The Filth and the Fury

Colour, 35mm
United Kingdom, 1999, 105 min
Section: Horizons

Synopsis

Twenty years after The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle, Julien Temple once again narrates the story of the Sex Pistols; or to be more precise lets the individual members of the band tell their own tale. He employs documentary footage from the seventies, and period and contemporary interviews- including a long talk with bassist Sid Vicious captured shortly before his death in London’s Hyde Park in 1978. This film is Temple’s tribute to a band that had a phenomenal influence on the history of rock. The Sex Pistols, in spite of their brief tenure (November 1975 to early 1978), gained instant world fame with the single Never Mind the Bollocks which ripped through the pop world like a revolution. Three minutes were enough to say all that needed to be said. . . .

About the director

Julien Temple (b. 1953, London) studied architecture and history at King’s College, Cambridge and then attended the National Film School in London. He debuted as a director with The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle, and has since specialised in music films and documentaries. He has made a number of productions for pop songbirds such as Whitney Houston and Janet Jackson, as well as for the Rolling Stones and others.