Performance

Performance is a British film made in 1968 but not released until (1970). It is directed by Donald Cammell and Nicholas Roeg. Chas (James Fox) is a "performer," an ultra-violent enforcer for an East London gang led by Harry Flowers (Johnny Shannon). Chas is involved in a particularly brutal attack that the boss has not specifically requested which angers Flowers. When the boss brings up the problem to Chas, pointing out that his enthusiasm has made him forget who he works for, Chas decides to leave his boss' employ. Being a mobster, Flowers is not particularly keen on this idea so he sends some hitmen to punish Chas for his impudence. After they brutally torture Chas, he murders one of them. As a result, Chas goes on the run, both from the police and from his former colleagues. Chas dyes his hair red and finds himself "a perfect little hidey hole" in the basement of a house owned by a reclusive, eccentric washed-up former rock star named Turner (Mick Jagger) who lives there with his female friends Pherber (Anita Pallenberg) and Lucy (Michele Breton). Chas and Turner are initially repelled by each other, but come to see that the worlds of the rock star and the gangster are not as different as they first appear.

(images from AnitaPallenberg.msn.groups, and by Cecil Beaton)