Sid and Nancy

Year:1986 - Zenith Productions  Director: Alex Cox  Screenplay: Alex Cox, Abbe Wool  Starring: Gary Oldman, Chloe Webb, Andrew Schofield, David Hayman, and Courtney Love

Alex Cox's Sid and Nancy is the tragic love story of The Sex Pistols' Sid Vicious and groupie Nancy Spungen.  As a factual portrayal of the life of Vicious and the Pistols the movie doesn't quite measure up. As a movie about obsessive love and addiction it has few equals. The movie opens with Sid being questioned by New York police in his Chelsea Hotel room where he had stabbed Nancy to death. As Sid stares blankly into space we are transported back to when Sid first meets Nancy in London.  Sid was the new bassist for the notorious punk band, The Sex Pistols, and Nancy was a heroin addicted groupie from America.  Rejected by Sid's mate, Johnny Rotten, Nancy latches onto Sid.  Sid takes an immediate shine to her.  Through Nancy, Sid tries heroin and he quickly falls in love with both Nancy and the drug. Nancy falls for Sid because he is the first guy who wants her around for something other than sex and drugs. Sid is blind to all of Nancy's flaws and sees only a woman who he terribly loves. A symbolic scene illustrating their relationship is where Nancy is sitting atop a speaker cabinet and Sid is kneeling below her, sucking her toes.

The band doesn't care for Nancy, seeing her as a bad influence on Sid, like Yoko for John Lennon. Sid is totally preoccupied with Nancy and heroin. Their relationship is like a high school crush; puppy love. They are absorbed with each other, desperately dependent on each other.  During an infamous promotional stunt; while all of Britain is celebrating the anniversary of the coronation of the Queen, the Pistols have rented a barge to perform "God Save the Queen"; Sid stays below deck, making out with Nancy. During the ensuing clash with police, Sid and Nancy stroll through the melee, oblivious to the world of chaos around them.

Johnny Rotten can see his best friend being consumed by drugs and makes a vain attempt to get him straight by having Sid visit a former heroin-using performer who now has cleaned up.  Rotten thinks that Sid will look up to the singer, Rock Head, and follow his example.  Vicious has nothing but disdain for Rock Head's pretentious lifestyle. Nancy and Sid act like little children, having pretend shoot-outs on the hotel roof.

Before embarking on an American tour, the band wants Vicious out.  His heroin use is affecting his ability to perform on stage. Even punk music has it's musical standards to uphold. Malcolm McLaren, their promoter and manager, insists Sid stay.  He knows the star-quality of the bassist. He thinks he can control Vicious' drug habit by keeping him without money and away from Nancy. The tour is a disaster. Sid is homesick for Nancy and stills finds a way to get high. The Pistols are nothing but a curiosity in America. To create the upmost controversy and garner needed press, McLaren has the band perform before hostile and violent audiences in the South. Disillusioned, Rotten breaks up the band.

Back in England, Sid embarks upon a solo career with Nancy as his manager. Completely confident in her man's abilities, she does everything to help get him jobs; even offering to sleep with promoters. Natural talent will get a junkie only so far, and the novelty of the ex-Pistol soon wears off. The couple travels to New York and hole up in the Chelsea Hotel. Ironically, Courtney Love has a small role as one of Nancy's junkie friends. Many times in the movie, Nancy reminds one of Love's own public drunken behavior. Sid and Nancy visit Nancy's family but is rejected by them. They know about her endless bouts with addiction. She cannot come to grips with the fact that she is an adult. With no one to turn to but themselves, they try several times to get straight. They always fail and are reduced to sitting in their hotel room all day and night, shooting up. The scenes of their dismal existence are very real and stark. Their life has been reduced to a living hell. This is shown metaphorically in a scene were the couple accidentally light their room on fire and then watch the flames in amazed detachment. After endless weeks of TV and drugs, Nancy gives up hope of ever escaping. She starts to hound Sid about committing suicide together. Eventually, Sid accidentally stabs Nancy who dies a slow death from her wound. The couple is too bound together and too high to seek medical attention for Nancy. A couple months later Sid overdoses. The movie ends with a wonderful fantasy sequence where Sid rejoins Nancy in a taxi and they drive off into the sunset.

The acting of Gary Oldman and Chloe Webb is Oscar caliber. Their portrayals of Sid and Nancy are never over the top. The romance seems genuine, which is a rare thing in movies today. It is clear that this film was close to director Cox's heart. He never loses direction of what the movie is about. Take away they drugs, take away the punk rock, take away all the modern trappings, and what you are left with is a classic love story of mythological proportions.

An excellent piece on this film by Jon Savage is no longer online. However, you might want to read his book on the Sex Pistols, "England's Dreaming : Anarchy, Sex Pistols, Punk Rock, and Beyond".

For Jenny Curtis' comparison of Wurthing Heights and Sid and Nancy go here.

Internet Movie Database

*The Sex Pistols rose to fame in the late 70's as the British punk movement's icons. Although not as talented as other bands of the era, the Pistols' antics and manager Malcolm McClaren's infamous marketing techniques were more than the British press could resist. The Sex Pistols' music sounds tame when compared with today's music. However, in the age of disco and arena rock, Johnny Rotten's lyrics and his crew's music were like a slap in the face. Banned by the BBC and almost all American radio stations as unlistenable, the Sex Pistols and the British and American Punk bands were just the defibrillation rock music needed in the '70's. Above all else, the Sex Pistols were fun. This fact is lost in the movie. Johnny Rotten is portrayed inaccurately as a very brooding and boring man. None of the harlequin qualities of the Pistol's singer are present in this interpretation. The hilarious silliness of Sid is not evident in Cox's film. In fact, the Pistols in Sid and Nancy seem very fashion conscious which they were not, (Sid in some rare concert footage is onstage wearing a dress and shower cap.) To the contrary, Rotten was known for his contempt of other bands', such as The Clash and The Jam, fashion statements. Only Malcolm McClaren's arrogant cynical quirkiness is wonderfully and faithfully portrayed by David Hayman. The film, however, is not a historical document, and not meant to be.  For an excellent film about the Sex Pistols and an interview with Sid and Nancy see D.O.A. back