ROGER AND THEM

Roger Ebert passed away today. You know who he is, right? He's the Chicago Sun Times film critic who, with Gene Siskel, invented the "two thumbs up" thing on their syndicated show "At The Movies". He also dabbled in screenwriting, notably for Russ Meyer's Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens, and Up!. (Meyer is on the left in the photo above, Ebert on the right) In 1977, Meyer again enlisted his help, to write the screenplay for a movie that was to feature the Sex Pistols, with a working title of Anarchy In the UK. During work on the film, Ebert suggested another title, Who Killed Bambi, and that was to be the title before Russ Meyer walked off the project due to ongoing disputes with Malcolm McLaren, the Pistol's manager. The film was later pieced together by Julien Temple and released with the title The Great Rock 'n' Roll  Swindle, with remnants of Ebert's screenplay still intact. It also included a song, sung by Tenpole Tudor, who was at the time being considered to replace Johnny Rotten as the new singer for the Pistols. The song was called "Who Killed Bambi".

This is as good a time as any to post Eberts' account of working with Meyer and the Sex Pistols camp. So here's a link to that post on his blog, and another to the original screenplay that he wrote for the film.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Read:
McLaren & Meyer & Rotten & Vicious & me at Roger Ebert's Journal 
"Who Killed Bambi?" - A screenplay at Roger Ebert's Journal 
If you must have music, try these:
Sex Pistols - Who Killed Bambi mp3 at 195.122.253.112 (?) (From the film The Great Rock n' Roll Swindle) 
Sex Pistols [sic]- Friggin' in the Riggin' mp3 at Joi Ito (From the film The Great Rock n' Roll Swindle) 
Sex Pistols - Pretty Vacant mp3 at Review Stalker 
Le Anarchie Pour Le UK (in French) mp3 at Stillerman.com (From the film The Great Rock n' Roll Swindle) 
Video: 
The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle trailer at YouTube 
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls trailer at YouTube
Visit: 
Roger Ebert at Wikipedia
The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle at Wikipedia