Highly improvised and financed by the fledgling band themselves in 1981, Take It Or Leave It is a drama-documentary produced and directed by Dave Robinson of Stiff Records that explores how the members of Madness evolved from humble beginnings in Camden Town into a successful recording act with the “Nutty Sound”. Blurring the line between fiction and autobiography, and heavily improvised from taped interviews with the band, it captures the energy, eccentricity and youthful enthusiasm that helped define the band’s early identity.
It takes almost half the film for Suggs and Woody to join the group and for the sound to truly come together. This gradual development gives the story a sense of authenticity, charting the band’s evolution rather than presenting their success as an inevitable outcome. The filmmaking itself has a deliberately rough, grainy quality, rooted in the streets and locations that shaped their world. There is little sense of polish or retrospective glamour; instead, the film embraces an unvarnished approach that suits both its subjects and their origins.
A gig at Acklam Hall emerges as a pivotal moment, marking the transition from a group of kids jamming together to a more professional outfit. It is also part of a wider process in which the members learn to navigate disagreements and creative differences, gradually becoming a band capable of turning their individual personalities into a coherent musical identity. The London locations are particularly fascinating, grounding the story in a recognisable urban landscape and lending the film an additional layer of social and cultural texture.
Presenting the story as a fictionalised autobiography, with actors playing the supporting characters, gives Take It Or Leave It a distinctive sense of fun. We follow Suggs, Bedders, El Thommo, Chas Smash, Woody, Chrissy Boy and Barso as they find their feet, develop their sound and begin to establish themselves. The approach allows the film to play with the boundaries between performance and reality, building on the personality and visual inventiveness that Madness had already established through their records and music videos. Rather than simply documenting the band from the outside, it attempts to recreate their world from within.
The result is quirky, cheeky and full of character. The film also offers a glimpse into the way reggae crossed over into the white British music scene, mixing with ska and soul to produce the enthusiastic, infectious sound that became synonymous with Madness. This musical convergence is an important part of the group’s appeal, and the film captures something of the excitement surrounding a sound that felt distinctive without being detached from its influences. Its energy comes as much from the personalities involved as from the music itself.
The inclusion of the real band and recognisable real-life situations gives the film a documentary feel, even as it embraces dramatisation. The members are all young, with Suggs only 20 in 1981, yet their personalities are already recognisable as those they would come to embody in the public imagination. There is something particularly engaging about watching them at this formative stage, before success has fully taken hold. What begins as an after-school ruckus gradually develops into something more substantial: a band with a distinctive identity, a growing audience and a sound that genuinely counts.
Take It Or Leave It does not claim to offer the definitive account of how Madness achieved fame, nor does it need to. Its purpose is more modest and perhaps more fitting: to build on the work the band had already done through their records and promotional films, extending their personality and musical world into the medium of cinema. The result is an informal, occasionally ragged but engaging portrait of a band finding its feet, capturing the spirit of Madness at a moment when youthful exuberance was beginning to turn into something lasting.
This release in dual format offers audio commentaries from Chrissy Boy and Robinson, an engrossing booklet (first pressing only), and a crisp new restoration. You can also enjoy a variety of classic music videos – “One Step Beyond”, “My Girl”, “Bed and Breakfast Man”, “Night Boat to Cairo”, “Baggy Trousers”, “Embarrassment”, “Grey Day”, “Madness”, and “The Prince” – from the band and interviews from this year with Suggs, Bedders and the film’s director Dave Robinson.
A must for fans of the band, and of interest to popular music followers in general.
Take It Or Leave It is available on BluRay/DVD from 19 Oct from the BFI.