Born to Lose: The Last Rock and Roll Movie focuses around founding member and icon guitarist Johnny Thunders. Like most documentaries of this type, it is very interview driven, with other icons Dee Dee Ramone and Wayne Kramer. We get to hear from other members of The New York Dolls such as Sylvain Sylvain which are some of the most interesting points of Born to Lose: The Last Rock and Roll Movie.
What really brings the magic out of Born to Lose: The Last Rock and Roll Movie is the spectacular live performances from The New York Dolls, The Heartbreakers and Johnny Thunders solo endeavor. Born to Lose: The Last Rock and Roll Movie would be tarred and feathered if the constant thread of excessive drug use was not discussed and presented in the film. You can really see when Johnny was “on” and when Johnny was “off”. But really, what is Rock N’ Roll but a spectacle, and Johnny Thunders can easily go down as one of the rawest and dirtiest of all time.
I have read from other accredited sources that Born to Lose: The Last Rock and Roll Movie is a very fragmented effort though and really does not lay out a coherent story of Johnny Thunders career and personality. As I am no expert here, I cannot verify that. All I can say is that Born to Lose: The Last Rock and Roll Movie is a wild and immensely interesting romp into the world of one of the most iconic and underrated musicians in Rock N’ Roll history who met a very untimely end.
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-Scott W. Lambert