Product Details

• Actors: Nick Cave, Philip Chevron, Victoria Clarke, Elvis Costello, Johnny Depp
• Directors: Sarah Share
• Producers: Sarah Share, Cilian Fennell, Larry Masterson, Micheál Ó Meallaigh, Rod Stoneman
• Format: Anamorphic, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Mvd Visual
• DVD Release Date: April 22, 2003
• Run Time: 91 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00008R9LB
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #60,807 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "If I Should Fall from Grace - The Shane MacGowan Story" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

IF I SHOULD FALL FROM GRACE - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

55 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Certainly spins the yarn, June 4, 2003

By 

Scott Walldren - See all my reviews
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This review is from: If I Should Fall from Grace - The Shane MacGowan Story (DVD)

If I Should Fall From Grace is a great in-depth look at a man with the beautiful soul of an Irish poet combined with the arrested development of a London punk. We are of course, speaking of the one and only Shane Macgowan. Through much of the documentary it is quite obvious that our subject is teetering on the edge of passing out, but that doesn't prevent him from some brilliant moments of clarity and poetic commentary.

The documentary takes us through Shane's early days as a troublemaker at school, abusing pain pills, and eventually dropping out to later form the Nips (shortened from their true name so as not to appear sexist) where he fist began performing in England. Next we move on to the earliest days of the pogues and the real meat & potatoes of their repetoire. Shane and the other commentators give insight to how the songs came about, their production, and the eventual toll touring took on the band's health.

Next we move onto the Pogues at their peak, the "If I Should Fall from Grace with God" era, which is treated just as so in the film. Then begins the rapid decline of Shane's health, the band breaks up, yadda-yadda-yadda. Differing viewpoints are given, but nevertheless, Shane was put out to pasture.

While the film is chock full of great music videos and live performances with and without the Pogues, I feel that the director did not give any time to Shane's new band, the Popes. I had the pleasure of seeing them perform at Guinness Fleadh '98, and they are an equally vibrant band that seems to fit well with Shane's continuing self-abuse through chemistry. Perhaps their inclusion would have merely reinforced Shane's continued debauchery, but interviewing ex-Pogues, and none of the current line-up makes the film feel somewhat incomplete.

Nick Cave's commentary throughout the film was probably the most brilliant of all offerings, especially as we see Shane skipping lines and even nearly whole songs altogether (in bits & pieces) in the latter quarter of the film.

Interspliced throughout the film are bits of "Shane about town". Some scenes are very moving, in that he hasn't forgotten the down-and-out, or his family. Still, the film, especially the end, plays like a reason not to abuse substances.

All-in-all, I highly recommend this film. The good, the bad, and certainly the ugly are all rolled into one. If you're a lover of all things Irish, the story of Shane Macgowan is not one to be missed.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Paddy Public Enemy #1, June 17, 2003

By A Customer

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This review is from: If I Should Fall from Grace - The Shane MacGowan Story (DVD)

This is a vast improvement over the BBC's doc, THE GREAT HUNGER a few years back. The film makers here aren't rubbernecking nor deifying their dentally challanged subject. On the contrary, they succeed in giving you some insight into MacGowan's resiliant & unrepenting character. Sure, they talk about the booze & drugs. & Yes, MacGowan is suitibly lit up like a X-Mas tree in July throughout. But though his speech is garbled through booze, accent & lack of 2 front teeth, he is remarkably lucid behind the seeming haze. One of the more poignant moments comes when he hands all his cash to a homeless geezer, gently gesturing for the camera man to stop filming. They don't. He gets his revenge later when he playfully pokes the camera with a stick swiped from the Irish countryside. This is must have for fans due to the live footage alone. "Waxie's Dargle" captures the band in all their glory, while "The Irish Rover" shows MacGowan at his stately best. Among the interviews, Philp Chevron's are the most revealing, especially in regards to Shane's leaving of the band. While they wanted to branch out beyond Irish music, MacGowan wanted to stick to his guns. Ofcourse, the booze & dope were part of it as well, but that's nothing new. Nick Cave pretty much sums up the p.o.v. of this film when he says, "I have no right to admonish anyone for their drug intake". Rather than moralizing, this doc does it's candid best to reveal the man behind the drunken legend & pretty much succeeds. So hopefully, you'll walk away with a sense of respect, rather than tragedy. Rock's answer to Brendan Behan he may very well be, but the story's far from over.

21 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating, sad, September 12, 2004

By 

S. Harris (Spotsylvania, VA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: If I Should Fall from Grace - The Shane MacGowan Story (DVD)

This may be the best rock documentary ever made. If it isn't, it's certainly in the top 3. "If I Should Fall from Grace," is an excellent introduction to McGowan and the Pogues. It also cements in the viewer's mind the group's importance. I use the term "group" pretty generously. This was MacGowan's group, and he was the engine, as much as the other members thought it some sort of democracy (and there does seem to be bitterness between McGowan and the group).

"If I Should Fall from Grace" is also a sad affair. McGowan is a waste case, and in a shocking way. The only time he really lights up, shows there's still a brain left in that stew, is when he talks, quite intellegently, about the importance of the Sex Pistols, and the whole music scene of that time. Another interesting aside, is how McGowan views "Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash," which is a favorite album of mine. He's very so-so on it. Elvis Costello produced it, and McGowan essentially overprodued it. But you wonder if this is sour grapes, since Costello would take away the Pogue's bass player, Cait O'Riorden, and marry her. The rest of the present time in the documentary McGowan shuffles along, a lot like Ozzy Osbourne, mumbling, drinking, laughing like Aqualung on a park bench, with bottle nearby. McGowan's mate, Victoria Clark, seems less a lover now, and more a nursemaid. In contrast, interviews with Nick Cave, an admiring friend and contemporary of McGowan's, who was also a bad boy rocker, shows who made the right choice regarding drugs and booze. McGowan choice will probably send him to an early grave. It's impossible to imagine he has any music left in him. The video probably should had an R rating due to the awful state of McGowan's teeth, which seem to be rotting out of his head. But despite all of that, the great music clips from the past show the Music, the Man, and the Time, and this is director Sarah Share's triumph, and despite McGowan's current state, also his.