THE GREAT ROCK ‘N’ ROLL SWINDLE

GB
1980
1hr 43mins
Dir: Julien Temple
Starring: Malcolm McLaren and John Lydon

A movie telling the stylised fictional account of the formation, rise and subsequent breakup of The Sex Pistols

Told from the point of view of their then-manager Malcolm McLaren, this mockumentary-style movie about The Sex Pistols has a number of railway scenes, but again with some ropey continuity. McLaren is seen boarding a Class 115 DMU as it departs London Marylebone which is then followed by some shots on board Mk.1 coaching stock and a good shot of an original Class 86/0 on a West Coast main line express. Despite an arrival scene filmed at Northampton station, as McLaren leaves the station he walks out of Chesham, the station at the end of the Metropolitan branch line in deepest Buckinghamshire!! The film is incoherent and hard to follow at times but there is some excellent Pistols concert footage, and appearances by actresses Irene Handl and Liz Frazer, along with sex star Mary Millington, show that it was more movie like than people give credit for.