|
Who Killed Nancy?
(2009)
On the morning of 12
October 1978 Nancy Spungen, the 20-year-old girlfriend of Sex Pistols
bassist Sid Vicious, was found dead in their New York hotel room having
suffered a single stab wound to the abdomen. A smack-addled Vicious was
arrested and promptly confessed to stabbing Spungen, with whom he was
known to have a volatile relationship, adding helpfully that he hadn’t
meant the wound to be fatal. Several months later he suffered a lethal
overdose of heroin provided by his drug-using mother and died before he
could go to trial, aged just 21. Case closed.
Or not. Pointing to
several inconsistencies within Sid’s police statement and acting on a
promise made to Ma Vicious some two decades prior, director Alan G.
Parker has assembled a rag-tag assortment of former bandmates,
acquaintances and hangers-on, all of whom are eager to offer their two
cents as to exactly what went down that fateful night at the Chelsea
Hotel. And that’s the main problem with this documentary: it’s all just
speculation. Perhaps Nancy did kill herself in an attempt to live out
some brazen death wish. Perhaps one of their dealers or junkie friends
did her in after an argument about drugs. Maybe Vicious was so high he
committed the act unknowingly. Whatever the case he apparently stepped
over her bleeding and near-lifeless body on his way to a methadone
clinic that morning, only bothering to call the police after discovering
her dead upon his return. This latter titbit, if true, hardly points to
his innocence. I don’t know about most fellows, but if I awoke to find
my girlfriend bleeding to death in the bathroom after having evidently
being stabbed by a drug dealer, I’d be on the blower to the fuzz quick
smart.
The film offers several
plausible alternatives, but none of these prove definitive and by the
halfway mark the same conjecture ends up being pointlessly rehashed
ad nauseum. At thirty years remove and with Sid’s prompt if addled
confession, Nancy’s death still seems to be an open and shut case of
tempestuous, drug-fuelled love gone awry. Having authored several books
on the ill-fated rocker and with no signs of slackening Parker seems
firmly convinced otherwise, however there simply isn’t enough evidence
to paint a convincing alternative and any attempt to do so is, as
mentioned, merely idle speculation.
Who Killed Nancy?
may prove a worthwhile diversion for fans
of the Sex Pistols or the London punk scene, but ultimately lacks the
broad appeal of previous documentaries like The Filth and the Fury
and fails to maintain momentum for anything approaching its
90-minute running time. Most of the footage of Vicious has appeared
previously, though the film does contain some rare stills and the DVD
has over 90 minutes of special features.
Special Features
Sid Vicious Backstage at
the Roxy
Interview Outtakes &
Additional Footage
‘No One is Innocent’
Book Launch
Leon Hell performs ‘Fast
Track to Hell’
Alan G. Parker’s Story |
