The Filth And The Fury: A Sex Pistols Film (2000)

Andrew Jacobs here,

In early 2000, The Filth And The Fury, the second Sex Pistols movie directed by Julien Temple, was released in theaters (the first, of course, was 1980’s The Great Rock ‘N’ Roll Swindle, the movie that was largely responsible for making me a lifelong Pistols fan when I was a teenager in the mid ’80s).  And for some STUPID reason which I still can’t explain, I didn’t go see it.  Later that year, it was released on DVD.  Needless to say, I purchased it on the day that it came out.

Even though I turned 30 years old a month or two prior to The Filth And The Fury’s arrival on DVD, I still very much enjoyed it.  I had seen a number of Pistols bootleg videos at that point but I was surprised (and pleasantly, I might add) at the sheer amount of previously unseen video footage contained in the film, including the complete and unedited (not to mention infamous as hell) Bill Grundy interview from 1976.

I also really liked the fact that interspersed throughout the film were present day interview segments with each of the members (including original bassist Glen Matlock).  All of the members are brutally honest too, which makes for quite of bit of (albeit hilarious) shit talking about one other.

Despite the many negative things that I’ve said about Sid Vicious, there’s a scene towards the end of the film where Sid’s death is discussed and Johnny Rotten breaks down crying during it (quite understandable being as how Sid and Johnny were childhood friends), which breaks my heart every single time I’ve watched it.  Extremely powerful stuff to say the very least.