In the song "London Calling" off of the album of the same name, The Clash's enigmatic lead singer Joe Strummer spit, "Phony Beatlemania has bitten the dust" and, it had, only to be replaced by Joe Strummer's band. Nick Hall's intriguing documentary I Need a Dodge," explores Strummer's retreat to Spain, away from the Clash and the fact that they were becoming the new Beatles.
Though he was the son of a British diplomat, Strummer shunned the traditional British perspective. This was personified in his work with The Clash, probably the quintessential punk band. Where Strummer and his band mates succeeded was they were very talented musicians and could lay down a greater variety of tracks than just three chord crash derbys, ala The Ramones.
Strummer sought escape and ran to Spain and his freedom from the Clash and the pine box that was superstardom was represented in a Dodge. In the process of re-finding himself on the open roads of Spain, Strummer found a group of Spanish rock musicians to bond with and they recorded an album together. Nick Hall's craftily documentary melds together almost a Dodge infomercial with a man's quest to re-find his center. His true soul. The film fills in a missing piece of the Joe Strummer story
I Need a Dodge is a curious, sort of offbeat style of story aptly fits its subject. The deluxe edition is loaded with extras. Just make sure you have a cassette player. Otherwise, you might miss out on the famous radio mentioned in the film. If you are a fan of Joe Strummer and the Clash, this documentary is definitely worth a look. With it's extra good bag, I Need a Dodge is definitely worth it's money.
