Watch The Decline of Western Civilization Part III For Free

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

The Decline of Western Civilization Part III: In the third of the Decline films, director Penelope Spheeris revisits the punk scene she illuminated in her first Decline film. Here she finds the struggle of street kids and young adults in West Hollywood trying to make it day by day, fighting off attacks from skinheads and following the ever decreasing number of punk bands that remain in the scene.The Good: Like her previous two films Spheeris highlights some bands and one of them is actually pretty good. Naked Aggression led by lead singer Kirsten Patches seemed like America's answer to Chumbawamba. The band even shows their not inconsiderable classical music chops. As Todd in the Shadows would say they deserved better.The Bad: In 1999 Rory Kennedy made a documentary about a family in Appalachia that had been beset by poverty for the last 100 years. Being the youngest daughter of Robert F Kennedy this was a topic that was close to her heart. Her film American Hollow would expose us to the real people behind the poverty and help bring in a new age of help for those folks dependent on handouts whom the American Dream had passed by.Unfortunately for Rory, her film features the laziest bunch of yokels this side of Jerry Springer. Rory simple didn't see it. One cannot watch her film and not think we need to cut welfare of yesterday and get these people a clue.Spheeris doesn't see it as well. Yes, the kids featured are broken. In reality, many of them are pretty horrible people. There is a scene where they all crash at a poor black man's apartment. He is in a wheelchair from an auto accident, doesn't drink and lives in a humble one bedroom. About sixty of these street hooligans pile in there as if it was a scene from Aronofsky's Mother!. They trash the place beyond recovery and the look of pain in the man's eyes is haunting. He just wanted a friend.Spheeris does her interviews like the previous two films and once again most of her subjects are understandably about as deep as a puddle. She seems interested in the dirt about how they left home but leaves some obvious questions on the table. Starting with why are they dressed in fashions that went out of style before they were born.In conclusion: Punk is long dead by the time the documentary starts. The bands, with one exception noted above, are barely garage bands and the fans are begging for a dollar to buy a pint of MD 20/20. Apparently, there are skinhead Nazis that prey on these youth but we never see one and Spheeris really drops the ball not getting one to sit down and tell their story.On some level, it is an interesting look at a slice of life on the margins but the combination of bad people and bad music make this an unpleasant ride. One wishes for a filmmaker who could see what she really was looking at.

I needed to clean my DVR for space and I saw I recorded this. Out of the hundred choices I had I started to watch this one, because I had much younger memories of the first film, I decided to watch this one 35 years after I watched it in a Midwest town I was driving through at the age of 17 or 18 transferring bases in the Navy. I was into punk back then but also into new wave more. There were like a dozen people my age in the theater, I had no luck finding a party afterwards and slept in my car in the theater parking lot before heading out on the road. Fun times. Anyway, as far as this film goes, I thinks it's pretty well made. There are a few grainy video scenes but it's acceptable. It's really interesting in that I watched it all, but I was interested in how this scene in 1998 was so different then the late 70- early 80's (I grew up in NYC so was slightly exposed to punk since I was 13). The politics has gone completely to the left wing, and it's like a political movement now in many regards. Before (to me), punk was rebellion against the grind of the working class, the band Naked Aggression (which has too much film time) was clear cut militant left, the whole burn everything down thing. I heard the band Fear in the film recording of Have Another Beer, but she didn't go to one of their concerts who I'm sure was touring at the time, they are definitely right wing. It would have been cool to see Fear's audience and contrast it with Naked Aggression's audience, probably a big difference. I just remembered that I had bought all the Fear CD's around the time this was made, I was in my late 30's and listening to Fear. It's also interesting for me to see the left associated with a lifestyle that is so depraved. These are young youth mostly but the older ones are really looking pretty grim after years of this lifestyle which probably includes things that will destroy your brain. Flea is interviewed also, he says basically that things suck on the streets now compared to the early 80's. He doesn't really elaborate much. The first singer for Black Flagg, Keith Morris, is also interviewed and he blamed the GOP, which I found amusing. Maybe he was railing against the state government at the time headed by Pete Wilson, but Bill Clinton was President, lol. Punk bands do that but it was lame that he went after the GOP like that. Good time capsule and if you are interested in punk music it is very interesting to watch. I was entertained. FYI, there is not much on Wikipedia about the people in this film but a blog of a women who interviewed Squid and Spoon the same time this film was made had a commenter say she killed herself in prison Sep 10 2001.

I remember seeing the theatrical trailer for this film in the theaters around seven years ago. It probably only lasted in the theaters out here for about a week and then the film disappeared entirely. I even recall finding an interview with Penelopy Spheres in a magazine somewhere around that time too. I guess I was pretty eager to see the film, but missed it. Anyhow after seeing the film for the first time today, I must say I was a bit disappointed. It seemed as if everything that was weak about the first film (namely the lame outsider questions) was all that remained in the third. How could the same film maker who made Suburbia and the first Decline be so far out of touch? I mean, she made it look like the only group doing shows in '97 was Naked Aggression. At one point in the movie she asks a kid what speed is, and then she turns around asks the same dude if his mom used to smoke it or shoot it. Whaaat? I thought you didn't even know what a tweaker was. Bascialy the the movie goes on like this, "Where are your parents? Do they like your hair? What's that in your ear? Let's interview a cop. Where do you see your self in 5 years? What's tweak? Doesn't that make you sad? Why don't you get a job?" It looked a lot like the only thing the director was really attracted to was the appearance of her subject, and in the end, even though the people in this film are are real, you kind of have to wonder how accurate this movie really is.

Before seeing this movie, i heard a bit of hype that it was the bell tolling the end of Punk. Now, i wouldn't attribute it with that kind of importance, but in defense of that statement, the music of the bands depicted in this installment of the "Decline of Western Civilization" series, pales in comparison to the music of the bands featured in the first of the series, (i.e. the Germs, the Circle Jerks). But, it must be said that this movie is more about the lives of a handful of homeless punks in LA. It is a touching film, despite Penelope Spheeris' constantly embarrassing and exploitive interviewing techniques. The punks in the film are too interesting to be exploited to the point of their own embarrassment, however, but i couldn't help but want to see their lives documented by a better, more trustworthy director.