Review – “Rudeboy”
Rudeboy is a 1980 semi-autobiographical film about The Clash. Rudeboy tells the story of Ray (“rudeboy”), an affable, if diffident porn store worker, smart ass, and all around punk who manages to get a gig working as a roadie for the Clash. Rudeboy tries to put the focus on the Clash’s fans and the social environment in England in the mid to late 70’s by focusing on Ray and his interactions with the band and society at large. The film opens with a confrontational rally between the anti-nazi front (ie the socialists) and the authoritarians (forget what name they went by).
Check out the interview with Ray Gange in the special features if you get a chance. He explains a lot about how this film came about– he was working in a record store, and the guy who went on to produce Rudeboy was a regular customer. They chatted about music and society, and one day the producer mentioned that he wanted to make a film about the Clash. As it turns out, Gange was a close personal friend of Joe Strummer. He suggested the idea to Joe, and the rest is history.
About half the film is live concert footage of the Clash, and it’s the best part of the movie. The concert footage is absolutely amazing – a must see for any Clash fan. Most of it was recorded shortly after 1978’s “Give ‘em enough rope” album. The band is young, hungry, and full of energy – if someone told me this was their peak, I couldn’t argue much (even though 1980’s “London Calling” album had yet to be released). I had seen some of this footage elsewhere, but its so fresh and raw to me, particularly “White Riot, Safe European Home and What’s my name.” Absolutely classic.
The rest of the movie is, to put it midly, a complete mess. I think the filmmakers couldn’t really decide what direction to take it in, and it shows. This film is semi-autobiographical, in that Ray Gange really did hang out with the Clash, and some of the scenes aren’t scripted – it’s just Ray hanging out with the band and interacting with them. There’s a scene where Ray argues with Mick Jones about the absurdity of “black geezers showing up to sing white riot.” That scene is 100% real and unscripted (according to the interview with Ray). There’s another scene where, after the Clash play at the “rock against racism” concert, Ray takes the mike and shouts at the crowd. Also unscripted — someone just had a camera at this concert and captured that scene. There’s another scene where Ray is arguing politics with Joe Strummer — according to Ray, the director told him to just take the opposite position from Joe. That really confused me — Ray is supposed to be a huge Clash fan and devotee, and here he’s arguing the merits of capitalism vs. Joe’s socialist leanings. He also tells Joe in a later scene “not to put so much politics into his music.” I couldn’t understand how a Clash fan could feel that way (after all, politics is so central to the Clash) until I heard how this was scripted. What’s even more confusing is that Ray uses his real name in the film, even though a portion is scripted and thus he’s acting. The filmmakers also introduce a plot element where a black guy gets caught stealing, and is harshly interrogated by the police. I don’t know what message they were trying to convey, but that plot point went nowhere and had nothing to do with the Clash.
Every Clash fan should watch “Rudeboy,” if only for the concert footage. The rest? Most of it isn’t worthwhile, but there are a few gems, like the scene where Joe is jamming on the piano. Also, check out the special features, particularly the interview with Ray. There’s a lot of good information there.
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