I was excited to see this title showing up on Netflix and I promptly rented it. I knew the movie was being made after reading some articles on various music related web sites that referenced it. I was always curious about Darby because I grew up in the late 70's and early 80's and I saw and read about him in many magazines I read at the time. I was an angst filled teenager in 1977 and I followed many of the punk bands that were born in the Los Angeles/San Francisco scene. I was also a skateboard freak at the time as were a lot of the punks.
I was never a big Germs fan thinking back. I had the album "The Decline Of Western Civilization" when it came out back then and I thought the Germs portion of the record was cool, but I was more of a Circle Jerks, Black Flag kind of guy. I respected the Germs contribution of course and I was amused by Darby's antics, but he always struck me as a Sid Vicious wannabe. I did the same thing. Sid was our hero, don't ask me why. Maybe it was because he was more the anti-hero.
Anyway, back to the movie. I have a lot of fond memories of the era and I thought this would be a nice trip down memory lane. I was mistaken. The actors were absolutely cartoonish to the point of laughable. The Darby actor was the only realistic character in the film to my mind, and that's being kind. The Claude Bessy was horrible and the Rodney Bingenheimer was atrocious. I mean Rodney is kinda weird anyway, but this portrayal made me groan OUT LOUD at how bad it was. Come to think of it, the whole movie sucked so much ass that I kept fighting the impulse to turn it off. Shameful and terrible film with the only good thing in the movie being some of the music.
If you want Germs info, read the books Lexicon Devil and We Got The Neutron Bomb and watch the Decline movie on Google.
I was never a big Germs fan thinking back. I had the album "The Decline Of Western Civilization" when it came out back then and I thought the Germs portion of the record was cool, but I was more of a Circle Jerks, Black Flag kind of guy. I respected the Germs contribution of course and I was amused by Darby's antics, but he always struck me as a Sid Vicious wannabe. I did the same thing. Sid was our hero, don't ask me why. Maybe it was because he was more the anti-hero.
Anyway, back to the movie. I have a lot of fond memories of the era and I thought this would be a nice trip down memory lane. I was mistaken. The actors were absolutely cartoonish to the point of laughable. The Darby actor was the only realistic character in the film to my mind, and that's being kind. The Claude Bessy was horrible and the Rodney Bingenheimer was atrocious. I mean Rodney is kinda weird anyway, but this portrayal made me groan OUT LOUD at how bad it was. Come to think of it, the whole movie sucked so much ass that I kept fighting the impulse to turn it off. Shameful and terrible film with the only good thing in the movie being some of the music.
If you want Germs info, read the books Lexicon Devil and We Got The Neutron Bomb and watch the Decline movie on Google.