Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #60440 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-08-30
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 127 minutes

Amazon.co.uk
For their first film, the Clash could've easily cast themselves in the lead. The fiery foursome, however, were nothing if not unpredictable. Just as the little known Phil Daniels was the star of Quadrophenia - rather than The Who - he completely unknown Ray Gange is the star of the more vérité-like Rude Boy. The year is 1978 and England has gone to the dogs, with the National Front on the rise and rioting in the streets. Ray, as he's also known in the film, is a bleary-eyed punk, who works in a hole-in-the-wall Brixton sex shop. The 20-year-old blows off steam by going to see the Clash. Sometimes he hangs out with them. Eventually, Ray becomes their roadie, but the band fails to convince him that the left-wing has any more to offer than the right. "I don't think you should mix your music with politics," he finally tells Joe Strummer. "It annoys me." In this re-mastered and expanded edition, the quartet performs "I Fought the Law," "White Riot" with Sham 69's Jimmy Pursey, and 15 other songs, both live and in rehearsal. As for Gange, he isn't a great actor, but he's an engaging presence, and Rude Boy plays like a rambling cross between Alan Clarke (Made in Britain) and early Mike Leigh (Meantime). It may be fiction, but feels like fact, and the abundance of early material from the Clash makes up for any shortcomings. Extras include interviews (Gange, road manager Johnny Green, and co-directors Jack Hazan and David Mingay), four deleted scenes, two bonus live tracks, and two rare BBC performances. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

DVD Description
Rude Boy the movie follows punk Ray as he quits his job to become a roadie for the most exciting live band in the country – The Clash. Capturing The Clash during their Clash on Patrol and Sort it Out UK tours of 1978, Rude Boy is an unparalleled film document of one of the greatest ever British bands.

Special Features

• Interview with ‘Rude Boy’ Ray Gange
  
• Interview with Clash road manager Johnny Green
  
• Interview with filmmaker and cameraman Jack Hazan
  
• Interview with filmmaker David Mingay
  
• x 2 bonus live tracks (that never made the final cut)
  
• x 4 deleted scenes
  
• 1980 theatrical trailer
  
• 1980 30 second radio edit
  
• Just Play the Clash separate songs menu
  
• Clash discography with original sleeve artwork
  
• Clash image gallery
  
• The Clash live in Munich 3rd October 1977 – x 7 songs plus backstage interview
  
• Breakdown 1978 - Clash feature from Mojo 112
  
• Comrade Goodbye - a tribute to Joe Strummer from Mojo 112
  
• Original 40-page promotional fanzine from 1980

DVD Technical Information:

• Running time: 127 minutes (main feature), 100 minutes (special features)
  
• Region Code: 0 (All)
  
• Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
  
• Aspect Ratio: 16:9 Anamorphic Widescreen

Customer Reviews

The classic Clash movie in its ultimate format
"Rude Boy" is not a perfect film by any means - far from it - but it is a great document of the time and place it was made: late 70s London during the height of the punk movement and the other various social upheavals that British society was going through at the time. A quasi-documentary following a supposed "roadie" for The Clash (in reality, star Ray Gange was an acquaintance of the band but never actually worked as part of their road crew), the strongest sequences in the film are definitely the concert scenes featuring The Clash at their most intense, whether playing in front of a huge crowd at the "Rock Against Racism" festival in Victoria Park or in no less chaotic indoor settings like the Glasgow Apollo. The rest of the film is interesting but could likely not stand on its own.

Most true fans of The Clash will probably already have "Rude Boy" either on the previous DVD version or on VHS. What makes this edition worth buying are all the extras included: recent interviews with star Ray Gange, ex-Clash road manager Johnny Green and film-makers Jack Hazan and David Mingay, as well as concert footage from a gig in Germany in 1977. For those features alone, this is worth buying even if you already have previous editions of the film.

the clash rule
A pretty ropey film, although not without merit. The dvd is totally essential, however, for the extra "Just play the Clash" which, as well as the totally superlative footage in the film itself, gives you a couple of extra songs and the 18minute footage of a concert from Munich.

A must-have for the clash die-hards!
A record of 70's Great Britain which gave rise to The Clash. This is a unique chance to see The Clash live - raw,energetic, marvelous performances and "their way", in life and rock and roll. A bit slow in some parts, this movie will not disappoint any real The Clash fan, even though it's been more than 20 years since its first release.