RudeBoy is a semi documentary semi drama starring The Clash.
Its the story of a drunken waste Ray (Gange) who works in a hallway of an adult book shop in London but wants to be a roadie for The Clash. He friends up with the band and makes it happen. We all know a Ray. Hes the pathetic drunk who tries to hard too be cool and fails. We feel sorry for him and just hanging out with him makes us want to take a shower in bleach.
The film takes place in 1978 amongst the race riots and National Front protests. There is a whole substory of racisim that you wont even be able to follow unless you were there, its a big waste but I suppose it may have gotten them some funding to call it a film.
Its amusing in 2011 to see how tame and quiet the ‘protests’ are. I suppose at the time of filming they thought they were getting a quality message but 30+ years later its rather tame.
I have always loved this movie and saw it first on USA networks “Nightflight” about a million years ago. I had a copy on VHS but hmm does anyone still have a VCR? I was honored to receive the DVD today and couldn’t rush fast enough to watch it.
Its great to have a memory trigger that makes you so proud. I’m insanely proud of my punk rock past.
As I watch this now maybe its obvious things have changed. I feel the generation gap right here in my room.
I can imagine there will come a day when I sit with my pink haired grandchildren and spew the stories of back in the day.
This film for cinematic value is a nightmare. Bad edits, poor sound quality and a plot that you cant follow at all. A cast that doesn’t really make sense and randomly throw out lines from a script that someone lost the pages to.
But there are scenes where Gange and Strummer discuss Sam Phillips which despite the shit script really make sense.
You see the semi evolution of The Clash, certainly of Joe. But they’re not actors and thankfully don’t even try. The story ends up with a drunken useless Gange getting tossed out of the roadie scene, they no longer want the freeloader. No one takes his seriously and no one likes him. Its sad but not really cuz he hasn’t changed since he began in the show.
But the thing is they don’t really dismiss him, cuz punks were still brothers even if they were assholes.
This new deluxe edition gives you the option of watching just The Clash and its tempting but give this a go all the way through its about 2 and a half hours long so bring food. What you’ll be treated to is a wasted scrap book of London 78 and The Clash’s vantage.
You’ll also be treated to the most fantastic version of “Safe European Home”, it will stop your pulse. Breathtaking.
Rudeboy is not a way to introduce yourself to The Clash if you’re not familiar with them. Go search out their music first.
This is a fans gift a treasured part of our punk rock history.