The Decline of Western Civilization

United States

1981

100 Min

Color, Black and White

English

Currently 3.9/5 Stars.
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PROD Jeff Prettyman, Penelope Spheeris

CAST Black Flag, Exene Cervenka, Circle Jerks, Darby Crash, John Doe, Lee Ving

Synopsis

Penelope Spheeris‘s feature debut as a writer-director-producer was this insiders’ look at the punk music scene in L.A., mixing raw concert footage with interviews of band members, managers, fans, club owners, and others. A former “punk” herself, Spheeris effectively elicits their no-holds-barred thoughts on life, music, drugs, pet tarantulas, haircuts, dead gardeners, and… Well, you get the point. How interesting you find all of this will ultimately depend upon how intrigued you are either by subcultures in general, and/or with the punk movement, which we quickly learn is grounded in nihilism, anger, violence, and bigotry — all on ample display here. According to this documentary, punk fans and musicians seem to live for the moment when they can enter into a club and begin thrashing their emotions on their sleeve, harming others (and themselves) along the way as applicable. While Decline… is worth a look as an erstwhile cult favorite (and for the cultural footage it provides), it’s not must-see for all film fanatics — though I do recommend it for one-time viewing. —Filmfanatic.org

Director

Penelope Spheeris

Penelope Spheeris (born December 2, 1945) is an American director, producer and screenwriter. She is best known as a documentary film director whose works include the trilogy titled The Decline of Western Civilization. She has also directed feature films, including Wayne’s World, her highest grossing film.

Biography
Earlier life

Spheeris was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, to a Greek immigrant father who owned the Magic Empire Shows circus carnival and was a side-show strong man. Her mother was a ticket taker for a traveling circus side show. Spheeris is the sister of singer Jimmie Spheeris and the first cousin of musician Chris Spheeris, and the Greek-French director Costa Gavras, who she says makes her consider that there is something to the genetic aspects to the job description Spheeris spent her first seven years traveling around the American South and American Midwest with her father’s carnival. She majored in film and has a Master of Fine Arts degree in Theater… read more

Penelope Spheeris (born December 2, 1945) is an American director, producer and screenwriter. She is best known as a documentary film director whose works include the trilogy titled The Decline of Western Civilization. She has also directed feature films, including Wayne’s World, her highest grossing film.

Biography
Earlier life

Spheeris was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, to a Greek immigrant father who owned the Magic Empire Shows circus carnival and was a side-show strong man. Her mother was a ticket taker for a traveling circus side show. Spheeris is the sister of singer Jimmie Spheeris and the first cousin of musician Chris Spheeris, and the Greek-French director Costa Gavras, who she says makes her consider that there is something to the genetic aspects to the job description Spheeris spent her first seven years traveling around the American South and American Midwest with her father’s carnival. She majored in film and has a Master of Fine Arts degree in Theater Arts from UCLA in Los Angeles, California.

Career

Spheeris launched her career by producing short subjects for comedian Albert Brooks, many of them being highlights in the first season of the TV series Saturday Night Live. Her first feature film was The Decline of Western Civilization (1981), a punk rock documentary that she produced as well as directed. She followed up with The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years, this time about the Los Angeles heavy metal scene of 1988, with footage and interviews of legendary metal bands such as Kiss, Ozzy Osbourne, Aerosmith, Megadeth and Motörhead. She later returned to the streets of L.A. and the punk rock scene in 1998 for the documentary The Decline of Western Civilization Part III.

She was offered the chance to direct This is Spinal Tap, but turned it down, thinking it wasn’t possible to make fun of heavy metal.

In addition, she worked as a writer for the TV series Roseanne (1988-1997). In the 1990s, Spheeris directed Wayne’s World, a comedy based on Mike Myers’ skits from Saturday Night Live. The movie grossed $121 million and became a popular hit. She directed the Wayne’s World music video work for Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”, which earned a Grammy nomination. She had difficulty working with Myers, while acknowledging him as “profoundly talented,” and in an Entertainment Weekly article stated she believes Myers dissuaded Paramount Pictures from hiring her for the sequel.

In 1996 she directed We Sold Our Soul for Rock ‘n’ Roll, a documentary about the Ozzfest, produced by Sharon Osbourne. It explores life on the road.

Other films Spheeris has directed include The Beverly Hillbillies; The Little Rascals (for which she co-wrote the screenplay); the Chris Farley comedy Black Sheep; the Marlon Wayans-David Spade team-up Senseless; and The Kid & I starring Tom Arnold. In 2006 she was set to direct the as-of-yet still-unfilmed Gospel According to Janis, about Janis Joplin.

In 2010, she directed the comedy Balls to the Wall. —Wikipedia

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