Shakespeare References in Rock On Film

Fred Goodman’s Rock On Film: The Movies That Rocked The Big Screen contains a few Shakespeare references. The first is to Romeo And Juliet, with Goodman writing, “The story of Sex Pistols vocalist Sid Vicious and his partner Nancy Spungen would play liked a drugged rock and roll Romeo and Juliet – by turns toxic and romanticized – in Alex Cox’s Sid and Nancy” (p. 27). The next reference is to Julius Caesar. It comes in the section about This Is Spinal Tap. Goodman writes, “It’s rare that an in-the-know film comes to bury rather than praise rock” (p. 81). In the most famous speech of the play, Antony says, “I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.” In the section on Viva Las Vegas, Goodman mentions Kiss Me Kate (p. 100), which of course is an adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Taming Of The Shrew. And the final reference is to Romeo And Juliet. While talking about Cry-Baby, Goodman writes, “Think of it as the disrespectful Baltimore love child of Romeo and Juliet and Rebel Without a Cause pitting the drapes against the squares” (p. 179).

Rock On Film: The Movies That Rocked The Big Screen was published in 2022.