FYI

Mick Jagger Stars In ’Performance’ - Now On DVD

Mick Jagger stars in ’Performance’ - Now On DVD! Original uncut Theatrical version debuts on DVD 5th March 2007 from Warner Home Video. Performance makes its long awaited arrival onto DVD for the first time. This psychedelic British classic explores the dangerous world of an East End gangster played by James Fox and the hedonism of a drug-fuelled rock star played by an unforgettable Mick Jagger.

Performance marked the directorial debut of Nicolas Roeg (Don't Look Now, The Man Who Fell To Earth) and co-director Donald Cammell (Demon Seed), who also wrote the experimental screenplay - citing Francis Bacon, Nietzsche and Jorge Borges as inspiration. The film owes its distinct visual style and cult status to the successful collaboration between these two filmmakers.

Made in 1968 and released in 1970, Performance was extremely controversial in its day due to the explicit scenes of sex, violence and drug taking. So many myths surround the film that it has become a modern movie legend.

There are tales of Keith Richards keeping a jealous eye over girlfriend Anita Pallenberg while she filmed sex scenes with bandmate Jagger, lab technicians so shocked at the sex scenes they refused to develop the film and people vomiting during screenings. Although Roeg has enjoyed a long and critically acclaimed career and continues to make films, Donald Cammell tragically committed suicide in 1996.

Set in swinging sixties London, James Fox plays Chas Devlin, a gangster with a talent for violence and intimidation, who in underworld terms, is a "performer." Mick Jagger is Turner, a reclusive rock superstar whose home becomes a hideout for Chas. In this spellbinder of illusion and reality, decadence and decay their worlds collide - and the impact is both exotic and explosive. The soundtrack features music from The Rolling Stones, Ry Cooder, Randy Newman, The Last Poets and more.

Special Features: Featurette "Influence and Controversy" (25 mins approx); 1970 Vintage Featurette "Memo from Turner" (5 mins approx).

source :: jazz press service
© 2005 jazz news :: home page

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thanx NICOS.
i love this movie and am absolutely thrilled it's being released onto dvd...
i haven't seen it in ages, but i did see it like a dozen times many years ago...
i think it's a really important film, irrespective of the boyz amazing career,
and i am so happy that generations of fans will now be able to have it.

Can't wait to see it.

Remember the amazing performance of Gone Dead Train by Randy Newman it's coming out of my headphone right now

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I'm anxious to see it again...

If I remember correctly... it was rated X when it came out in 1970. Is that possible? I assume that it's rated R now. Is it?

can't remember exactly but I think it was 18 back in 1970 although I was 16 and I saw the movie back then

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It was rated X when it came out in 1970. I was 13 and took the train into town with a friend. We didn't think we'd pass for 18, but we decided to give it a try anyhow.

"Performance" was in its first run in Philadelphia, in some run-of-the-mill, run-down theater in Center City. We saw that inside the ticket booth was a middle-aged woman... she would surely see that we were only 13. We approached the window cautiously. The lady looked at us and said "Can I help you?" "Um... We.. can we see the movie?... 'Performance'?" I managed to get out.

"Do you have three dollars and fifty cents?"

"Yes..." we answered.

"So ok then..." she said, matter of factly.

Will there be extras On The DVD
GRTZ

steffiestones Wrote:
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> Will there be extras On The DVD
> GRTZ


________ yeah,, some coke and heroin........

i don't know if there will be any 'extras'...but the movie and soundtrack itself are like triple 'extra,'
"you're gonna have to trust me"
(it's rough justice on ya...)
but there IS indeed something extra, in that there is more to the story than is generally known or acknowledged. I didn't know about Cammel co-directing or the documentary on the movie (mentioned below,) but it seems like a 'must' to me personally.
someone started an interesting website for anita, and other icons of the time.
i left the link in an earlier post on this thread...
...oh gosh! or was it the anita thread that i left that link on???
duh...
i'll leave it again at the bottom of this one.
i am sorry but i can't find the author's name anywhere there to credit this rockin' soul; anyway:

from another page on that site, this is the Performance review that she, or possibly he, offers:

"The film that turned me into a Stones fan. There's really no way to explain this movie if you haven't seen it. You just have to watch it for yourself. It's a part of Rolling Stones history. It's a classic. There's a documentary about director Donald Cammell called "The Ultimate Performance" that is very interesting and adds a lot to the understanding of the film. Sometimes co-director Nicolas Roeg gets full credit for "Performance" when in fact it was Donald Cammell's vision. "The Ultimate Performance" has some interviews with Mick Jagger and James Fox (still a very handsome man, gracious, funny and full of good stories about how the experience of filming "Performance" changed his life.)"

some stills
[members.aol.com]

the anita site: "Stones Goddess"
[members.aol.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-01-14 10:01 by Beelyboy.

steffiestones Wrote:
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> Will there be extras On The DVD
> GRTZ

Special Features: Featurette "Influence and Controversy" (25 mins approx); 1970 Vintage Featurette "Memo from Turner" (5 mins approx).

this sounds really reassuring as there was a rumour that the version about to be released on DVD was the version with a lot of cuts of scenes hinting at Chas's twisted sexuality, plus the dubbing of both Johnny Shannon and John Bindon's voices amongst others. In fact the rather lame cut that Warner Bros released on video in the eighties.

