tlavideo.com

Review

The Filth and the Fury opens with newsreel footage of the violent street protests which permeated Great Britain in the late 1970s. It now seems inevitable that the band The Sex Pistols would skyrocket to infamy during this period of profound social unrest. Director Temple has brilliantly documented the period's social chaos with an intimate portrait of the band -- delivered with affection and without blinders on. In only 26 months, The Sex Pistols were hired and fired by three major record companies (lasting one day with A&M), banned and condemned throughout England, had the record charts blank out the number one spot rather than list them, were manipulated and abused by manager Malcolm McLaren (who declined to be interviewed), beaten up on the street for their lyrics, and, in the process of disintegration from internal dissention, broken apart by a junkie whore. As punk is absorbed into the mainstream and shredded fabric held together by safety pins show up on haute couture runways, The Sex Pistols descend into their final dissolution. A very entertaining documentary for both lovers and haters of punk.