Ask Glenn, March 2006
What movie is Johnny Rotten quoting in the Sex Pistols doc "The Filth and the Fury"? Glenn Kenny knows.
By Glenn Kenny
Q: In the Sex Pistols documentary The Filth and the Fury, there’s a scene in which Johnny Rotten describes many of the influences that went into his stage persona. One he quotes from a movie scene: “There’s nothing wrong with me.” Rotten says the phrase in perfect unison with the movie clip that’s shown. What movie is this, and who’s the star? —Marcus, via e-mail
A: Finally, I get a question pertaining to a movie that I actually like. Thanks, Marcus. The end credits of Filth, while ultimately useful, don’t provide a lot for even most serious Anglophiles to go on. (The comic influences Rotten cites are all British to the core, and hardly known in the States.) The film is 1963’s A Stitch in Time, starring the much-beloved-across-the-pond Norman Wisdom (who mines comedy and pathos in a style that recalls both Chaplin and Jerry Lewis). I was able to snag a DVD of the film off Amazon UK, but be advised it’s a Region 2 PAL disc that only works with compatible DVD players.
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