The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle

The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Julien Temple
Produced by Don Boyd
Jeremy Thomas
Written by Julien Temple
Starring Malcolm McLaren
Steve Jones
Paul Cook
Sid Vicious
Johnny Rotten
Mary Millington
Irene Handl
Narrated by Malcolm McLaren
Music by Sex Pistols
Distributed by Virgin Films
Release date
 15 May 1980
Running time
 103 minutes
Country United Kingdom
Language English

The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle is a 1980 British mockumentary film directed by Julien Temple and produced by Don Boyd and Jeremy Thomas. It centres on the British punk rock band Sex Pistols and, most prominently, their manager Malcolm McLaren.[1]

Synopsis

Guitarist Steve Jones plays a shady private detective who - through a series of set piece acts - uncovers the truth about the band. Drummer Paul Cook and bass guitarist Sid Vicious play smaller roles, and the band's manager, Malcolm McLaren, is featured as "The Embezzler", the man who manipulates the Sex Pistols. Fugitive train robber Ronnie Biggs, performer Edward Tudor-Pole, sex film star Mary Millington, and actresses Irene Handl and Liz Fraser also make appearances. Singer and frontman Johnny Rotten refused to have anything to do with the film stating that it was "a pile of rubbish" and was also "Malcolm's vision of what he believed and not true in any form." Rotten had also been fired by McLaren at this point.

The movie tells a stylised fictional account of the formation, rise and subsequent breakup of the band, from the point of view of their then-manager Malcolm McLaren. In the film, McLaren claims to create the Sex Pistols (In truth, they were already formed and Jones and Cook asked him to become their manager), and manipulate them to the top of the music business, using them as puppets to both further his own agenda (in his own words: "Cash from chaos"), and to claim the financial rewards from the various record labels the band were signed to during their brief history – EMI, A&M, Virgin, and Warner Bros. Records.

Cast

In addition, the film also includes appearances by musician Dave Dee and reporter Alan Jones as themselves.

Background

The footage was filmed in early to mid-1978, between singer John Lydon's departure from the band and their subsequent split. The movie was finally released nearly two years later. Lydon (who was listed in the credits as "The Collaborator") and original bass guitarist Glen Matlock only appear in archive footage — Lydon having refused to have anything to do with the production.

The 2000 documentary The Filth and the Fury, also directed by Julien Temple, retells the story of the Sex Pistols from the perspective of the band, thus serving as a response to and rebuttal of McLaren's insistence that he was the driving creative force of the band.

The film was shown at the wake of Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis after his 1980 suicide.[2]

Home video release

  • "The Swindle Continues in Your Own Home" was the tagline on the original 18 certificate VHS release from Virgin Video in 1982. In 2005 the film was released on DVD by Sony.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle". The New York Times.
  2. ↑ Nice, James (2010). Shadowplayers: The Rise and Fall of Factory Records. Great Britain: Aurum Press Ltd. p. 121. ISBN 9781845136345.
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