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Malcolm McLaren, Steve Jones, Sid Vicious, Ronald Biggs, Paul Cook ... see more see more... , John Lydon

Let Malcolm McLaren show you how to achieve fame and fortune by making your pop group the most despised band in the world! This film about the brief but eventful career of The Sex Pistols primarily fo... read more read more...cuses on McLaren, their manager, as he presents his ten-point program on how to achieve success through chaos, ineptitude, and abusing the music industry. Despite some remarkable footage of The Sex Pistols' infamous Jubilee Day performance and clips from their final concert in San Francisco, there's surprisingly little screen time devoted to the group actually performing. Instead, The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle offers McLaren's agit-prop philosophies on music, culture, politics, and the entertainment industry, as well as an amusing (if often inaccurate) account of the band's rise and fall. Along the way, we're also offered some curious animated sequences, film noir episodes starring guitarist Steve Jones, footage of the band recording with exiled British train robber Ronnie Biggs, and Sid Vicious singing My Way (he had been dead for over a year by the time the movie was released). The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle began life as Who Killed Bambi?, a project written by Roger Ebert and directed by Russ Meyer, which closed down after two days of shooting when funding fell through. By the time McLaren and Julien Temple got it off the ground (with a radically different script), Johnny Rotten had left the group, which explains why the band's front man is hardly in the movie. The rest of the group broke up a few months later.~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

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68% liked it

45 ratings

Unrated, 1 hr. 43 min.

Directed by: Julien Temple

Release Date: September 11, 1980

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Flixster Reviews (4)

  • ajv2688
    December 27, 2011
    ajv2688
    A very weird movie... it tries to be so punk and so different from other music films that it just alienates its audience and confuses you. There are a few amusing scenes, and it's full of famous punk rockers like Sid Vicious, so if you're really into punk music you may want to c... read moreheck this out. If not, stay away from it. For the most part it's pretty dull, but it's not a complete waste if, like I said, you enjoy punk styles and unconventional movies.

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The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle Trivia

  • The film "The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle" was based on which British punk band?  Answer »
  • In "The Great Rock n Roll Swindle", who did Malcolm MacLaren appear as?  Answer »
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