|
Post by Tosh on Feb 14, 2009 19:00:12 GMT -5
Rock 'N' Roll High School (1979)
Directed by: Allan Arkush Starring: The Ramones, P.J. Soles, Vincent Van Patten, Clint Howard, Dey Young, Mary Woronov
Before those commercialized Ramones tees hit Urban Outfitters, the band was big in a Grease-y sort of way (minus the Travolta and Newton-John star wattage) in Rock 'N' Roll High School. Directed by the Emmy-winning director of the TV show Heroes, High School follows the adventures of the punk-lovin' student body at Vince Lombardi High as they raise hell -- alongside the Ramones -- against the totalitarian academic regime out to destroy their movement. Keep your eyes open for an uncredited appearance by Darby Crash, lead singer and founder of The Germs, one of LA's first punk bands. Howard Stern, whose last big-screen venture was Private Parts, is set to produce a remake of Porky's as well as High School. But while writer Alex Winter figures out who will play the irreplaceable Ramones, revel in the original "Hey ho, let's go!" circa 79.
|
|
|
Post by Tosh on Feb 14, 2009 19:00:54 GMT -5
Blank Generation (1980)
Directed by: Ulli Lommel Starring: Richard Hell, Carole Bouquet, Ulli Lommel
Before starring in Smithereens and his cameo in Desperately Seeking Susan, Richard Hell cowrote this flick named after his band's seminal album. Nada (Carole Bouquet) is a stunning French journalist who enters a tumultuous relationship with Billy (Hell), a budding punk rocker whose life she is documenting in New York. German director Ulli Lommel takes you into the world of the old, dirty East Village underground, and fans of Richard Hell and the Voidoids will dig seeing footage of several live performances. Plus, who can resist a cameo by Andy Warhol?
|
|
|
Post by Tosh on Feb 14, 2009 19:01:31 GMT -5
The Decline of Western Civilization
Directed by: Penelope Spheeris Starring: Black Flag, The Germs, X, The Circle Jerks, Fear
Penelope Spheeris's project documenting LA's punk rock scene in the '80s is the most iconic portrayal of this era, with sequels chronicling the heavy metal scene and, later, so-called gutter punks. The raw interviews with bands like X, the Germs, Fear, and Black Flag are a testament to the chaos of the time. One of the most memorable scenes is an interview with toothy Darby Crash, who later committed suicide the day before John Lennon's murder. When Spheeris asks how he "keeps getting hurt," he replies, "Well, first, I did it on purpose to keep from getting bored."
|
|
|
Post by Tosh on Feb 14, 2009 19:02:20 GMT -5
Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains (1981)
Directed by: Lou Adler Starring: Diane Lane, Ray Winstone, Laura Dern, Marin Kanter, Christine Lahti, Steve Jonees, Paul Cook, Paul Simonon, Fee Waybill, Black Randy, Elizabeth Daily, Brent Spiner
Back before she was nominated for an Oscar, Diane Lane was an awesomely coiffed 15-year-old named Corinne Burns. Corinne reinvents herself from top to bottom and starts an all-girl punk band called The Fabulous Stains. Directed by Lou Adler, who exec produced The Rocky Horror Picture Show, The Fabulous Stains features Laura Dern, Ray Winstone, and Christine Lahti, along with members from The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Tubes, Black Randy, and The Metrosquad. It doesn't get more punk rock than this catalyst generation for female punks and riot grrrls Bikini Kill, L7, and Courtney Love.
|
|
|
Post by Tosh on Feb 14, 2009 19:03:06 GMT -5
Smithereens (1982)
Directed by: Susan Seidelman Starring: Susan Berman, Brad Rijn, Richard Hell
Susan Berman made her acting debut in 1982 as a ballsy Jersey chick trying to bust into the New York scene; along the way she becomes involved with a sweet Midwestern guy living in his van and an egotistical punk rocker played by Richard Hell. Smithereens, which screened at the Cannes Film Festival, was made just a few years before Seidelman's more famous take on NYC hustlers, Deperately Seeking Susan. With a screenplay by Trumbo's Peter Askin, a story by Seidelman, Askin, and Ron Nyswaner (The Painted Veil), and a soundtrack by The Feelies, it's a surprise this gem isn't more well-known. If you are especially observant, you might even catch Chris Noth's momentary cameo as a tranny hooker.
|
|
|
Post by Tosh on Feb 14, 2009 19:03:38 GMT -5
Suburbia (1984)
Directed by: Penelope Spheeris Starring: Chris Pedersen, Bill Coyne, Jennifer Clay, Timothy O'Brien, Wade Walston, Flea, Maggie Ehrig, Grant Miner, Christina Beck, Andrew Pece
Director and writer Penelope Spheeris, who directed the musical documentary series The Decline of Western Civilization, delivers a film about a suburban kid who trades monotony and an unhappy family to join street punks living on the fringes of society. Not to be mistaken for actors, real punk rockers were cast for the roles of The Rejected, as they call themselves, including Flea from The Red Hot Chili Peppers. The pack march through the suburbs is the movie's visual trademark: each punk -- one on crutches, another on a skateboard, and one who's just a little kid with a mohawk -- walk through the neighborhood in slow-mo to a bass-heavy soundtrack, which also features hard-rocking veterans like T.S.O.L., D.I., The Vandals, and The Germs.
