Watch The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle (1980) Free Online

Release Date: 1980

Cast: Steve Jones, Mary Millington, Glen Matlock, Irene Handl, John Lydon, Paul Cook, Malcolm McLaren, Sid Vicious

Categories: Movies, Mockumentary, Biography, Documentary, Punk rock, Rockumentary, Music

The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle (1980) is a mockumentary film directed by Julien Temple and produced by Don Boyd and Jeremy Thomas about the British punk rock band Sex Pistols. Guitarist Steve Jones plays a detective who - through a series of set piece acts - uncovers the truth about the band. Drummer Paul Cook and bass guitarist Sid Vicious play smaller roles, and the band's manager, Malcolm McLaren, is featured as "The Embezzler", the man who manipulates the Sex Pistols. Fugitive train robber Ronnie Biggs, performer Edward Tudor-Pole and actress Irene Handl also make appearances. The... MORE

The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle (1980) is a mockumentary film directed by Julien Temple and produced by Don Boyd and Jeremy Thomas about the British punk rock band Sex Pistols. Guitarist Steve Jones plays a detective who - through a series of set piece acts - uncovers the truth about the band. Drummer Paul Cook and bass guitarist Sid Vicious play smaller roles, and the band's manager, Malcolm McLaren, is featured as "The Embezzler", the man who manipulates the Sex Pistols. Fugitive train robber Ronnie Biggs, performer Edward Tudor-Pole and actress Irene Handl also make appearances. The movie tells a stylised fictional account of the formation, rise and subsequent breakup of the band, from the point of view of their then-manager Malcolm McLaren. In the film, McLaren claims to create the Sex Pistols and manipulate them to the top of the music business, using them as puppets to both further his own agenda (in his own words - "chaos"), and to claim the financial rewards from the various record labels the band were signed to during their brief history - EMI, A&M, Virgin, and Warner Bros. Records. The footage was filmed in early - mid 1978, between singer John Lydon's departure from the LESS