Performance (1970)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Directors:

Donald Cammell
Nicolas Roeg

Writer:

Donald Cammell (written by)

Release Date:

4 September 1970 (Finland)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Fantasy | Music

Tagline:

See them all in a film about fantasy. And reality. Vice. And versa.

Plot:

Chas, a violent and psychotic East London gangster needs a place to lie low after a hit that should never have been carried out...

Plot Keywords:

Superstar | Gangster | Lie | Photograph | Tripping

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award.

Cast

James Fox	...	Chas
Mick Jagger	...	Turner
Anita Pallenberg	...	Pherber
Michèle Breton	...	Lucy (as Michele Breton)
Ann Sidney	...	Dana
John Bindon	...	Moody
Stanley Meadows	...	Rosebloom
Allan Cuthbertson	...	The Lawyer
Anthony Morton	...	Dennis (as Antony Morton)
Johnny Shannon	...	Harry Flowers
Anthony Valentine	...	Joey Maddocks
Kenneth Colley	...	Tony Farrell (as Ken Colley)
John Sterland	...	The Chauffeur
Laraine Wickens	...	Lorraine

MPAA:

Rated R for sexual content, nudity, drug material and some violence.

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

France:-16 | South Korea:18 | West Germany:18 (f) | Australia:R | Norway:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | USA:X (original rating) | Finland:K-16 (cut)

Filming Locations:

23 Lowndes Square, Knightsbridge, London, England, UK

Company:

Goodtimes Enterprises

Trivia:

Some of the 16mm footage of sex scenes were so explict that the film processing lab refused to develop it, referring to obscenity laws, and instead went on destroying it with hammer and chisel.

Quotes:

[Chas flicks his cigarette ash onto a rug]
Turner: That rug's over two hundred years old.
Chas: Yeah, it looks it.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in True Romance (1993)

Soundtrack:

Wake Up, Niggers

"Time for a Change"

Just recently released on DVD, this film is, no doubt, about to have a whole new group of fans.

Here, questions of gender and sexuality are marred by the influence of drugs in the hippie enclave of Powis Square in '60s London. After a rapid fall from power within local crime syndicate, James Fox flees the mafia and finds refuge in the eclectic house of Mick Jagger. Jagger is living the life of the failed superstar with a small entourage of women; a recluse, whose appetite for sex and drugs is fueled by his royalty cheques. When this young gangster stumbles into his house, Jagger involves him into his kinky games, transforming him into one of his own. There is plenty of subtext here, if anyone is interested in digging deeper.

Perhaps the biggest letdown of the recent DVD release is that it was released in mono Dolby. Seeing as the soundtrack was released on stereo CD, why couldn't the audio, at least during the music sequences, have been similarly remastered?

The Stones rarely played "Memo From Turner" due to their "women troubles" that stemmed from the film. Jagger was sleeping with Richard's girlfriend on the set, or something to that effect. Anyway, "Memo From Turner" was released on the album "Metamorphasis" in 1976. The intro on the 1976 version is great, but the 1970 version on this album is one of the hottest tracks the Stones ever recorded without Mic Taylor. This song proves to be one of the first music videos ever made, as it appears in its entirety in Roeg's film.