The Decline of Western Civilization (1981)
July 1, 1981Release Date
The Decline of Western Civilization (1981)
July 1, 1981Release Date
Plot.
Where to Watch.
Currently The Decline of Western Civilization is available for streaming online, rent, buy or watch for free on: Plex, Tubi TV, Fandor, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Cineverse, Midnight Pulp, Plex Channel, Amazon Video, Amazon Prime Video, Fandor Amazon Channel, fuboTV, Night Flight Plus, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Crackle, Pluto TV, VUDU Free, Shout! Factory TV, Freevee, Kanopy
Streaming in:🇺🇸 United States
Cast & Crew.
Alice Bag
Self
Eugene Tatu
Self - Light Bulb Kid
Claude Bessy
Self
Black Flag
Themselves
Dinah Cancer
Self
Exene Cervenka
Self
Circle Jerks
Themselves
Lorna Doom
Self
Fear
Themselves
Darby Crash
Self
Don Bolles
Self
Philo Cramer
Self
John Doe
Self
Lee Ving
Self
Brendan Mullen
Self - Owner - Masque
Greg Ginn
Self
Penelope Spheeris
Director
Chuck Dukowski
Self
Ron Reyes
Self
Steve Conant
Cinematographer
Pat Smear
Self
Greg Hetson
Self
Peter Wiehl
Editor
Keith Morris
Self
Nicole Panter
Self
Charlie Mullins
Editor
Jeff Prettyman
Executive Producer
Gordon Brown
Executive Producer
Media.
Details.
Release DateJuly 1, 1981
StatusReleased
Running Time1h 40m
Budget$100,000
Genres
Last updated:
This Movie Is About.
Wiki.
The Decline of Western Civilization is a 1981 American documentary filmed through 1979 and 1980. The movie is about the Los Angeles punk rock scene and was directed by Penelope Spheeris. In 1981, the LAPD Chief of Police Daryl Gates wrote a letter demanding the film not be shown again in the city.
The film's title is possibly a reference to music critic Lester Bangs' 1970 two-part review of the Stooges' album Fun House, for Creem magazine, where Bangs quotes a friend who had said the popularity of the Stooges signaled "the decline of Western civilization". Another possibility is that the title refers to Darby Crash's reading of Oswald Spengler's Der Untergang des Abendlandes (The Decline of the West). In We Got the Neutron Bomb, an oral history of the L.A. punk rock scene collected by Marc Spitz, Claude Bessy aka: Kickboy, claims that he came up with the title.
The film is the opening act of a trilogy by Spheeris, depicting music scenes in Los Angeles during the late 20th century. The second film, The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years (1988), covers the Los Angeles heavy metal scene of 1987–1988. The third film, The Decline of Western Civilization Part III (1998), chronicles the gutter punk lifestyle of homeless teenagers in the late 1990s.
In 2016, The Decline of Western Civilization was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry, being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".