Sid and Nancy | | Cast : | Gary Oldman, Chloe Webb | | Director : | Alex Cox | | Studio : | MGM/UA Video | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen | | Released Date : | November 07, 1986 | | DVD Released Date : | December 19, 2000 | | Language : | French (Subtitled), Spanish (Dubbed), Spanish (Subtitled), English (Original Language), French (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | July 31, 2005 | | Summary | not what it could (and SHOULD) have been | Content
 | If you get a chance, please dig deeper and find Nancy Spungeon's mother's book detailing her daughter's life, from infancy through a tough adolescence and on to her young adulthood and ultimate demise at the hand of Sex Pistol Sid Vicious. It is called "And I Don't Want to Live This Life" and its title is taken from a poem Sid wrote to Nancy in the early stages of their doomed romance. In the right hands , if a film were made of that book, it would be nothing short of brilliant. This Alex Cox film, I am sad to say, is a pathetic glamourization of the seedy and often violent world of heroin addiction. Gary Oldman, whom I normally adore, and is one of our generation's most gifted actors, portrays Sid in an almost cartoon like parody. And the young lady who is "Nancy" comes across as a crass, desperate and clawing groupie who meets the ultimate fate - death- at the hands of her paramour. If this would have sticked closer to the book this was obviously inspired by, it would be brilliant. As it is, the unrealistic ending, and the terribly miscast actors who portray the Sex Pistols and manager/swengali Malcom McLaren mar what could have been a great movie. A much better look into the Pistols legacy is The Filth and the Fury, an incredible doscumentary of the rise and fall of the Sex Pistols, one of the most influential ( despite the fact that they only recorded one proper album together ) bands of all times. Avoid "Sid and Nancy" at all costs. There are much better films out there. |
| Rating | | | Date | May 16, 2005 | | Summary | Not a direct portrayel, but compelling at best | Content
| In this semi-accurate portrayel of 70's punks Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen, played by Gary Oldmann and Chloee Web, Sex Pistols bassist Sid finds love with American Junkie Nancy, and become inseperable. They go through it all, eventually leading up to his heroin addiction. Alexs vision of the characters is shocking at times, displaying their trials and tribulations as a couple. They stay at the Chelsea Hotel in New York City, and end up getting in a nasty brawl, with Nancy waking up soaked in blood and collapsing in the bathroom, leaving the audience wondering "what happened?" there are many sides to the story and different versions as to what exactly happened. Its said that he was strung out on heroin and thats what drove him to stab her. He later on dies of an overdose. The ending is iffy, but oddly romantic in that sense. |
| Rating | | | Date | April 13, 2005 | | Summary | Feeling helpless as history rewinds and reminds | Content
| I think many people don't have the right feelings about this film. Empathy being one of them. Although Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungeon could indeed be described as two wastes of sperm and eggs, empty and apathetic as they lie on their beds strung out on heroin in one scene, we have to acknowledge their backgrounds and their ages. Sid, bassist with 70s punk band The Sex Pistols and Nancy, his American groupie girlfriend, were just a pair of misguided teenagers. Nobody is perfect at the age of nineteen or twenty, nobody really knows exactly what they want to do in life. And there are a lot of young people, who at that age, can't see a future for themselves.
We may very well say drugs are bad and drug addicts deserve no respect, both of the above being true. But the fact is that this is being too narrow minded. Those of us who have had wonderful childhoods and loving parents to guide us through those turbulent teenage years may scoff and scorn at the films title characters, as we see them embark on the doomed journey of drug abuse with only one end in mind. Sid might have been an intelligent, bright and witty young man, Nancy could have had the chance to fix her life if her parents hadn't given up on her and sent her packing. This film is a remarkable movie, one that should be watched with empathy, as it replays the ill fated romance of punk's 'Romeo and Juliet' I understand John Lydon when he scorned the film, but no movie can ever capture real life. As a teenager recovering from the draining world of drugs, depression and apathy, I have to say that this movie accurately portrays the effects of drug abuse.
