Sid and Nancy (1986)

Director:

Alex Cox

Writers:

Alex Cox (screenplay) and
Abbe Wool (screenplay)

Release Date:

7 November 1986 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | Music

Tagline:

Love kills

Plot:

Morbid biographical story of Sid Vicious, bassist with British punk group the Sex Pistols, and his girlfriend Nancy Spungen...

Plot Keywords:

Sex | Sex Pistols | Sid Vicious | Nancy Spungen | Bassist

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 4 wins

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Gary Oldman	...	Sid Vicious
Chloe Webb	...	Nancy Spungen
David Hayman	...	Malcolm
Debby Bishop	...	Phoebe
Andrew Schofield	...	John
Xander Berkeley	...	Bowery Snax
Perry Benson	...	Paul
Tony London	...	Steve
Sandy Baron	...	Hotelier - U.S.A.
Sy Richardson	...	Methadone Caseworker
Edward Tudor-Pole	...	Hotelier - U.K.
Biff Yeager	...	Detective
Courtney Love	...	Gretchen
Rusty Blitz	...	Reporter
John Spaceley	...	Chelsea Resident

Also Known As:

Sid and Nancy: Love Kills

Runtime:

112 min | Australia:110 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Portugal:M/16 | Australia:R | Finland:K-18 | France:-12 | Netherlands:16 | Norway:18 | UK:18 | USA:R | Canada:R | Canada:13+ (Quebec)

Filming Locations:

Chelsea Hotel - 222 West 23rd Street, Chelsea, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Initial Pictures

Trivia:

One of the film's trailers was refused certification by the British Board of Film Classification

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When the police arrest Sid at the beginning of the film,he bites one of the police officers. When the officer replies, his lips do not match the words.

Quotes:

Sid: How do you spell "holiday"?
John: S-H-I-T.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Amazing Colossal Man (#4.9)" (1991)

Soundtrack:

Glued Up and Speeding

The greatest story of doomed love since Romeo and Juliet

Sid and Nancy is one of those rare films that has all the bursting exuberance of youth without all the negative side effects. There are no scenes that scream out "HEY LOOK AT US! WE'RE YOUNG, WE'RE TWISTED, DON'T YOU WISH YOU WE'RE US!?" Okay maybe it has a few, but none of them feel like they exist strictly for shock value, none of them feel the least bit contrived or unnecessary. That is what makes Sid and Nancy so great. Most film criticism stems from reaction to prior film releases. Reviewers like Siskel and Ebert tend to cling to comparisons as a safety blanket, and as an almost cop out for original thought. Director Alex Cox (Repo Man) tells a story of doomed love that tends to defy easy categorization. Its brilliant combination of ultra realistic biography and surrealistic conjecture create a film universe that had not been seen prior to its release. The film opens in a dingy New York City, Chelsea Hotel room. Sex Pistols bassist and Punk Rock icon Sid Vicious (Gary Oldman, in a staggering performance) is being questioned by police about the apparent murder of his girlfriend and world famous rock n' roll groupie Nancy Spungen (Chloe Webb, Twins, TV's China Beach). Smash cut to the punk rock era of 1977 London, where Sid meets Nancy in a world of anarchy and disillusion inhabited by kids who don't know quite what they are disillusioned about. After a brief first encounter there is no chemistry between these two classic lovers, but soon Nancy sees Sid at a Sex Pistols gig, jumping around on stage freely showing his lack of musical ability and its love at first sight. (Note: it is a documented fact that Sid Vicious barely knew two chords on the bass guitar.) When Sid, after asking Nancy to cop some heroin for him, bashes his head against a brick wall in a twisted attempt to empathize with her, Nancy's love is only reaffirmed by Sid's complete abandonment of personal safety. Before we know it the two are shooting up the drug, which immediately begins a cycle of codependency that only desperate youth could satisfy. So the question arises are they really in love? Or do they need each other to support their habit? Well the question is answered, at least in Alex Cox's eyes, in a scene where the Sex Pistols play a gig on a riverboat, which ends violently in a police clash with Sex Pistols fans. As the boat docks, the punk rock youth pour onto the dock to escape the Billy clubs. Sid and Nancy casually stroll through the chaos unscathed as if they know that their love will protect them. As corny as the above event my sound, Alex Cox quickly juxtaposes with a scene of pure brutal addiction where we get to witness one of the most frantic "fiending for drugs scenes" ever shot. Sid and Nancy's desperation does not only make us cringe, it also makes us laugh with a classic comic topper that has to be witnessed to gain full appreciation. There in lies the beauty of Sid and Nancy, a locomotive of a film that is always on the verge of jumping the tracks, but is saved at the breaking point by carefully placed contradictions that more often than not makes us laugh. As if the above were not enough to make an engrossing movie, the film is also a great example of integrating historical events into a story without distracting the viewer from the film's unifying themes. Sid and Nancy is a great anthology of the rise and fall of a social movement, which behind the spiked hair, and leather jackets, was a dead on assessment of the hypocrisy that existed in England and the United States circa the decadent 1970's.