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Gary Oldman, Chloe Webb, David Hayman, Andrew Schofield, Debby Bishop ... see more see more... , Tony London , Jude Alderson , Sandy Baron , Tricia Bartholome , Perry Benson , Xander Berkeley , Niven Boyd , Andrew Bradford , Graham Fletcher-Cook , Alexander Folk , Stuart H. Fox , Fox Harris , John M. Jackson , Anne Lambton , Gloria Le Roy , Pete Lee-Wilson , Courtney Love , Jeanne McCarthy , Mark Monero , Ed Pansullo , Edward Tudor-Pole , Iggy Pop , Sy Richardson , Miguel Sandoval , Milton Selzer , John Snyder , Sara Sugarman , Patti Tippo , Tenpole Tudor , Michele Winstanley , Biff Yeager , Bob Ellis , Peter McCarthy , Coati Mundi , Dick Rude , Dan Wul , Barbara Coles , Desiree Erasmus , Vincent J. Isaac , Bradley Lieberman , Ron Moseley Jr. , Raymond Rosario , James Snell , Kathy Burke , Keith Morris

Punk rock's first great embodiment of the motto "live fast and die young," Sid Vicious joined The Sex Pistols when they were already established as the most controversial rock band in British history;... read more read more... and it soon became apparent that he couldn't play his instrument, had a magnetic attraction to chaos, and possessed a dangerous thirst for booze, drugs, and violence. Sid & Nancy opens shortly after Sid (Gary Oldman) joined the band, when he meets an obnoxious American punk groupie named Nancy Spungen (Chloe Webb). Nancy claims that she can get drugs, and Sid naively gives her his money. Nancy doesn't show up with the goods, but when Sid runs into her a few days later, she has a tall tale about getting ripped off - and Sid sympathizes with her. Before long, Sid and Nancy have fallen in love, and while they argue with uncommon vehemence, they also depend completely on each other. When The Sex Pistols break up, Sid has few prospects and an increasingly voracious appetite for heroin, and Nancy's attempts to "manage" his career only hasten his downhill slide. Former Clash leader Joe Strummer wrote the film's theme song, "Love Kills," and The Pogues, The Circle Jerks, and Pray for Rain contributed to the soundtrack. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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74% liked it

31,945 ratings

Critics

91% liked it

35 critics

R, 1 hr. 51 min.

Directed by: Alex Cox

Release Date: August 29, 1986

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DVD Release Date: December 19, 2000

Stats: 1,672 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (1,672)

  • fb1664868775
    October 30, 2011
    fb1664868775
    An amazing ride through the short life of the Sex Pistols and Sid Vicious featuring Gary Oldman in one of the best performances I've seen.
  • FrizzDrop
    July 30, 2011
    FrizzDrop
    Most biopics of this era focus on the gritty disgust of self hatred and consequential drug use, but also feature the glamour and intrigue of being the most lusted for in an age of overindulgence and greed. In punk rock, there is already elements of grit fused with being rebelliou... read mores and disorderly, glamour the farthest thing from artists' minds. So is the iconic love story between Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious and hot mess of a girlfriend Nancy Spungen. Sid is the emphasis of "live fast die young" roving around the stage shirtless and dirty as the day he was born. Now famous for joining the Sex Pistols bandwagon at the height of their fame, he meets Nancy, a groupie intent on clinging to whatever foothold to fame she can find. Both are obnoxious, loud, and more or less nonsensical, his speech slurred with a Cockney accent, hers a mix between a chain smoker and a four year old with temper tantrum issues. Oldman and Webb are convincingly reckless as their dependency for each other and drugs increases, becoming volatile, ripping apart the band and leading to unsuccessful ruin. Gritty isn't even the optimal word for these filth infested set of performances, the downward spiral more of a downhill slide, fast and unstoppable. Though Nancy is trying to jump start her hubby's career and dry out, she is met with fierce resistance, and abuse from a man who never apologizes. And so, their ending is perfect for the set of circumstances they're in, the only way to say goodbye for two heroes of the punk rock movement. Though both of these characters annoyed me without a flicker of respect for Sid's supposed talent, I think that's what makes the film work so well, realistic in a nauseating sort of way. It's threadbare and unsettling, but overall a good piece of work.
  • tsigur
    February 19, 2010
    tsigur
    I really don't appreciate the punk culture, so this is probably why I didn't enjoy it as much as a true Sid Vicious fan would. I was impressed with Gary Oldman's performance which is astounding in the fact that he can play a character such as that and find humanity within that ch... read morearacter is a clinic. I am on the fence about Chloe Webb because there are scenes that are great, but then there are scenes that give a shrilling Joey Lauren Adams a run for her money. She was fucking annoying, but that's what she is supposed to be so it's hard for me to judge. Cool to see some of Roger Deakins' early work and still see he had the touch very early. Enjoyable watch, but not memorable.
  • 76Majikat
    December 4, 2009
    76Majikat
    A little insight into the music star's volatile relationship with both his girlfriend and their drug addiction.

