Sid And Nancy

John Ritchie, a.k.a. Sid Vicious, ex-bass player for Britain's legendary punk rock band The Sex Pistols, is the subject of this fictionalized biography. The film opens with Sid (Gary Oldman) being questioned about the murder of his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen (Chloe Webb), and then proceeds in extended flashback to chronicle the destructive story of their love. Although it's questionable whether Vicious had any talent (and the film never claims otherwise), it is clear that Nancy was responsible for his losing his position with the Sex Pistols (not that he really cared), and for getting him started on heroin (which, unlike Nancy, he could not control). Despite the fact that neither Sid nor Nancy ever amounted to much as human beings, Director Alex Cox (Repo Man) and the two exceptional leads have made Sid and Nancy's story a powerful, albeit foolishly tragic, one. In fact, if not for the language and the occasional nudity, Sid and Nancy would be perfect for high school showing. Not for all tastes, Sid and Nancy still appeared on many critic's ten best lists, and deserves a wider audience. Highly recommended. (See SALVATION for availability).(R. Pitman) [Blu-ray Review—Jan. 31, 2011—MGM, 113 min., R, Blu-ray: $24.99—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 1986's Sid & Nancy boasts a great transfer with DTS-HD 5.1 sound. Extras include a “For the Love of Punk” featurette on the time period of the genre (16 min.), “Junk Love” on the real Sid and Nancy (16 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: an ‘80s classic that looks sharp on Blu-ray.][Blu-ray/DVD Review—Aug. 22, 2017—Criterion, 113 min., R, DVD: $29.95, Blu-ray: $39.95—Making its latest appearance on DVD and second appearance on Blu-ray, 1986's Sid & Nancy features a great transfer and an uncompressed stereo soundtrack on the Blu-ray release. Extras include two audio commentaries (one from 1994 with co-writer Abbe Wool, stars Gary Oldman and Chloe Webb, cultural historian Greil Marcus, filmmakers Julien Temple and Lech Kowalski, and musician Eliot Kidd; the other from 2001 with director and co-writer Alex Cox and costar Andrew Schofield), the 1987 “making-of” featurette “England's Glory” (31 min.), a 2016 interview with Cox (24 min.), “Sad Vacation” excerpts from the titular 2016 documentary on real-life subjects Nancy Spungen and Sid Vicious (15 min.), a 1978 phone interview with Vicious (14 min.), excerpts from a 1976 punk scene segment on The London Weekend Show (14 min.), interviews with Vicious and Spungen from the 1980 documentary D.O.A.: A Right of Passage (11 min.), a segment from Temple's 2000 rockumentary The Filth and the Fury! (3 min.), and a booklet. Bottom line: a definitive release of an indie classic.]