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Filth and the Fury, The
Fine Line Features


8.3

based on 28 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 3 votes
Read user comments
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FILM:

Internet Movie Database

MPAA RATING: R for pervasive strong language, drugs and sexual content

Starring Paul Cook, Stephen Phillip Jones, Steve Jones, John Lydon, Sid Vicious, Malcolm McLaren, Glen Matlock, and Nancy Spungen

An English documentary by Julien Temple which details the short but tempestuous life of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols from the perspective of the band members themselves, unlike the 20-year-old Temple film "The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle" which focuses instead on the perspective of Malcolm McLaren, the band's controversial manager.

GENRE(S):	Musical
DIRECTED BY:	Julien Temple
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: October 10, 2000 Video: October 10, 2000 Theatrical: April 7, 2000
RUNNING TIME:	108 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	UK / USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

A great, searching, incendiary chronicle of the Sex Pistols, the razor-hearted visionaries of punk anarchy.

100

Film.com Peter Brunette

Temple's wonderfully entertaining film brings the era back in all its confused and tentatively revolutionary glory, and bracingly demonstrates that the Pistols still have the power to shock.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

A kickass documentary.

Dallas Observer Gregory Weinkauf

A big gob of fun.

Salon.com Bill Wyman

A kinetic and unstoppable ride.

Austin Chronicle Russell Smith

Anyone who can watch this film and deny that the Sex Pistols were one of the four or five most exciting and indelibly brilliant rock groups ever is pumping formaldehyde, not blood, through his veins.

Philadelphia Inquirer Dan DeLuca

This time around, Julien Temple gets it right.

San Francisco Examiner Wesley Morris

If nothing else, The Filth and the Fury is a searing, forceful, entertainingly biased reminder only that the English group mattered - as musicians and as anti-social curs.

Chicago Tribune John Petrakis

The concerts are hypnotic, the music is swell, and the entire package moves along at just the right pace.

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

This bizarre, original and brilliantly crafted documentary about the Sex Pistols is funny and at times moving -- despite all the ugliness and stupidity it depicts.

Boston Globe Jim Sullivan

This is a warts 'n' all portrayal - there's no dodging the feelings of both disgust and amusement.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

To see this film's footage from the '70s is to see the beginning of much of pop and fashion iconography for the next two decades.

Mr. Showbiz Kevin Maynard

There are only a handful of great music documentaries ... but Temple's film deserves a place in the canon.

Film.com Ernest Hardy

Stays with you, though, not because of its political content, but because of the unexpected emotional punch that's thrown near the end.

TNT RoughCut Don Kaye

The electrifying jolt that they gave to a moribund music scene, and British society in particular, is still riveting to watch.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

The filmmaker might be accused of preaching to the choir were the story not so compelling and the performances so strong.

LA Weekly Hazel-Dawn Dumpert

The Sex Pistols themselves were bloody magnificent.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

Electrifying.

TV Guide Ken Fox

This loud and exhilarating documentary from director Julien Temple brings it all back in a vitriolic spray of spite, spittle and raw rock and roll that still hits like a heart attack.

USA Today Mike Clark

Irritates in the early going when many of the current-day interviews are so intentionally underlighted that we can't see what the group members look like.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Efficiently and imaginatively directed.

Baltimore Sun Ann Hornaday

An absorbing glimpse not only at the phenomenon of punk rock but also at British social history and the rock star mystique.

Miami Herald Curtis Morgan

It's just as voyeuristically enjoyable as those VH-1 has-been bios but without the soft-focus star shots and with far more edge, energy and originality.

San Francisco Chronicle James Sullivan

Above all, it makes one thing clear: This group was wickedly funny.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

A documentary that's as chaotic, rude and funny as the band could be.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

The period ambience (call it funk) is irresistible, but the main points of interest here are sociological rather than musical.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

A film as arresting and at times as frustrating as the Pistols themselves.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

It's just twice as much as we need to know about the Sex Pistols.

The average user rating for this movie is 8.3 (out of 10) based on 3 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

m taylor gave it a9:
Great, great documentary which really captures a mood and feel of a unique moment of culture, they really were shocking and took abuse for it, if your face is pierced now your more normal than not, they were original a quality lost too money men, and yes i love pearl jam too!

Erwin K. gave it an 8:
Great film! The pistols upset the establishment and endulged in pure stupidity, that seems so revolting and impure but utterly necessary given the lameness of the times. Pure madness.

Chad S. gave it an 8:
Context is everything. The Sex Pistols hadn't sounded dangerous to me in years. Marilyn Manson and any number of modern rockers make Johnny Rotten's whine almost sound cute. But in "The Filth and the Fury", you see the pictures of packed clubs and who their contemporaries were. Next to Kansas, "God Save the Queen" sounds like a blowtorch. Like Elvis before them, we understand why the latest youth music scared the bejesus out of the establishment. It's fascinating to see how the original punks lost their music to the johnny-come-latelys, much like how the guys you worked with at your part-time job started listening to Nirvana and Pearl Jam.

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Filth and the Fury, The Fine Line Features

Filth and the Fury, The
Fine Line Features