    The film felt quite amateur in many parts throughout, yet Gary Oldman Certainly shone out above the rest.

    It?s almost a cringeworthy voyeuristic look into the lif... read moreestyle and kind of makes it hard to sympathise with the couple in any way throughout.

    Probably what it also showed was alittle less envolevemnt with The Sex Pistols than perhaps presumed it would.

    I?m sure most of the dialogue and events shown in the film are down to speculation as no-one could possible know all of what went on between them.

    Interesting chat with Director Alex Cox on the special Features who says the film that was going to be made was going to star Madonna and Rupert Everett in it and that he owed it to Punk to give it more of an authentic feel.

    Also he admits to the ending being a bit more glamourised than events would have been realistically and that had they had showed the real events, the film may not have received it?s funding.
  • yona71
    November 23, 2009
    yona71
    Gary Oldman turns in a brilliant performance as the Sex Pistols's bassist Sid Vicious in this 1986 film. Vicious's raw charisma is what I believe helped push this band in the "real" punk direction, and Oldman's portrayal captures that essence.
    Unfortunately for Sid, he gets invo... read morelved with an influential, problematic American girl named Nancy Spungen(Chloe Webb) who wants Sid all to herself, and creates various problems by filling Sid's naive head with delusions of grandeur.
    Oldman's ability as an actor to show the vulnerability in every character he plays is well shown in this film even though Sid Vicious was essentially a victim of someone who wanted more for themselves through his name, and by dragging him into a sordid world of addiction on many levels.
  • ythelastman89
    November 18, 2009
    ythelastman89
    Gary Oldman physically and emotionally embodies Sid Vicious, that alone is worth seeing the movie. Beyond that, it's your typical biopic. Chloe Webb was decent at best, her performance really came off bad next to Gary Oldman. It covers a lot of ground with the relationship, but t... read morehe Sex Pistols are not as prevalent as one might expect.
  • SirPant
    September 16, 2009
    SirPant
    Gary Oldman has played a huge array of characters, Lee Harvey Oswald, Dracula, Ludwig van Beethoven, and he is good as all of them but for me, his portrayal of Sid Vicious is his finest.
  • flixsterman
    June 30, 2009
    flixsterman
    Though I've never been a fan of The Sex Pistols I did, years ago, read a biography of Nancy Spungen that was written by her mother. Therefore I had a bit of empathetic preconception about what this film was about and where it was going to lead me. In a nutshell, it's the tragic... read moreally true story of two social misfits who spiral downward on a drug induced odyssey of music, methadone and melodrama. Sort of a '70's version of Romeo & Juliet, if Juliet were a punk rock groupie and Romeo a tar heroine addict. This was indeed a match made in heaven destined for a life of hell.

