Danny Garcia begins following and filming The Clash after their manager, Bernie Rhodes, has lifted the band to the heights of commercial success. Rhodes is ferociously competitive, blinding him to the idea that there is no place for success as he imagines it for The Clash. They’re part of, and play to, an angry underclass. They’re searching for an authentic voice (and find it, early on). But by the 1980's they’ve become stadium rock, their image looks bought not made, Mick Jones quits listening, quits collaborating, and Joe Strummer has a crisis of conscience.
Clash fans are the intended audience for The Rise and Fall of The Clash, but there is a lot here for anyone who likes documentaries, this one being a fantastic study into the nature of underground music and how messy things get for musicians when they careen into the mainstream.