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The Decline of Western Civilization

6.9

186

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Sequel:

The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years

Original title: The Decline of Western Civilization
Year: 1981
Running time: 100 min.
Country: United States
Director: Penelope Spheeris
Screenwriter: Penelope Spheeris
Cast: Documentary
Music: Various
Cinematography: Steve Conant
Producer: Spheeris Films Inc
Genre: Documentary | Music Documentary
Movie Groups: The Decline of Western Civilization
Synopsis: The Decline of Western Civilization is an American documentary film filmed through 1979 and 1980. The movie was directed by Penelope Spheeris about the Los Angeles punk rock scene

Critics' reviews

"The performance footage alone makes this worthy of study by musicologists and historians. There are too many great scenes to mention."

David Fear: Rolling Stone
"A shrewd and engrossing documentary even for audiences who have absolutely no patience for the music it includes."

Janet Maslin: The New York Times
"A bracing, stimulating and technically superb close-up look at the LA punk scene, pic is pitched at a perfect distance to allow for simultaneous engagement in the music and spectacle"

Variety Staff: Variety
"A movie so pungent and filled with sweaty intensity that you can practically smell the rank body odour of the film's subjects as they hurl their bodies against each other in a frenzy of aggression"

The Globe and Mail
"'The Decline of Western Civilization' is the finest cinematic distillation of punk ever made, not simply as music but as ethos."

Jack Hamilton: Slate
"The live sets by X, Black Flag, the Circle Jerks, the Germs, and Fear, recorded between December 1979 and May 1980, still thunder after all these years; unfortunately so do the scene's racism, queer baiting, and utter despair."

J.R. Jones: Chicago Reader
"It's far from unmissable, but it's valuable rock history with some great noise."

Time Out
"Creatively edited and as insightful as any film can be about the lowest rungs of the music scene, this overview expertly captures the time and place."

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User history

The Decline of Western Civilization

1981

Penelope Spheeris

6.9

(186)