But if this is the version shown on BBC2, or even better sourced from the same print shown in London's Electric Cinema a few years ago courtesy of the B.F.I. then we are in for a treat.

There was as has been indicated a lot of bad kharma around this film and although Donald Cammell was relatively teflon coated when the suits at Warner Brothers went into melt down mode when they saw the first screening of the film, the more career orienteatd Nick Roeg wasn't and other people who felt the full brunt of Warner Brothers wrath included Sandy Lieberson who had acted as a go between and helped persuade Warner Brothers to finance the film.

So a lot of re-editing was done mainly on the first half of the film to facilitate a speedier arrival at the flat of Turner/Jagger and in retrospect the creators felt that the film had ultimately benefitted from the at times subliminal series of flashbacks and time shifts that the editing had created as part of this process.

Mick Jagger who with the aid of Anita Pallenberg gave the very methodical James Fox a hard time, very much as in the film was more cautious of some of the other characters working on the set, particularly John Bindon, who was the real deal as regards East End gangsters with a short fuse.

James Fox's portrayal of Chas is still stunningly good and although Mick Jagger has never been a great actor, in Performance he is thoroughly credible as is Anita Pallenberg.

All in all a great British movie (and one that could never be made again now that the suits really do dominate the world of film making)- so I'm going to keep my fingers crossed and hope that this is indeed the "uncensored" version.

Although the truly uncensored version is really the stuff of legend and that one we're never going to see.

I love Performance!

In a way the 'suits' at warner brothers helped it to become the masterpiece that it is by insisting on editing and censoring it, if they hadn't the film as we know it would be very different.

A lot of the flash sequences are a direct product of the need for editing(ie to show Mick as early on as possible) and censorship. Even in it's censored form, it's still a very disturbing film in many ways.

I wonder how 'out there' the uncut version was!?

It would be very interesting to see the original cut as Donald Cammell originally intended to compare the two.

I DVD'd this from the TV when it was on BBC2 like a year ago. I watched it last night and had to turn it off.

Jagger looked cool, but the movie was godawful.

Performance marked the directorial debut of Nicolas Roeg (Don't Look Now)...

It was "Don't Look Back" and it was released in 1967.

"The wonder of Jimi Hendrix was that he could stand up at all he was so pumped full of drugs." Patsy, Patsy Stone

Performance was Cammells baby, Roeg directed the photography.

ps, it's Dont Look Now - 1973

German pressing



ROCKMAN

>>Performance marked the directorial debut of Nicolas Roeg (Don't Look Now)...

>It was "Don't Look Back" and it was released in 1967.

Uh, no. DONT LOOK BACK (no apostrophe) was directed by D.A. Pennebaker. DON'T LOOK NOW was Nic Roeg's third film as director (or co-director), after PERFORMANCE and WALKABOUT. (Folks who like PERFORMANCE above & beyond Mick's involvement should check out WALKABOUT, which is an amazing movie.)

Roeg directed Don't Look NOW in 1973, you got them confused.

mikey Wrote:
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>
> But if this is the version shown on BBC2, or even
> better sourced from the same print shown in
> London's Electric Cinema a few years ago courtesy
> of the B.F.I. then we are in for a treat.
>


Was looking at Amazon's pre-sale site, and it appears as if this will not be the BFI version. That is, we're getting a DVD of the VHS version. Also, no mention of any extras.

I also saw there a rumor that the edited-out Mick/Anita sex scenes were once shown in Amsterdam at a porn festival. Anyone heard that one before?

Karl

Seen the film over 25 times. Recently got the record. Sold the Performance poster to UK,s No1 Stones collector. Also have several on set photos. Lovely!

That's right Karl, you can find the story in some stones books.

Suprised there's no word of an audio commentary.

"You'll look funny when you're fifty."

[thepowergoats.com]

55 Rusty Wrote:
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> That's right Karl, you can find the story in some
> stones books.


Like to catch that on a double-bill with Tiny Tove.

NO MORE DON'T LOOK MOVIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PERFORMANCE is definitely one of those movies that actually lived up to all the hype. Thanks for the info NICOS.

The Mick/Anita clips were shown at a porn festival at the Kongresshall, Amsterdam and pictures printed in Oz magazine.

NICOS Wrote:
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> Can't wait to see it.
>
> Remember the amazing performance of Gone Dead
> Train by Randy Newman it's coming out of my
> headphone right now


Funny you should mention that - was just listening to it in my walkman this morning too. Fantastic song.