|
|
|
Post by Tosh on Feb 14, 2009 19:04:19 GMT -5
Repo Man (1984)
Directed by: Alex Cox Starring: Harry Dean Stanton, Emilio Estevez, Tracey Walter, Jennifer Balgobin, Tom Finnegan, Olivia Barash, Susan Barnes
Cranky punk rocker Otto (Emilio Estevez) eats out of a can in the kitchen while his parents are seated on the couch, glued to the television. His mother calls out, "Put it on a plate son, you'll enjoy it more," to which he sarcastically replies, "Couldn't enjoy it anymore, Mom. Mm, mm, mm!" Otto stumbles upon the answer to his suburban alienation when he helps steal a car and gets sucked into the "intense" world of car repossession. Sid & Nancy's Alex Cox directs this bizarro mishmash of conspiracies, aliens, drugs, and stolen sushi. LA punk band The Circle Jerks appear as a lounge band in the film and also contribute to the classic soundtrack, which also features tracks by Suicidal Tendencies, Black Flag, Fear, and more.
|
|
|
Post by Tosh on Feb 14, 2009 19:05:12 GMT -5
Sid & Nancy (1986)
Directed by: Alex Cox Starring: Gary Oldman, Chloe Webb, David Hayman, Andrew Schofield
A strung out Gary Oldman plays the piss out of Sid Vicious in this punk rock romance. Sid & Nancy is full of quotable scenes (who can forget Johnny Rotten groaning, "Sex is boooring"), but one of the most memorable is the recreation of Vicious' video for his cover of "My Way." Like in the video, Vicious struts down a flight of brightly lit steps onto a stage screeching the Sinatra classic to a seated crowd of old money; after they applaud and throw roses at him, he takes out a gun and slaughters them all. In director Alex Cox's version, however, his beloved Nancy (Chloe Webb) is in the audience; Vicious pauses a moment before shooting her in the chest too. She slumps in her chair, but then, undaunted, the bleach-blonde Courtney Love look-a-like joins him on stage as the lights fade and they embrace. The Sex Pistols' notorious bassist was charged with Nancy's murder after she is found stabbed to death; a later scene imagines what might have happened and insinuates that Sid's overdose a few months later wasn't an accident. Initially, Oldman and then-unknown actor Daniel Day-Lewis were both interested in the part, but Cox (who also directed Repo Man and Straight to Hell) chose Oldman for his South London roots, because, like Vicious, he understood the desperation of getting out "at all costs."
|
|
|
Post by Tosh on Feb 14, 2009 19:06:10 GMT -5
Pump Up the Volume (1990)
Directed by: Allan Moyle Starring: Christian Slater, Samantha Mathis
"Do you ever get the feeling that everything in America is completely fucked up?" says the voice across the airwaves. Christian Slater plays Mark Hunter, AKA Hard Harry, a high school kid who starts a pirated radio station that broadcasts hard-talking, anti-establishment propaganda throughout the community. In school, Mark comes across as a quiet student, but on the radio as Hard Harry, he brings out the anti-social delinquent in every kid. However, the radio persona becomes a threat to the school's administration when a kid commits suicide and students start raising hell. What makes Pump Up the Volume so believable despite its high school angst shtick is Harry's raw, late-night conversations about loneliness, sex, and why you shouldn't give up, no matter how much it sucks to be a teenager. The fantastic post-punky soundtrack, featuring Concrete Blonde covering Leonard Cohen, The Pixies, Bad Brains, Peter Murphy, and Sonic Youth, doesn't hurt.
|
|
|
Post by Tosh on Feb 14, 2009 19:06:54 GMT -5
What About Me (1993)
Directed by: Rachel Amodeo Starring: Rachel Amodeo, Richard Hell, Dee Dee Ramone, Johnny Thunders, Nick Zedd
Rachel Amodeo stars and directs What About Me, a black and white indie about a woman who is orphaned and left to fend for herself on the cutthroat streets of New York City a few years after the Tompkins Square Park riots. The insane roster of local punk acts and characters, from the late Johnny Thunders to prolific Cinema of Transgression filmmaker Nick Zedd, gives this film tons of East Village street cred. Thunders also provides much of the soundtrack.
|
|
|
Post by Tosh on Feb 14, 2009 19:07:44 GMT -5
SLC Punk! (1998)
Directed by: James Merendino Starring: Matthew Lillard, Michael A. Goorjian, Annabeth Gish, Devon Sawa
Set in 1985, Stevo (Lillard) is a promising college graduate on the brink of Harvard Law School, but instead decides to ditch it all to party with his pal, Heroin Bob. SLC Punk! got a bad rap because of Lillard's spazzy hijinks in films like Scream and Scream 2 (and later roles in She's All That and Scooby Doo didn't exactly redeem him), but never underestimate the power of punk. The soundtrack -- which is full of Ramones' hits, The Vandals, Fear, The Stooges, Generation X, Dead Kennedys, and Minor Threat -- speaks volumes.
|
|
|
Post by Tosh on Feb 14, 2009 19:08:10 GMT -5
Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten (2007)
Directed by: Julien Temple Starring: Joe Strummer, John Cusack, Martin Scorsese, Bono, Steve Buscemi, Johnny Depp, Mick Jagger, Mick Jones, Steve Jones, Brigitte Bardot.
Director Julien Temple delivers an in-depth, celebratory documentary about The Clash front man Joe Strummer. Temple's homage to his late friend documents the way Strummer changed the face of music -- and so many fans' and friends' lives -- with interviews from legends and A-list stars, including John Cusack, Martin Scorsese, Bono, Johnny Depp, Mick Jagger, bandmate Mick Jones, Sex Pistols' guitarist Steve Jones, and Brigitte Bardot.
|
|