The Decline of Western Civilization (1981)

Director:

Penelope Spheeris

Writer:

Penelope Spheeris (writer)

Genre:

Documentary | Music

Plot:

The Los Angeles punk music scene circa 1980 is the focus of this film. With Alice Bag Band, Black Flag...

Plot Keywords:

Live Performance | Cult Favorite | Racial Slur | Punk Rock | Violence

Cast

Alice Bag Band	...	Themselves
Alice Bag	...	Lead Singer, The Alice Bag Band
Claude Bessey	...	Catholic Discipline / Vocalist
Black Flag	...	Themselves
Don Bolles	...	Drummer, The Germs
Exene Cervenka	...	'X' - vocals
Circle Jerks	...	Themselves
Philo Cramer	...	Fear Guitar
Darby Crash	...	Lead Singer, The Germs
John Doe	...	'X' - vocals, bassist
Lorna Doom	...	Bassist, The Germs
Frank Gargani	...	Appears as Himself
Bill Gazzarri	...	Himself
Michelle Baer Ghaffari	...	Herself
Greg Ginn	...	Black Flag / Guitarist
Greg Hetson	...	Himself / Circle Jerks Guitarist
Craig Lee	...	Guitarist, The Alice Bag Band
Lucky Lehrer	...	Himself
Jenny Lens
Keith Morris	...	The Circle Jerks member
Nicole Panter	...	Nicole - Germs Manager
Phranc	...	Catholic Discipline / Guitarist
Ron Reyes	...	Black Flag / Vocalist
Roger Rogerson	...	Himself
Rick Schmidlin	...	Appears as himself
Derf Scratch	...	Bass player for Fear
Pat Smear	...	Guitarist, The Germs
Lee Ving	...	'Fear' vocals / guitar
X.	...	Themselves
Billy Zoom	...	Himself

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Not Rated

Company:

Spheeris Films Inc.

Trivia:

According to director Penelope Spheeris this film was financed by two businessmen who originally wanted to finance a porn film.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Prey for Rock & Roll (2003)

Soundtrack:

Manimal

Punk Rock Life from the inside

Before she made Wayne's World, Ms Spheeris documented the LA Punk scene with the kind of dead pan perspective that makes this the all time classic commercial punk rock documentary. Of course Target Video's concert footage of the Dead Kennedys or the Mutants live at a home for the insane are much better, but unless you live near Leather Tongue Video in San Francisco, you probably won't find those, so this one will have to do.

Best Irony: Members of a famous X-Punk band tattooing each other on a dirty couch while apparently under the influence of some processed opiate are talking about how pot makes hippies so pathetically passive that someone would come in and kick the shit out of them and all they'd say is "Bummer maaan." And then going on to a completely deadpan unemotional account of finding a dead guy in the back yard.

Definitely the best insight into the whole era. Sure The Great Rock and Roll Swindle is fun, but this one shows the whole scene unflinchingly from a neutral angle. The camera is on and everyone becomes an actor on their own stage.