Sid & Nancy
*
 U.K. (1986); Drama/Punk
*
 Rated R; Color, 111 minutes
*
 Director: Alex Cox
*
 Cinematographer: Roger Deakins
*
 Screenwriters: Alex Cox, Abbe Wool
*
 Budget: $4 million (USA)
*
 Gross: $2.826 million (USA)
*
 Starring: Gary Oldman, Chloe Webb, Andrew Schofield, David Hayman, and Courtney Love
*
 Original music by: The Pogues, Pray for Rain, Joe Strummer, James Woody (as Pray for Rain), and Dan Wool (as Pray for Rain)

 

"Never Trust a Junkie"

 

Plot Summary: The film opens with Sid being arrested for the murder of his live in girlfriend, Nancy Spungen. We then flash back to the 18 months that Sid and Nancy spent together. We see the two meeting at Linda's flat and heading off to the Sex Pistol's gig where Nancy gets involved with Sid. Sid wants her to get him some drugs and she disappears for a couple of days and then returns and reunited with Sid who then tried heroin. At this point the two start having sex, which Sid doesn't care for too much, but likes Nancy a lot. Sid then is shown learning the Sex Pistols songs before they embark on a U. S. tour. While there, Sid calls Nancy who remains is London due to the band's disliking of her and becomes depressed. After a show in San Francisco, the band breaks up after an apparent overdose by Sid where he winds up in the hospital.

The band members disperse and Sid goes back to find Nancy. After a time the two take a trip to Paris where they have a good time. They then move into the infamous Chelsea hotel in New York City. Nancy tries to get Sid's solo career going by finding him some gigs. During all this the two scrounge around for money to buy drugs. With a trip to Nancy's grandparents house where Sid meets her family the two are shunned from the family and sent back to New York. During an early morning fight, Nancy is found dead in a pool of her own blood in the bathroom. Sid is arrested and taken into police custody and released on bail when he asks for pizza. At this point we see him being reunited with Nancy.

 

WHO IS SID VICIOUS? Sid Vicious was born in 1957 in London to Anne Randal and John Ritchie. The two were never married and early on John left Anne to raise Sid or John Simon Ritchie by herself. Anne would move frequently because of financial problems. Together they lived in Ibiza with a return to London. When Sid started school he was often bullied because he moved often and attended new schools. Several years later Anne married Chris Beverly and was going to adopt Sid as his stepson when he died suddenly. Sid met Johnny Rotten while the two were classmates at Hackney College and became friends. The two left college and roomed together when Johnny joined the band, Sex Pistols with Sid being their #1 fan. Eventually, Sid joined the band as its bassist when the original bassist was kicked out.

 

WHO IS NANCY SPUNGEN? Nancy Spungen was born in 1958 in Philadelphia to Frank and Deborah Spungen. Her father was an upper middle class businessman. She had a brother and a sister. As a child she had problems due to a condition from birth resulting in blood type differences from her mother. She screamed and cried constantly due to this problem. Nancy was a bright girl being able to read and write at an early age. She did well in school except in math. She always wanted to be good at whatever she did. Nancy was prescribed several kinds of drugs that were to help her with her condition, but some made her hallucinate. Music was a way to calm her done and she loved it. Nancy was sent to several boarding schools and graduated when she was 16. She then went on to the University of Colorado where she was kicked out during her second year. She then decided to move back home, but her parents thought it best that she didnŐt and so she got an apartment in New York City. She was doing well in NYC when she discovered heroin. This later took control of her life. After a few months she followed the crowed and moved to London where she had heard about the Sex Pistols were, taking with her the drug addiction she started when she was fifteen.

 

THE ACTUAL EVENTS: Sid and Nancy met at mutual friends flat. Upon meeting the two were inseparateable. They were always doing drugs (note: Sid was taking drugs long before meeting Nancy, despite what the movie depicts) together and having a blast at it. SidŐs relationship with his band mates worsened when Nancy came into SidŐs life. A few months after meeting, the Sex Pistols were to embark on a U.S. tour. Nancy was not allowed to go along. While Sid was in the U.S. Nancy worked as a prostitute to earn money for her heroin addiction. The Sex Pistols tour did not last too long because they thought of themselves as a pop band that they hated.

 

Once the band's breakup, Sid flew back to London to be with Nancy. There they became more in love and did more heroin. After about two months the two went to Paris where Sid worked on the film The Great Rock-n-Roll Swindle. Once the film was done, Sid and Nancy moved into the Chelsea Hotel in New York City. Nancy became SidŐs manager and found a few gigs for Sid to do. They got in trouble a few times for drug possession but always got out on bail. In October 1978, Nancy was found dead with a knife stuck in her belly. Sid and Nancy had gotten into a brawl earlier in the night about some little argument. Sid was arrested on the murder of Nancy and was released on bail. Several months later, Sid was found dead after an apparent drug overdose on February 1979. (www.geocities.com/sunsetstrip/club/2070/sn.html)

 

 

 

History of Punk and The Sex Pistols: The Punk Rock scene arose during the 70's and has continued through today. CBGB's, a popular bar in New York City was a huge Punk Rock venue in the early 70's having hosted such acts as the New York Dolls, The Ramones, Blonde, and Talking Heads. Early English Punk bands were getting noticed and somewhat popular. Along this time the New York Dolls went to London and caught the attention on Sex Pistol's future manager Malcolm McClaren, a shop owner in London who eventually became the New York Dolls' manager.

