Movies

Watch a long-lost black-and-white gangster film by The Clash

The Clash made a black-and-white Italian noir gangsters movie? Yes, they did.

It dates back to 1983 shortly after drummer Topper Headon was kicked out of the band. The rest of the band wasn’t getting along, so Joe Strummer thought the best way to restore some unity was to try something the group hadn’t done before. His idea was this movie, which was largely improvised–there was no script–and completely silent.

Called Hell W10 (see what they did with a British postal code?), the film was directed by Joe on 16 mm film. The result…wasn’t good. That’s why it was locked away for years. In fact, it was thought to be lost when the film lab holding the footage went bankrupt and destroyed everything they had. Turns out, though, there was a VHS copy that landed in the hands of longtime Clash confident Don Letts. He cleaned it up and voila!

The cast features Joe as a racist cop, Mike Jones as Socrates, a crime boss, and Paul Simonon as some kind of thug/enforcer. Please enjoy.

(Via BoingBoing)

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

Alan Cross has 37999 posts and counting. See all posts by Alan Cross

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