7.4 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
The Decline of Western Civilization III is a 1998 documentary film that follows the gutter punk lifestyle of homeless teenagers.
Director: Penelope SpheerisDocumentary | 100% |
Music | 96% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
English SDH
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Note: This film is currently available as part of the box set The Decline of Western Civilization Collection.
It’s kind of a quaint exercise to read through reactions from the general (elderly) populace whenever a new music craze seemingly “infects”
teenagers and other younger folks like a modern day St. Vitus’ Dance. Early 20th century movements like ragtime and even jazz were
regularly decried as being “jungle music” or similarly pejorative (and racially charged) terms. World War II era parents were left slack jawed
and scratching their heads at the ostensibly “hysterical” reactions of young Bobby Soxers to such phenomena as Frank Sinatra. A whole
series of dances like the Lindy Hop which arose during the Swing Era also convinced the over 30 crowd that mass hysteria had
overtaken the nation’s youth. The disconnect between staid parental units and perhaps admittedly slightly out of control teens only
increased when the 1950s gave birth to both easy listening (for the elders) and rock ‘n’ roll (for the kids), with such iconic figures as Elvis
finding their television appearances geographically centered above the waist so as to not incite riots. The early sixties gave rise to countless
parents demanding that their kids “turn that noise down,” even though to modern day ears that so-called “noise” is surprisingly tame and
well mannered. As the youth culture became a bit more pronounced (and probably more than a bit more arrogant), rock music became a bit
more aggressive as well, though the seventies were still content to wile away the hours with such decidedly non threatening acts as the
Carpenters, even if slightly more “dangerous” artists like David Bowie starting redefining what pop-rock and music stars could be like. But
sometime in the mid-seventies, the really iconoclastic kids starting listening to (and, obviously, performing) punk rock, an all out
assault on listening sensibilities that actually did make some parents’ worst nightmares come true, with actual riots breaking out at
concerts with fair regularity. Penelope Spheeris started documenting Los Angeles’ punk scene in 1979, capturing early performances by
future genre stalwarts like Black Flag, X and Circle Jerks. The Decline of Western Civilization premiered in 1981, and famously caused
such a ruckus in Los Angeles during its initial theatrical exhibition that police chief Daryl F. Gates sought to have it banned. If The Decline
of Western Civilization tended to portray a certain breed of underdog in the corporate music scene, 1988’s The Decline of Western
Civilization Part II: The Metal Years took the opposite tack, focusing on much better known and mainstream performers like Steven Tyler
and Ozzy Osbourne. Spheeris then ping ponged back to a more disadvantaged class for 1998’s The Decline of Western Civilization Part
III, profiling a variety of basically homeless kids who were at least tangentially connected to a renascent punk scene. Shout! Factory has
now assembled these three films, all
reportedly sourced from new 2K scans, while also providing a bounty of new supplemental features, including commentaries by Spheeris
(along with her daughter Anna Fox) and (on a separate commentary) Dave Grohl.
The Decline of Western Civilization Part III is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Shout! Factory with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. I'd personally rate this just slightly down the scale from The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years in terms of overall sharpness and clarity, and so would score this around 3.25 if I were able to. That said, this is an appealing if lo-fi looking presentation, one that's a bit soft most of the time, but which offers decent detail in the more brightly lit moments. Spheeris plays with stocks, with some black and white elements appearing alongside color moments, and contrast is generally quite appealing across the board. The palette in the color sequences is natural looking and reasonably well saturated. Grain is a tad heavier in this presentation than in the second, though nowhere near the levels seen in The Decline of Western Civilization. As with the other two films in this set, there are transitory issues with crush, especially in some of the first person confessional sequences which offer people in front of black backdrops.
The Decline of Western Civilization Part III features both lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 tracks. There's a bit more ambient environmental information in this film than the other two, something that at least partially populates the surround track's side and rear channels. As with the other films, the surround track offers a more spacious representation of the musical elements, while doing relatively little to the interview and confessional elements. Fidelity is very good to excellent on both of these tracks, offering good, clear renderings of both spoken word and music.
- Flea (480i; 6:19)
- Keith Morris (480i; 9:12)
- Leonard Phillips (The Dickies) (480i; 12:11)
- Rick Wilder (The Mau-Maus) (480i; 6:20)
- The Light Bulb Kids (480i; 9:18)
- Behind the Scenes (480i; 6:41)
- Gutterpunks (480p; 2:13)
- LA County Museum of Art Panel - Decline I and III (720p; 20:59) is an interesting roundtable which includes Spheeris.
- Premiere/Movie Introduction (480i; 3:45)
- Sundance Interview/Spheeris (480i; 6:09) is from 1998.
- Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 2:18)
The Decline of Western Civilization Part III is a bit of the "odd man out" in this trilogy, as a seemingly tangential element, the homelessness of the kids, turns out to be at least as compelling as any musical content. This is a fairly sad enterprise quite a bit of the time, something that not even the blandishments of the musical sequences can completely overcome. Technical merits are generally very good, and The Decline of Western Civilization Part III comes Recommended.
(Still not reliable for this title)
1988
1981
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