McClaren's shop was called Let It Rock and later renamed to Sex. His friend, Bernie Rhodes, takes care of the band, Sex Pistols. The Sex Pistols formed in 1975 with two employees of McClaren's (Johnny Rotten/Lydon and Glen Matlock). The band only released one album together as group, Nevermind The Bullocks, Here Come The Sex Pistols in 1977. The band consisted on Johnny Rotten as vocalist, Glen Matlock as bassist, Steve Jones as guitarist, and Paul Cook as drummer. Most of their songs were about anarchy, abortion, violence, fascism, and apathy. With this lineup, they released one single with bassist Glen Matlock leaving the band to pursue outside work. Enter Sid Vicious. He was a long time friend of Johnny Rotten and had wanted to get into the band so he could be famous. However, Sid could not play the bass and had to learn. This lineup of the band did not last too long. With a U. S. tour scheduled, the band broke up after 14 days with each member pursuing other work. A movie "D. O. A." is about the Sex Pistols and came out a couple of years later, but before Sid and Nancy was made. The original Sex Pistols reunited in 1996, and have since toured. Another film has been made about the Sex Pistols. There are several live albums along with footage of them performing.

 

   

 

 

Behind The Scenes: Award winning Alex Cox, the director and co-writer of Sid and Nancy, has directed many of america's cult comedies. Some of Cox's top grossing films include "Walker", "Straight to Hell", and "Repo Man". Most of Alex Cox's films are "worth watching"..."but this is probably the best film so far..." (www.eusa.ed.ac.uk.com). Sid and Nancy is a story based on the true life of punk bassist Sid Vicious and his drug ridden groupie Nancy Spungen.

The research for this movie was intense. According to Gary Oldman (Sid),"there is a lot of work involved when portraying a famous character." Oldman wanted to portray the deceased young star as accurately as possible, since family and friends are still alive. To prepare for the role, Oldman took bass lessons, watched videos of the group (Sex Pistols), and even listened to the radio to get the voice down. He even went so far as to wear brown contact lenses to make sure his eye color was accurate.

To make this film even more realistic and true to life, it would need to be filmed on location in may different areas. Thus, the director chose to shoot this film on location in many cities as well as countries. The filming began in London, England and then proceeded, "mostly in sequence" (Webb. Criterion Collection) to El Centro, California; Los Angeles, California; San Francisco, California; Paris, France; Jersey City, New Jersey, & then New York City, New York (the Chelsea Hotel, exteriors). There were some scenes, however, that were unable to actually be shot on location. The scenes where the Sex Pistols perform their American tour gigs were actually recreated based on the movie "D.O.A" (a documentary movie about the Sex Pistols which was made before MTV became popular), as most of the venues were probably no longer existed. Even the scene in which they recreate the "My Way" video was originally made for and aired in another Sex Pistols documentary called "The Great Rock 'N Roll Swindle".

The soundtrack of this movie consists mostly of the grungy, boisterous, ear-popping performances common to the Sex Pistols, with songs like "Love Kills" by former Clash member Joe Strummer, to the haunting and mysterious "Haunted" by The Pogues
The soundtrack even features performances actually sung by actor Gary Oldman such as the famed solo punk remake of Frank Sinatra's "My Way" as it was performed by Sid Vicious.

Even with the correct soundtrack and the best actors, Cox was afraid he took too sentimental of an approach on drug use in this movie. He wanted to portray the truth about two junkies who were in love. Cox, however, feels that the propaganda out there is much worse that this film could ever have been.

Cinematography: In this film, as most independent filmmakers do, Cox along with co-writer Wool used slow motion to fullfill the surreal image they portrayed in some of the most significant scenes. In the scene with the floating money, Cox uses slow motion to give the image of Sid dreaming about making lots of money, being a big hit on his own. Then the audience is presented with Sid in a club by himself with an image of Johnny Rotten sitting and watching him fail. The slow motion is again used in the famous garbage scene where Sid and Nancy are standing by the dumpster with garbage and a garbage can falling slowly around them. This gives the image of Sid and Nancy's life falling apart even more, but yet they are still in love and oblivious to the "garbage" that is going on around them. The use of drab colors, and lots of low-key lighting in this film was also used to enhance the mood of a drug ridden lifestyle. The use of an objective point of view and some of the most amazing actors, Sid and Nancy has become a cult classic that shows the love that can occur between two junkiies.

World-Wide Acclaim: Sid and Nancy hasn't earned many awards, but has instead earned the love, loyalty, and cult movie attraction as any film of this genre does.

However, some of the awards won: Critics Award (1986) to Alex Cox at the Sao Paulo International Film Festival, NSFC Award (1986) to Chloe Webb for Best Actress at the national Society of Filom Critics Awards. In addition, Peter Frampton II was nominated for Best Make Up artist at the British Academy Awards in 1987.

