Sid and Nancy

Author

Alex Cox

Call Number

• DVD DRAMA (CEN, WSQ)

Edition

Director-approved two-DVD special edition.

Languages

English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing.

Performers

Gary Oldman, Chloe Webb, David Hayman, Debby Bishop, Andrew Schofield, Xander Berkeley, Perry Benson, Sandy Baron, Sy Richardson, Edward Tudor-Pole.

Publication Information

[Irvington, NY] : Criterion Collection, [2017]

Physical Description

2 videodiscs (113 minutes) : sound, color ; 4 3/4 in. + 1 booklet (15 pages : illustrations ; 19 cm)

Audience

MPAA rating: R.

Summary

In the lacerating love story Sid & Nancy, Alex Cox reimagines the crash-and-burn affair between punk s most notorious self-destructive poster children: Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious and his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen--brought to visceral life by brilliant performances from Gary Oldman and Chloe Webb. Cox turns his anarchic filmmaking style on the explosive energy of the London punk scene and the degenerate streets of seventies New York for this eviscerating depiction of excess and addiction. Through the lens of cinematographer Roger Deakins, the imagery goes from swooning to grimy, and the film's bleakness is balanced with surreal humor and genuine tenderness, making for an affecting, music-fueled vision of doomed love.

Notes

Title from container.

Originally released as a motion picture in 1986.

Special features: New, restored 4K digital transfer, supervised and approved by director of photography Roger Deakins ; alternate 5.1 surround soundtrack ; two audio commentaries: one from 1994 featuring cowriter Abbe Wool, actors Gary Oldman and Chloe Webb, cultural historian Greil Marcus, filmmakers Julien Temple and Lech Kowalski, and musician Eliot Kidd; the other from 2001 featuring cowriter-director Alex Cox and actor Andrew Schofield ; interview with Cox from 2016 ; England s Glory, a 1987 documentary on the making of the film ; infamous 1976 Bill Grundy interview with the Sex Pistols on British television ; rare telephone interview with Sid Vicious from 1978 ; interviews with Vicious and Nancy Spungen from the 1980 documentary D.O.A.: a right of passage ; excerpts from a 1976 episode of The London weekend show about the London punk scene ; excerpts from Sad vacation, a 2016 documentary about Spungen and Vicious.