Gary Dretzka
Noah Forrest
Leonard Klady
David Poland
Douglas Pratt
Ray Pride

In 1979, when the Clash recorded “London Calling,” the furthest thing on the minds of most rock ’n’ rollers was politics. Hair was important, boots were important, cocaine was important, groupies were important, not pissing off record labels was important … politics were a dead end, better left for folk singers.

Heroin had already claimed Sid Vicious, “Rock 'n' Roll High School” had introduced the Ramones to the Tiger Beat crowd and CBGB had become a tourist attraction. Michael Jackson was on his way to becoming the most valuable musical act in the world, and commercial radio stations had closed their playlists to anyone who couldn’t sell records to teenage girls.

“London Calling,” and the double album of the same name, rekindled whatever fire there was left in the rock world, by combining elements of rockabilly, punk, reggae and ska with left-wing politics and a genuine disdain for the status quo. Unlike the nihilistic Sex Pistols, who famously spat venom at the monarchy, hippies and "bloated" prog-rock acts, the Clash believed unvarnished rock-’n’-roll could be used as a catalyst for reform and cultural diversity.

It wouldn’t last, but “London Calling” sounded pretty good at the time.

Julien Temple's enlightening documentary, Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten, examines the political, social and cultural environment that spawned the Clash, with a tight focus on its charismatic co-founder, vocalist and guitarist. Among his many music-themed projects, Temple has directed three films about the Sex Pistols (The Filth and the Fury, The Great Rock ’n’ Roll Swindle, Sex Pistols Number One); videos for Janet Jackson, the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Whitney Houston, Tom Petty, Scissor Sisters and Luther Vandross; and features Absolute Beginners and Earth Girls Are Easy. Before Strummer’s untimely death in 2002 -- from an undiagnosed heart condition -- the two men had become close friends, as well.

“My movies aren’t necessarily just about music,” insisted the 53-year-old Londoner. “They can have gripping narratives and provoke thought. I want people to think while they’re watching the movies.

“Sometimes I enjoy annoying people, as well.”

Temple concedes that Strummer would have been the last person to endorse a documentary or biopic about his life. He first saw the potential in such a project while putting together Glastonbury, a music-filled recounting of the history and highlights of the long-running rock festival. It combined original material shot by Temple, fans and Nicolas Roeg, who was on hand for the inaugural 1971 event, with 1,500 flower children.

“Joe was performing with his new band, the Mescaleros, at Glastonbury in 1999,” Temple recalled. “At one point, he started whacking away at one of the BBC camera cranes that had gotten too close to him. I thought it would make a great moment in a film.

“There never was a memorial concert for Joe. I consider The Future Is Unwritten to serve as a legacy.”

The Clash and Sex Pistols tended to be lumped together in stories written about the London music scene in the punk era. Temple originally had planned to do a film on the formation of the Clash, but thunderous emergence of the Sex Pistols demanded immediate attention. Thirty years later, the footage he had already collected of Strummer’s 101’ers and Clash – opening for the Sex Pistols, at the time – would inform The Future Is Unwritten.

Temple was fortunate, as well, to be given access to family movies taken when the career-diplomat’s son was growing up in England and various world capitals. He was able to cull through a trove of drawings, cartoons, Post-It notes and scrapbook material stored in plastic bags, along with vintage publicity material, videos and news clips of rioting fans, squatters and right-wing protesters.

“Today, London is a multi-cultural scene,” Temple adds. “In the ’70s, though, it was a white-bread city. The Clash had a lot to do with opening up residents to embrace diversity.”

All the usual pressures associated with being rock icons worked against the Clash. Band members disagreed on creative direction, fans proved fickle and not terribly revolutionary, their record label had them in a stranglehold, and, of course, substances were abused.

The Future Is Unwritten wasn’t intended to be a cautionary tale, and it doesn’t point fingers. Nor, does it make Strummer out to be a saint.

Rather than insert talking-head testimonials throughout the documentary. Temple rounded up dozens of longtime friends, wives, musicians, artists, critics and acquaintances, and sit around large campfires to reminisce about Strummer. These scenes echo similar get-togethers Strummer coordinated at Glastonbury and in the hills outside his Somerset home. And, no, not all the memories were pleasant ones.

“Joe could be ruthless when it came to imposing his will on people, and he also would run away from negative situations he had created,” Temple allowed. “But, it was out of those contradictions and flaws that the music evolved.”

After the Clash dissolved, in 1985, Strummer would appear in such films as Alex Cox’s Straight to Hell and Jim Jarmusch’s Mystery Train; write soundtrack material for Walker and Grosse Pointe Blank; record solo albums; tour with the Pogues; and travel around the world hosting “campfires” and performing at music festivals. In appearance, he continued to favor the same look -- jeans, motorcycle boots, T-shirts and a reform-school hair-do – he adopted when he began busking for tips in tube stations and was known as Woody.

In 1998, while putting together the Mescaleros, Strummer also embarked on a radio project that would introduce tens of millions of BBC World Service listeners to a wide variety of ethnic, folk and roots music, as well as his favorite rock, soul and blues songs. Today, “Joe Strummer’s London Calling” would be a perfect fit for the Internet and the same satellite services that carry similarly eclectic shows hosted by Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and Joan Jett.

Such raucous hits as “London Calling,” “Rock the Casbah,” “Train in Vain” and “Should I Stay or Should I Go?” still can be heard on classic-rock stations around the world every 10 minutes, or so. Strummer’s “Johnny Appleseed” served as the theme song for HBO’s John From Cincinnati, and his take on “I Fought the Law” demonstrated just how much of a debt punk musicians owed the rockabilly pioneers.

Temple’s period musical, Absolute Beginners, which starred David Bowie and Patsy Kensit, has become a cult favorite, as has the pop-operatic “Aria,” for which interpreted “Rigoletto.” He’s had several flirtations with Hollywood – and vice versa – in his 30-year filmmaking career, but the zany sci-fi comedy Earth Girls Are Easy has been the only result.

Temple describes his next project as a “half-actioner, half-musical,” set in the future.

His trepidations about working in Hollywood seem justifiable.

“I was offered an opportunity to direct Speed Racer,” Temple recalled. “Johnny Depp and Nicolas Cage were cast, but the studio wanted Chris O’Donnell, who had just finished Batman & Robin. I was in England when the studio asked me to hop on a Lear Jet fly to Paris for the premiere, where I was supposed to get some kind of secret sign from O’Donnell about his willingness to do Speed Racer.

“It didn’t happen, but the amazing thing was hearing that the studio didn’t think Johnny or Nic would ever become movie stars. Neither was I told that a different script was being written at the same I was working on my version.”

By comparison, dealing with Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious must have seemed like a cakewalk.

November 2, 2007

- Gary Dretzka

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