Cast:
Bill Coyne (Evan Johnson), Chris Pedersen (Jack Diddley), Jennifer Clay (Sheila), Timothy Eric O'Brien (Skinner), Wade Walston (Joe Schmo), Flea (Razzle), André Boutilier (Peg Leg), Grant Miner (Keef), Christina Beck (T'resa), Maggie Ehrig (Mattie), Lee Frederick (Jim Tripplett), Jeff Prettyman (Bob Skokes), Don Allen (Officer Bill Rennard), Andrew Pece (Ethan Johnson), and J. Dinan Myrtetus (Sheila's father) Written and Directed by Penelope Spheeris (#238 - The Little Rascals, #806 - Wayne's World, #1019 - Dudes, #1657 - The Decline of Western Civilization, #1821 - The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years, and #1986 - The Decline of Western Civilization Part III)
Review:
"It’s an example of the kind of movies I should have been making for my whole career and I wasn’t able to."
Yes, The Decline of Western Civilization (1981) is a punk rock documentary that one can find plenty to appreciate for its look within the punk rock scene and the documentation done by someone with the guts to just let it all hang out in Penelope Spheeris, but it was not the kind of film that screamed audience favorite. So, she set out to make a punk narrative feature, one that would take inspiration from various stories she had seen and heard, whether that involved roaming dogs or a house abandoned (apparently it was like that because the housing tract had been seized through eminent domain in order to help build a freeway). The film came about at the hands of a guy name Bert L. Dragin that apparently wanted to make movies (such as the one as presented to him by Spheeris when showing the script) because he had made considerable money as a furniture chain owner, albeit one that would like a partner to help cover the costs of making a fairly cheap movie. Naturally, this led to Roger Corman, who agreed to help with financing. Of course, because it was made with Corman as a producer, he was behind some of the ideas present in the film when it comes to what Spheeris defined as having to "either have sex or violence every 10 minutes". Interestingly, Dragin would become a director for two films of his own with Summer Camp Nightmare (1987) and Twice Dead (1988), with Spheeris co-writing the script with Dragin for the former. The film did not get much of a release besides a few festivals, but Spheeris maintains pride in the film, even once stating that she would be happy if one remembered her for this film (as opposed to Wayne's World); her next film after this was The Boys Next Door (1985).
The cast (with a few exceptions) were basically a collection of street youths and punk musicians that Spheeris recruited under the belief that it was better to try and get them to have them there and try to act rather than cast a bunch of actors and try to make them sound like punks. Perhaps not surprisingly, you can hear a few bits of live punk rock music throughout the film from bands such as D.I., T.S.O.L., and the Vandals (and yes, that is indeed Flea as a cast member in the same year he became a founding member of Red Hot Chili Peppers, although he is present in the film mostly involving rats - apparently people). Oh sure, it's not hard to find movies about wayward youths that find their own sense of family within others around them. But you sure won't find many films that ride the line of shock value and interest in the behavior of those that are shaped by the thing that surrounds them in suburbia that might as well be the second level of hell. The 1980s might have been a prosperous time for some, but it sure wasn't the easiest time for those who were left adrift and scattered in the streets to fend away. It isn't a case of judging a book by its cover, because, well, they are no angels, it is merely a case of trying to figure out how the hell the book got to be the way that it was in the first place. One is not there to watch a cry of sympathy of the punks but instead a lament for the circumstances that drew them there in the first place that happens to have a few moments to grimace or chuckle with along the way as the makeshift family hurtles towards inevitability. There are the rejected punks and the rejected when it comes to those with supposed "values" that like to discuss plans in a strip club or shoot at stray dogs (time flies when calling it in the name of "citizens against crime"). Some of the acting is hit and miss, such as with Coyne, who basically is lost in the shuffle once it gets to the group, although Clay is fairly decent. Of course, it really is a movie straight for the vibes as opposed to a collection of strong acting, and only Pedersen really strikes it best when it comes the contradictions that arise from calling oneself "The Rejected": one that would rather be around punks than his stepfather...cop. Allen in that regard, as the one sane adult figure (namely in recognizing the wasteland that folks around the suburb are wallowing in), is efficient in that regard to contrast the simple threat presented by Frederick and Prettyman that are stock but on point. If you squint hard enough, one might find a bit of The Wild One (1953) when it comes to rebels that, well, nobody tells them what to do, which in one memorable sequence involves trying to attend a funeral of one of their fallen that ends with a rough-and-tumble when the truth hits a bit too close. As a whole, it is a messy movie in the ways only a punk rock movie would make sense to be messy that doesn't try to play easy sympathy for its lead figures but instead looks at the wasteland and the ones that arise from suburbs turning from an idea of haven into a mirage. Its a rough film that rides on vibes for quite the curious experience.
Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.
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