Review of The Punk Rock Movie (1978) by Erica J — 11 Jan 2009

This is London punk circa '77 - not '78. Then DJ (and friend to the punks) Don Letts got hold of a video camera and had the intuition to catch the punk scene first hand as it was happening /evolving.

Ok, the footage is amaturish and inaudiable in places, but that's punk rock! Highlights include Sid Vicious' debut gig with the Sex Pistols (proving, rather shockingly, that he could actually play bass!), Billy Idol listening to himself sing and comparing it to Elvis and the scene where The Slits play at a school (a great idea).

I think that the DVD re-issue is different to the original version in that some of the songs have been overdubbed with the studio versions and new title cards have been added. I personally wish they had just left the original version intact.