The story of The Clash is rather incredible. They went from a fringe punk band who often sounded cacophonous in the beginning to a stadium filling mega band in the 80s...and almost immediately imploded and were no more. It's rather well documented in the recent documentary "The Rise and Fall of the Clash". While I am not a lover of most punk (aside from the Ramones, who were brilliant), I was intrigued enough after seeing this documentary to want to learn more. A friend of mine had a cope of "Westway to the World" and suggested I give it a look. Unfortunately, it bored me to tears much of the time--mostly because of the style of the film.
Now there are some very good things about the film. There is a lot of excellent film footage that's almost completely in color and in great condition--not the usual grainy stuff you expect in 70s and early 80s footage. But the film also lacked any sort of narration or coherent direction and just consisted of the band members (and no one else) talking about the band. They are all very talented folks...but they also were way out of their element and came off as a bunch of amateurs, as does the film. So, instead of a document showing the band's creation, rise and fall, it's more a bunch of guys remembering their past...somewhat. Not my cup of tea. Perhaps it might have been better and more professional looking had I not watched the director's cut- -20 minutes or so longer than the original film.
