Rude Boy

Jack Hazan and David Mingay’s follow-up to their acclaimed David Hockney portrait A BIGGER SPLASH once again merges documentary and fiction, following roughneck Ray Gange as he drops his Soho sex-shop job to roadie for the Clash—the most revolutionary rock ’n’ roll band of the era, seen in this film at the dizzying peak of their powers. Ray, a difficult, sometimes reactionary subject and a foil to the band’s idealism, plays observer to the Clash’s legendary 1978 Rock Against Racism concert in London’s Victoria Park and their studio recording of “Give ’Em Enough Rope.” Set against a background of riots, antiracist demos, and police hostility toward Black British youth, this unforgettable, absorbing film portrays a UK on the brink of Thatcherism, and a moment when subcultural shock troops met those of a rising right wing in the streets.