The Decline of Western Civilization
All Films
•
1h 40m
Directed by Penelope Spheeris | 100 mins | 1981
Without doubt one of the great rock docs, Penelope Spheeris’s headily discordant portrait of West Coast punk—her directorial debut—showcases such hardcore luminaries as X, Black Flag, Circle Jerks, and Germs. As pure and pungent a time capsule as they come, it’s only fitting that the premiere—a jam-packed and rambunctious affair—was followed by a letter from the Los Angeles Chief of Police requesting that the film never be screened in the city again.
Up Next in All Films
-
The Decline of Western Civilization P...
Directed by Penelope Spheeris | 93 mins | 1988
The scummy, lightening-in-a-bottle Los Angeles punk scene that Penelope Spheeris captured in the first “Decline of Western Civilization” (1981) had morphed considerably by the time of this second instalment, nearly a decade later: the hair was bigger... -
The Decline of Western Civilization P...
Directed by Penelope Spheeris | 86 mins | 1998
After a detour into the high heady heyday of Sunset Strip hair metal in the second film of her essential social history of rock ’n’ roll in southern California, Spheeris returned to the hardcore punk roots of her first Decline, embedding herself amon... -
The Deep Blue Sea
Directed by Terence Davies | 99 mins | 2011
In a tour de force performance, Rachel Weisz plays a woman brought to breaking point after shunning her husband, a High Court judge (Simon Russell Beale), in order to pursue a passionate affair with a dashing but troubled former RAF pilot (Tom Hiddlesto...