Punk bands, the Sex Pistols. Despite their questionable musical ability, and subsequent sell-out via the "Filthy Lucre" tours, you would be a fool to question the Sex Pistols impact on the music scene of the 1970's. The documentary covers the whole gamut, from the raging ego's of Malcolm McLaren and Johnny Rotten, right through the genuinly touching moments (Rotten's guilt and sorrow over losing his friend Sid Vicious, and the heart-warming if bizarre footage of the Christmas eve benefit of 1977 where the Pistols played at a party for the children of striking miners, and the kids got to pelt Johnny Rotten with custard pies!). The music is of course great, including the poignant footage of their swansong at Winterland, San Francicso in February of 1978. The movie also has its genuinly disturbing moments, including everything involving Nancy Spungeon, and ends with horrific footage of a hopelessly addicted Sid Vicious in the months before his overdose in 1979. Truly an essential purchase for the devotee of either the band or the punk movement as a whole.