“Filmed in 1978 and released the following year, Rude Boy captures the Clash and its fanbase right before the band shifted gears away from their punk background and released London Calling, their cross-genre masterpiece. Spliced between the 17 (!) full-length performances is the lolling narrative of Ray (Ray Gange), a dole-cashing, sex-shop employed yob who serves as the band’s roadie during a brief jaunt through Scotland. Ray’s story is the stuff of an Afterschool Special, metonymic of Britain’s youth falling prey to alcoholism and dangerous right-wing ideology, and is filmed in a minimalist, yawn-inducing verité style. The ‘Just Play The Clash’ special feature, which cuts out the dramatic scenes and just shows the concert footage, is a welcome one. While it’s no artistic tour-de-force, Rude Boy makes good some two decades later as an insightful depiction of punk’s collapse. …”
Slant
W – Rude Boy
“Rude Boy”: Late ’70s Clash concert footage mixed with racist right-wing roadie rants
amazon
YouTube: Rude Boy (Trailer)