tonygillan

This is a film that you are supposed to like. If you don't then you are somewhat lacking. Apparently.

It is a well acted, well made film but very pretentious. Nothing of any great interest happens, all of which is supposed to build up the "tension" to the ridiculous shoot out.

The arty bits are rather dreary, although they are probably supposed to be metaphors for something or other that the Philistines won't get.

In 2004, Total Film magazine named it as the 16th best British film of all time.

They can't have seen more than 20.

To this day, Malcolm McLaren is telling anyone daft enough to believe him that the Sex Pistols were his idea and that the band members were his puppets to be used to make him money. There is a good reason for him doing this, namely that he is a liar.

Here are some real facts.

* McLaren was actually approached by the band to be manager, not the other way round.

* The Pistols were a proper, organic band and not created by McLaren or anyone else. Jones and Cook were childhood friends. Rotten and Vicious went back a long way too. This is something that has led to unfair criticism of the Pistols down the years as they have been likened to manufactured boy bands.

* The band and no one else wrote the songs, recorded them, played live, created the publicity and gave the interviews.

* McLaren did not instigate the Bill Grundy incident. The Pistols only appeared on the programme because Queen had pulled out. According to the band, McLaren was cowering in the back in case arrests were about to be made.

* Johnny Rotten walked out of the band. He was not sacked.

* Far from outwitting the Sex Pistols, John Lydon (Rotten) actually successfully sued him in the 1980s for control and a considerable sum of money. Some of the evidence used by Lydon's lawyers was from McLaren's boasting in 'The Great Rock & Roll Swindle'. This would suggest that McLaren is none too bright despite his affectations.

* The sackings and subsequent pay offs from A & M and EMI were, again, not engineered, it was merely the way things panned out.

* McLaren boasts about the money he made from the band. If he had been competent, he could have made a great deal more. It seems he coudn't even organise gigs properly.

* McLaren's claim at the start of the film that he invented punk rock can be disproved in about ten seconds. The Pistols were not the first punk band, merely the most high profile.

This is a terrible film. The only parts worth watching are the genuine footage of the band, later put to much better use in 'The Filth And The Fury'.

Don't watch this, not because it is racist (it isn't, although the characters are stupidly drawn national stereotypes), but because it is so unbelievably bad.

Here is an example of a "joke".

Teacher (taking register): "Juan" Juan: "Present"

Teacher: "Ingrid".

Ingird: "Present".

Teacher: "Rita".

Rita: "Present".

Teacher: "Rajeet".

Rajeet: "Gift".

Teacher: "Pardon".

Rajeet: "Gift means the same as present". (Huge burst of canned laughter, there may as well have been a cymbal clash)

It didn't get any better than this. Please remember, the 1970s wasn't all Fawlty Towers and Porridge. There were plenty of feeble shows like this too.