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Writer's pictureJames Rutherford

'Sid and Nancy': The Cult Classic Depiction of Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen's Explosive Love Affair


Movie poster for the film Sid and Nancy starring Gary Oldman and Chloe Webb

“Sid and Nancy” (1986) is a biographical recreation of the brief, combative relationship between Sid Vicious (Gary Oldman), famed bassist for seminal British punk band "The Sex Pistols", and American party girl Nancy Spungen (Chloe Webb).


The storyline begins in 1977 as the band has already gained widespread notoriety for their provocative and controversial punk stylings, with Vicious and Johnny Rotten (Andrew Schofield) running roughshod throughout London, drug-fueled and hellbent on destructiveness. Once Sid meets Nancy, a heroin-addicted groupie, he is seduced almost as quickly by her as he is by the heroin she introduces him to—setting off a wildly quarrelsome and desperately co-dependent alliance between the two wayward souls.


Highlighted by absolutely stunning performances by both leads, British filmmaker Alex Cox's film evolves in tone from outrageous to contemplative and ultimately tragic, yet at its heart the film serves as a wonderfully perverse love story tied so inextricably to music history.

 

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