The drugs do eventually end up taking control of you, and there is nothing more dangerous than having a friend or lover who feels the same despair that you do. Trying to escape the dark hole of drugs seems almost impossible in that scenario. I think this film is an excellent portrayal of the effects of drug abuse, of the 70s punk scene, of the blurry details surrounding Nancy's death.
It's a pity the film was given an R rating, because a lot more young people should see this movie. Sex Pistols fans may also ike to see this movie, maybe to gain an idea of the helplessness of Sid and Nancy's situation. For all those drug addicts out there, I just wanna say, you should see this film before you "climb the ladder to the poppy". During a time when I was stupid enough to want to become a junkie, this movie saved my life. The scene that hit me the hardest was one of the last, where Sid tries desperately to get out of the hotel room he and Nancy share, tries desperately to escape Nancy's rantings of death, before engaging in the scuffle that got her killed.
It may or may not have happened in real life, but I had never felt so suffocated watching a movie before, watching helplessly as Sid's fingers reach for the latch on the door but don't quite make it. I won't give the ending away, but many people have scoffed it. I think it worked very well and understood and exactly the irony that Alex Cox was getting at. Maybe some of you will understand it too. But you have to watch it to find out..You can watch this movie with feelings of disgust, scorn, helplessness and sadness. But this move made me personally, empathise with Sid and Nancy, two lost children in a vast world, searching for something that can't be found. And although many punks made it through the seventies, supress your contempt when watching this movie, and feel sadness for those who didn't.
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| Rating | | | Date | March 18, 2005 | | Summary | Save the romanticizing for fiction... this movie sucks | Content
| Hey, screw "artistic license" when it comes to biographies. OK, creating composite characters and blurring fine details in order to make a greater illustration of someone's life is fine, but this movie turns the life of Sid Vicious and his idiot girlfriend, Nancy, into some arthouse cinematographic pool of afterbirth. Besides the portrayals of Johnny Rotten and Malcolm McLaren (Sex Pistol's singer and manager, respectively), the persons invlolved become mere charactures... the scenes of Sid's "life" become mere anecdotes, and the metaphores come close to "stoner logic" (meaning, if you're stoned enough, you wont care if the meaning is overly obscure.... kind of like Pink Floyd's "the Wall"). In the end of the movie, one is left with more questions than answers... the one that might stand out: " what was I thinking when I bought this DVD?" |
| Rating | | | Date | March 10, 2005 | | Summary | Had potential, but messy | Content
| I watched this movie for the first time last year with my Sex Pistols obsessed friend. Some of this obsession having rubbed off on me, I knew how messy this movie was and she and I both spent the entire movie in hysterics with laughter. In my own opinion this movie was pretty bad, but, if you ignore the facts that they got wrong, it IS a good movie and in my opinion should be manditory as part of any anti drug class. But that is besides the point. I am a fan of the Ramones and Dee Dee Ramone origionally wrote a song for the film, but after a falling out with the director it was taken away and given a spot on one of the Ramones albums instead. This song actually made me think of the movie differently. it COULD have been a very good movie had the mistakes been fixed. Most of all though, my problem is the ending. In the origional ending, Sid died. He killed himself. That was how it should have been. He did it, don't hide it. Its what happened, deal with it. Don't veil it behind stupid dancing children and pizza. Sid's mother was the one who gave the idea for the movies current ending, and for that I curse her. Sid and Nancy's ending prevents me from ever taking the movie seriously. I can't watch it without getting into a severe fit of giggles over the children and my inability to understand what they are saying. Just for the record though... why did Johnny's character have to be so annoying? and why did he have such short legs. and WHY IN THE WORLD WAS PAUL COOK SOME LITTLE CHUBBY CHILD. I mean, he wasnt really, but the actor looked like that. In conclusion I would like to express my agreement with John Lydon. Nancy wasn't annoying enough. Fat cow.
Gabba Gabba Hey. |
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