Decline Of Western Civilization, The

[Nobody]

Decline Of Western Civilization, The By Lust del Carrion

Directed by: Penelope Spheeris
Released by: N/A
Approximate Running Time: 100 minutes
Rating: Unrated
Region Coding: N/A

Centered on the early '80s punk/hardcore movement, the film focuses on bands such as The Germs, Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Alice Bag Band, Catholic Discipline, Fear, and X.

The Decline Of Western Civilization is a film that shows the early '80s punk/hardcore movement of LA, with tons of energy. The film bounces back and fourth between hilarious and sometimes disturbing interviews, and loud, intense shows inside sleazy clubs. The live performances are some of the best. The shows put on by Circle Jerks, Black Flag, and X are definitely the highlights of the film. While entertaining, The Germs performance is just horrible, but it is mainly due to Darby Crash though. You can tell he is on drugs, and he is just all over the place. Fear's performance is also entertaining, and they make it their goal to offend as many people as possible with their music. They actually manage to almost start a riot before they even begin playing!

The interviews with the bands and fans are equally entertaining. While most of the interviews show that practically everyone is half-baked, there are some interviews, such as the one with Black Flag, which show us that there is actually some intelligence behind some of these bands. The interview with Darby Crash, and his story about the dead painter is very humorous, but the rest of the interview is an odd state between Crash's self-mocking humor and sadness as he talks about his drug abuse. It's no surprise that he died shortly after the film was completed.

Penelope Spheeris captured one of the most important musical times of LA, and made one of the best films to chronicle the punk/hardcore culture of the early '80s. Even if you are not into punk/hardcore, the film is still an interesting and compelling watch.

Unfortunately, The Decline Of Western Civilization has never officially been released on DVD, and the VHS release of the film is pretty hard to find. Hopefully this cult film will be released on DVD in the near future. It is definitely a film that must be seen, regardless if you are into punk/hardcore or not.

Extras

* N/A

Score

Film: 5 out of 5
DVD: N/A

[GL]

Because of the fact that I hate the second one, and that I'm not into punk/hardcore at all, sitting through an hour and a half of it doesn't sound like a fun time for me right now. Maybe in twn years when my musical tastes expand, but not now.

[Nobody]

Yea, I heard the second one was crap.

[Conan]

Black Flag was a great band. I would not watch it if they was not in it.

[Canetoad]

If you liked that LdC you would definitely get a kick out of The Filth and the Fury - on the rise and fall of the Sex Pistols. Fantastic film!

[Nobody]

Sweet. I will look for that man.

and yea Conan, Black Flag is an incredible band. X and the Circle Jerks are really good too.

[HNT]

This is an excellent film. I saw it back in the day and haven't seen it anywhere since. As fr the second one, it's alright. Not as good as the first, because the 80's metal scene blew, not becasue the doco was poorly done. If you interview a bunch of hair metal bands and Ozzy and Kiss they sill all come off like a bunch of morons because they are. the movie isn't bad just because the music is

[Nobody]

Yea, I get what your saying. I hope all three will get released eventually.

[GL]

hotnoodletuna said:

This is an excellent film. I saw it back in the day and haven't seen it anywhere since. As fr the second one, it's alright. Not as good as the first, because the 80's metal scene blew, not becasue the doco was poorly done. If you interview a bunch of hair metal bands and Ozzy and Kiss they sill all come off like a bunch of morons because they are. the movie isn't bad just because the music is

Well, for me, if you're gonna do a Metal documentary then load it up with Hair Metal (my flesh crawls having to utter that) and only three groups who could be called Metal bands (Ozzy, who sucked at that time anyway) KISS, who I still have a hard time calling a Metal band, and Megadeth, who I never really liked at all, it was just a giant pain to sit through. The new one, Metal: A Headbangers Journey, is far better, because there's far better music to cover.

[HNT]

I've seen that one too, GL. The music is definitely better, but the film itself was not particularly well done. Penelope Spheeris is a very good film maker and treated those bands with more class than they deserved. THe end result is a film that has anthropological significance, even if only as a reminder of how mch that era in music sucked. THe first oe is way better, though, because the music in question is fantastic as well.

[Nobody]

Indeed. The music is excellent, and has actually gotten me more into punk.

[undeadwillfeast]

I've never seen this one but my uncle has the soundtrack and I listened to it and thought it was cool. The second one,on the other hand, sucks hard. They call it the metal years yet they talk to all these hair bands. The only cool parts were Alice Cooper, Lemmy, and the last 20 minutes with Megadeth. The part with Chris Holmes from W.A.S.P. is both funny and depressing.

[Nobody]

Yea, that is what I have heard about the second one mostly, but Im curious to check it out. You should definitely check this one out.

[HNT]

The part with Chris Holmes is pretty much the best part in the film. It was incredibly depressing, but very captivating. Somehow it managed to treat a completely lame alcoholic douchebag with both sympathy and dignity Impressive film making. Like I said, I just wish the subjects of the doco deserved the level of quality treatment that the film gives them