The Decline of Western Civilization
| The Decline of Western Civilization | |
|---|---|
The film poster with Germs singer Darby Crash | |
| Directed by | Penelope Spheeris |
| Written by | Penelope Spheeris |
| Produced by | Gordon Brown Jeff Prettyman Penelope Spheeris |
| Cinematography | Steve Conant |
| Edited by | Charlie Mullin |
| Distributed by | Nu-Image Film (theatrical) Media Home Entertainment (home video) |
Release date |
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Running time | 100 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
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 Los Angeles Police Department chief Daryl Gates wrote a letter demanding the film not be shown again in the city.
The film is the opening act of a trilogy by Spheeris, depicting music scenes in Los Angeles in 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".