 

Links to Reviews and Other Relevant Information:
*
 IMDb Film Page
*
 Edinburgh University Film Society
*
 Washington Post (Rita Kempley)
*
 Washington Post (Paul Attanasio)
*
 Sex Pistols' Diaries and Press Releases
 
Sid Vicious "Riding The Horse"

 

 

Critique: When Director Alex Cox chose Gary Oldman over Daniel Day Lewis to play the role of Sid Vicious, it was probably the best move he made in directing this movie. According to AlexCox.com, "Gary was an authentic Bermonsey Boy-from the same part of London, the same world as Sid-and he really understood the ambitious aspect, the desperate need to get out of South London at all costs..." Gary Oldman portrayed the anarchistic and self-destructive Sid almost as well as Sid himself would have. From the surreal scenes of money floating through the air when Sid ventures into an attempted solo career to the haunting return of Nancy in a taxi cab to retrieve her love (Sid), which is accompanied by the three hip-hop dancing black boys. Cox and Wool were able to portray the verisimilitude of the life of two junkies in love. Throughout the movie, the audience is presented with a fine line between "dark humor and disturbing realism." (efilmcritic.com) You see this fine line especially in the scene when Nancy is in the phone booth talking to her mother. After her mother refuses to send her money, Nancy throws a fit, breaking most of the glass in the both and screams "...They won't send us any money. They said we'd spend it on drugs." Sid replies calmly and truthfully. "We would." Even when Sid and Nancy run around the hotel playing with the plastic guns, we are further presented with a dark and twisted sense of humor.

The most realistic aspect of this movie was the characterization through the setting. From the woman in the club holding an infant with a green Mohawk to the previously mentioned plastic pistols, to even the "No Feelings" that were written on the mirror that shows the reflection of Sid and Nancy making love, as well as the scene in the beginning where all the band members and friends are asleep on the floor and further on in the movie when Sid and Nancy first make love and Sid's fellow bandmate is sitting by himself on the floor. From the beginning when Sid firsts meets Nancy, through the deaths at the end, all these physical details helped Cox to create the feeling of Punk. All-in-All, with the content of this film being a little volatile, sexual, and even a little profane, Sid and Nancy is an excellent movie to see and shows the public a side of punk totally unexpected...love.

 

Sid and Nancy "Oopsies":

  • Sid and Nancy is a movie set in the latge 1970's. In the background during the opening scenes with Sid and Johnny, you can see a 1985 Honda Civic.
  • During one of the early pub scenes (the first time we see the Sex Pistols) perform, the opening band for the Pistols is supposed to be X-ray Spex performing "Oh, Bondage, Up Yours!" The lead singer Poly Styrene is shown to be extremely thin, with long straight hair, and no braces on her teeth, and is even white. In real life, Poly's heritage is Anglo-Somali , was not this thin in 1977, and she had short curly hair and braces.
  • The reference to Rod Stewart's limousine was an early 1980's Cadillac...in the movies, the boys attacked it in the mid to late '70s.
  • In the movie, Sid is watching Johnny Rotten be interviewed by Tom Snyder (I) on The Tomorrow Show (1973). This did not happen until 1980. Sid had died of an overdose a year earlier.
  • In the beginning and at the end, Sid is being questioned by a detective who repeatedly asks "Did you dial 911?" The use of 911 as an emergency telephone number did not come about until 1984-1985. (http://us.imdb.com/Goofs?0091954)

 

 

Discussion Questions:

  1. In this film, Director Alex Cox chose to focus mostly on the characters Sid and Nancy instead of the effects of their relationship on the group (the Sex Pistols). Why did he chose this direction? Given the emotion of this film, would the effect on the audience have changed if the director had chosen otherwise?
  2. In detail, discuss the use of the soundtrack chosen for this movie. Explain how the use of such, blended with some of the cinematic techniques, helped or hurt the movie.
  3. Director and Co-writer Alex Cox along with actors Gary Oldman (Sid) and Chloe Webb (Nancy), chose to portray the murder scene differently than friends of the real Sid and Nancy expected. Why do you think they chose to portray it the way they did? Was this decision a good one, or did they use too much creative license?
  4. In the scene where Sid carves words onto his chest with a razor blade, co-writer AbbeWool made use of dramatic license. She heard that the real-life Sid had carved "I WANT A FIX" on his chest, but in the movie she had "NANCY" carved instead. Why do you think she made use of this dramatic license? What effect did it have on the movie? If she would have kept "I WANT A FIX", would the feeling have been different?
  5. This film starts out as Boggs calls "In Medias Res", meaning that the film starts out with a scene that the director presents later on in the movie. This scene, in which Sid is being questioned by the police in his Chelsea hotel room, gives the viewer an intense feeling. Would the same feelings have been present, had Cox chosen a different route? What other scenes, if any could he have chosen to give the viewer the same feeling?
  6. Alex Cox chose to film the movie mostly in an objective point of view. Should he have used a more subjective camera shot during the drug use scenes? If he had would it have changed the picture dramatically? If so, how? How would you as a filmmaker have filmed a more subjective point of view for those scenes?

 

This Page Created by: Rebecca Hauge & Becki Steffan