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Bookmark this page50 greatest music films ever
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| Have-a-go heroes: Joe Strummer leads The Clash on stage |
12 Rude Boy
(Jack Hazan, David Mingay, 1980)
‘Rude
Boy’ tells the story of listless young punk Ray (played by listless
young punk Ray Gange), who scores a job as a roadie for The Clash and
loses it as a result of his ideological inertia. Set pieces with Ray
talking to the various members of the band about life, the universe and
socialism are interspersed with real-life footage of demos, riots,
court cases and grim street scenes and, of course, lashings of live
performances.
Having spent most of its life as a cinematic curio
passed around punk nerds on fourth-generation VHS, ‘Rude Boy’ finally
got a widespread release in 1996, when the world could see what a
bizarre object it really is. It is not a cinematic classic. The story,
such as it is, is fragmented, disjointed and loosely told, the
tension building sub-plot – ostensibly about a man catching a bus – is
barely integrated into the main feature, and the whole thing betrays
its disorderly creative process throughout. Oh yes, and the acting is
rubbish. That said, it’s still ace.
Ray drifts from potentially
illuminating conversation to potentially illuminating conversation
without seeming to learn anything. Whether he’s debating the broader
points of social responsibility with Strummer or being lectured by
Topper Headon as he practises martial arts in his ‘Enter the Dragon’
jumpsuit, Gange’s boozy moron of a character doesn’t seem to understand
what day it is. His borderline-racist, pro-money politics become
jarringly at odds with the the band he claims to worship, and he’s
ultimately left behind as The Clash transform into the chart-conquering
band who will record ‘London Calling’.
It’s important to
remember that you’re watching at least four movies at once: a tour
film, a documentary, a social commentary, and a kitchen-sink drama about
London’s underclass. But while the semi-improvised production makes for
scrappy viewing, it was, at the time, groundbreaking in its way, and
reflects the have-a-go spirit of its era much better than ‘The Great
Rock ’n’ Roll Swindle’. Hazan and Mingay may not have produced the
hard-hitting documentary they set out to create, but in its place they
turned out a kind of ‘Trials of Life’ of the 1970s. It’s a great
reminder of how far Britain – and London in particular – has come in
the last 30 years.
From the prefab porn emporium in which Gange
works to the popular support of the National Front, it makes the
capital look like some dystopian reimagining of East Berlin. The
concert footage – the reason most people watch the film in the first
place – is incendiary, particularly the band’s turn at the 1978 Rock
Against Racism festival in Victoria Park (although even here Gange is
able to make a tit of himself). It also shows that punk was something
incredibly important to a very small number of people; people who
didn’t have anything else to do with their time. As an exploration of
what it means to be young, shitfaced and bored it’s nigh on perfect. It
should be screened in schools; just not film schools. Eddy Lawrence
Greatest hit An incendiary live version of ‘Janie Jones’ descends into a mini-riot.
Top 50 index | 50-41 | 40-31 | 30-21 | 20-11 | 10-6 | 5-1
Author: Dave Calhoun. Written by Derek Adams, Geoff Andrew, Dave Calhoun, Wally Hammond, Michael Hodges, Martin Horsfield, Martin Hoyle, David Jenkins, Trevor Johnston, Eddy Lawrence, Sharon O'Connell, Chris Parkin, Graeme Thomson, Peter Watts
User comments on this story
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- Tobbe said...
- What.. why arent The Blues Brothers on this list.. Shuld be at the top five... Posted on Nov 18 2011 18:25
- Report as inappropriate
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- Matty said...
- Might have been pit already but lets have nowhere boy on the list somewhere, and somewhere high up because its a keeper Posted on Oct 17 2011 01:27
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- nick said...
-
Let's Get Lost,about Chet Baker,should be on the list.
Bird,about Charlie Parker,should not. Posted on Apr 18 2011 16:07 - Report as inappropriate
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- Declan said...
- Titanic?? "She moved through the fair" in Micheal Collins?? Gladiator song?? Jurasic Park?? these should all be included Posted on Apr 14 2011 20:47
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- Gary Handman said...
- Hello. I think it's totally misguided and non-useful to lump fictional films about music and musicians togehter with documentaries. The language, intent, and cinematic strategies of these two kinds of film are often world's apart. For a more sensible listing of movies about music, see UC Berkeley's web page: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/musicmovies.html and UCB's Music Documentary page: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/music.html Posted on Mar 08 2011 20:20
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- Bop City said...
-
MC5 - A True Testimonial poll:
http://tinyurl.com/MC5-ATT-poll
“It’s a great document of the band, it’s a great document of life, and it’s a great document of things ... far and beyond the band.” - Jackson Smith, Detroit-based musician son of Fred & Patti Smith
"Music so extraordinary that it transformed the lives of all who experienced it demands the release of a documentary that does the MC5 justice. Few bands have ever seen so much go so wrong so quickly and have been so misunderstood in the process. A True Testimonial represents a belated opportunity to set things straight, put things right. The fans deserve it. So does the band. And so does the music." - Don McLeese, author of Kick Out The Jams (Continuum 33 1/3 series) Posted on Feb 05 2011 22:21 - Report as inappropriate
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- andy said...
- what about Human Traffic or High Fidelity? Posted on Jan 06 2011 13:12
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- shar said...
- Loved the Last Waltz Too Jim... But more as a sound track than a Movie. Ray, Cadillic Records, The Contenders and even Walk the Line had a great story line . Some are good for CD/Sondtract, but lose it as a film. Posted on Aug 20 2010 21:01
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- Bill said...
- Wayne's World is number 1! Posted on Aug 20 2010 19:35
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- GONIC said...
- i think 'August Rush' is the one of best music films. the way you feel the muzic. and how we can belive in it. the power of music. and every thing Posted on Aug 18 2010 06:22
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- shar said...
- Cadillic Records and The Contenders Best ever Films and Great Sound Track Posted on Aug 09 2010 02:19
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- shar said...
- Cadillic Records and The Contenders Best ever Films and Great Sound Track Posted on Aug 09 2010 02:18
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- shar said...
- Cadillic Records and The Contenders Best ever Films and Great Sound Track Posted on Aug 09 2010 02:18
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- Jim said...
- Um, I'm not gonna try to reason with you, but let's just say you left out Woodstock and The Last Waltz. End of story. Also, Scott Walker is a godly artist (actually my favorite) but 30th Century Man is a terrible doc. Just a bunch of pretentious idiots and mediocre directing and editing. And if you're going to include movies about music, I would add Satyajit Ray's The Music Room. Posted on Jul 24 2010 02:13
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- Bill said...
- Wayne's World is number one Posted on Jul 11 2010 09:45
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