It had been a long time since I have watched this movie, or rockumentary, or whatever you want to call it. I originally saw it on the only format available until it's re-release on DVD in 2006...VHS!!
Here are my observations of this film:
The movie is disjointed as hell as a feature motion picture. I can forgive this for many reasons, which I will go into throughout this posting. The lead character is this guy named Ray Gange. They used his real name even though he is not playing himself in the movie. As was true in real life, he knew Joe Strummer. This is the reason why he was put into the movie in the first place. Ray is "on the dole" as the term goes, meaning he is on welfare. He's not the most hard-working or ambitious guy in the world. He loves music, though, and The Clash in particular. He works in a sex shop selling adult magazines and devices. This helps supplement his meager unemployment checks that he receives. He ends up talking his way into being a roadie for The Clash after Joe tells him that there's no paying gig available. That is really the gist of the whole movie plot as it pertains to him.
The artistic plot of this movie is really strange for lots of reasons. From the beginning, they try to interlace issues that were prevalant in late-70's, pre-Thatcher England. The biggest issues at that time were racial, social differences between right and left-wing parties(surprise!), and hard economic times. They bring these scenes in at strange times and succeed in confusing just what the point or direction of the movie is about. A speech by Margaret Thatcher regarding prevailing violence of the times was thrown in for good, or not so good, measure. There are several scenes with Ray and Joe just shooting the shit or drinking beer. Mick Jones really doesn't speak much in the film except to tell Ray that he is "keeping an eye on him" as he gives the impression that he doesn't like him too much. These are the critical views of what I saw.
The best reasons for watching this film are everything about The Clash. The live songs by The Clash are first-rate. The first one is at a small club in Birmingham called Barbarella's. The song that they play is called "Police And Thieves" and it kicks ass! This is the kind of gold that you hope to get as a Clash fan, if you've never seen it before. Since these are real gigs that they are playing, it is genuine to the form. Here is the song from the movie:
The other live performances of note are The Clash sharing a bill at Victoria Park with Tom Robinson Band, Steel Pulse, and X-Ray Spex. Their version of "White Riot" is pure, raw Clash at their best. Joe Strummer is animated and in great form. The performance of "White Man In Hammersmith Palais" at the Glasgow Apollo is a gem. They also do a great version of the song made famous by the Bobby Fuller Four called "I Fought The Law" here live at The Lyceum in London:
The extras on the DVD have a few really nice features. They show two live BBC performances never seen before of "Clash City Rockers" and "Tommy Gun" that are also worth the price of the DVD. They throw in two additional live songs that didn't make the final cut of the film. They are a different version of "White Riot" and a song called "English Civil War". The interviews with Ray and with The Clash's real life road manager, Johnny Green, playing himself in the movie, are also very honest in revealing their perspective on just what it meant to be there. They both talk about their fondest Joe Strummer memories, too, as the DVD production was done about one year after his untimely death.
If you are looking for The Clash's version of "Hard Day's Night", you will be disappointed. If you are a hardcore Clash or Joe Strummer fan, you will love it for all of the live performances that you will see. This film really gives you a great peephole vision of what it was like to be on stage with The Clash in their punk rock prime. For this reason, I will recommend it to any Clash fan or anyone interested in good, raw, live music during punk rocks heyday in late-70's England.
Cheers!
K
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