    Of course Gary Oldman did a spectacular job becoming Sex Pistols' front man Sid Vicious. Were it not for his physical characteristics that vaguely remind us it's Gary Oldman, he'd completely disappear into the character. He's just that good. What pleasantly surprised me was how Chloe Webb gave Nancy a deserving degree of likeability. I got the sense that, had she made some better choices in her life, Nancy would have been someone who was charismatic and utterly loveable. Webb's humanistic portrayal gives Oldman the reign to express Sid's romantic co-dependency on a whole new level. Great synergy in two outstanding performances (and the film's not bad either!).
  • YLOWBSTARDreturns
    February 26, 2008
    YLOWBSTARDreturns
    One of the best bio-pics ever made. Gary Oldman gives his best, most haunting performance to date.
  • garyX
    July 14, 2007
    garyX
    Gary Oldman is perfectly cast as doomed punk rocker Sid Vicious embroiled in a cycle of self destruction and drugs with girlfriend Nancy Spungen. A brilliant biopic that captures the turbulent life and times of the burgeoning punk movement from cult director Alex Cox with an unsu... read morerprisingly great soundtrack.

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Critic Reviews

Variety Staff
April 28, 2008
Variety Staff, Variety

Sid and Nancy is the definitive pic on the punk phenomenon. Full Review

Pat Graham
April 28, 2008
Pat Graham, Chicago Reader

A few too many moralistic foreshadowings, but most of the time Cox's situations and characters develop on their own eloquently entropic terms. Full Review

Janet Maslin
May 20, 2003
Janet Maslin, New York Times

It's not every film maker who credits special thanks to both Luis Bunuel and Dee Dee Ramone, but then Mr. Cox doesn't fit any recognizable mold. Full Review

Roger Ebert
February 13, 2001
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

[Cox] and his actors pull off the neat trick of creating a movie full of noise and fury, and telling a meticulous story right in the middle of it.

Paul Attanasio
January 1, 2000
Paul Attanasio, Washington Post

The only thing that is sustained in Sid and Nancy is a tone of clinical disinterest that leaves you asking why Cox would want to make a movie about them. Full Review

Rita Kempley
January 1, 2000
Rita Kempley, Washington Post

Though dark and harrowing, explicit and unsparing, the movie proves a riveting biography of these burnt-out icons and their iconoclastic half-decade. Full Review

Peter Canavese
January 11, 2012
Peter Canavese, Groucho Reviews

Oldman's mid-film music-video performance of 'My Way' before a neon staircase compares favorably-as a revelation of character through performance-to Robert De Niro's framing monologues in Raging ... Full Review

Kevin Carr
January 11, 2012
Kevin Carr, 7M Pictures

Forget Jack and Rose; forget Doctor Zhivago and Larissa; forget Lady and the Tramp. This love story between Sid and Nancy is one of the most fascinating ones you'll ever see. Full Review

Laura Clifford
August 20, 2011
Laura Clifford, Reeling Reviews

...the ultimate punk rock movie,brilliantly crafted, cinematic magic. Full Review

Christopher Lloyd
July 4, 2011
Christopher Lloyd, Sarasota Herald-Tribune

The film's crowning achievement is depicting the soul-sucking toll that drugs take on the talented and the naive. Eventually, drugs replace the people they were, and they turn into mere vessels to an ... Full Review

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Facts

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    • Sid Vicious: Exterminate!
    • Johnny Rotten: Exterminate!
  • Slash, guitarist from Guns 'N Roses, appears as an extra in one of the club scenes.
  • Love Kills.
  • The padlocked chain worn by Gary Oldman in the film actually belonged to Sid Vicious.
    Sid's mother, Anne Beverley, lent it to him for the film.
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Sid & Nancy Trivia

  • What actor played Sid in the movie "Sid and Nancy"?  Answer »
  • name the 1986 movie based on the audio clip (hint gary oldman as sid vicious)  Answer »
  • name the 2 actor/actress who portrays sid vicious and his american girlfriend nancy in the movie sid&nancy?  Answer »
  • This actor played Sid Vicious in the 1986 biopic Sid and Nancy:  Answer »
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