While attending the National Film School in London, British film director Julien Temple became fascinated with the emerging punk culture, particularly the notorious Sex Pistols, and made a sensational feature debut with "The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle" (1979), a gripping, anarchic account of that quintessential punk rock band. Variety (March 3, 1980) called "Swindle" the "Citizen Kane" of rock 'n' roll movies and gushed that it "represents the most imaginative use of a rock group since The Beatles debuted in "A Hard Day's Night." Following its success, Temple became established as one of the
First documented the Sex Pistols in his feature directorial debut, "The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle"; wrote screenplay and co-wrote title song
1981
Helmed "The Secret Policeman's Other Ball", a compilation of two concerts (both fundraisers for Amnesty International); also featured the Monty Python gang
1985
Produced, directed and scripted "Running Out of Luck", essentially a long-playing vidclip of Mick Jagger's album "She's the Boss"
1986
Directed "Absolute Beginners", an energetic, original musical set in 1958 London; received writing credit for three of the songs
1987
Wrote and directed the "Rigoletto" segment of "Aria"
