American Hardcore
by Paul Rachman
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DVD details
Actor: Alex Gonzalez (IX), Alvin Robertson, Dave Smalley, Dez Cadena, Vic BondiDirector: Paul Rachman
Brand: Unknown
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.0; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled)
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 100 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-02-20
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Sony Pictures
DVD Reviews of American Hardcore
DVD Review: I was there!
Summary: 3 Stars
In a theater watching this movie with my band and the pile of VHS tapes (lots of Target Videos) by the TV of the band house at the time was far more in depth and informative than this flick. This is pretty much The Bad Brains/Black Flag story with other bands squeezed in here and there. If you are already into hardcore music then nothing new is presented here. It was cool however seeing all those band logos stretched wide on a massive screen. The omission of the Dead Kennedys was glaring, but maybe they were too intelligent for what this film is trying to present hardcore as.
One thing thats bothersome is that the movie claims hardcore ended in the mid-80s when it never really ended. You can't tell me that when there are thousands of hardcore bands playing today with thousands of shows all over America in basements, VFW halls, warehouses, house parties, and even ole fashioned venues. And yes its still actual hardcore. This movie is without a doubt for those who thought punk started with The Ramones and ended with The Sex Pistols and know little more. If you are "in the %$#@" as a vet would say this is just another slap in the face as one of the few documents of hardcore very accessible to the public (no doubt its probably shown IFC or Sundance) that cofirms then denies its existence. Its almost infuriating.
Other than that you have interviews you've heard a thousand times or haven't, SST Records still criminally under-represented by its owner, HR too cracked out to make sense and lots of VHS footage any fan has already seen clumped together in an uneven mess. If you've no idea about the original wave of hardcore bands then I guess this is for you.
DVD Review: Excellent study and history with one GLARING omission
Summary: 3 Stars
This is a good documentary; well researched and put together. Unfortunately, the film-maker pretty much skipped over the Dead Kennedys. To me, this is almost inexcusable.
That being said, I would still recommend the DVD to anyone who was part of the scene in the early 80's or anyone who wants to know what it was all about.
DVD Review: ok
Summary: 2 Stars
An ok attempt at explaining what really happened during this era. Most of the concert footage was pretty unsatisfying for someone who was there. Bad Brains were depicted well and Keith Morris is always entertaining. The movie title references years 1980-1986 but I am not really sure why the only Gang Green concert footage was from 1987. There was no mention of Dead Kennedys, Social Distortion or Misfits which seemed strange. DVD Review: American Hardcore - The Special Features Make This Product
Summary: 5 Stars
American Hardcore is not a definitive history of hardcore music or punk rock. It's a documentary about a connected group of hardcore music scenes in cities across the USA. The documentary isn't only about the music but more about the culture of hardcore and the world inside and outside of the scene.
While there are some shortcomings to American Hardcore, all of them fade away once you start making your way through the special features. I will list both positives and negatives as I see them. But overall I still feel this movie is an important historical work.
To me, I think the filmmakers chose select musicians based largely upon a subjective definition of "hardcore" as a smaller part of the punk scene. As such, it is true that some groups were excluded. Yet it should be noted that there are other movies on the much larger punk scene. Legal issues surrounding certain groups also played a part in some of them being excluded. I think the criticism about the missing or lightly covered bands, while valid, has been over-emphasized.
When you watch this movie from start to finish as a sociological documentary on the hard-core culture, you will come away with a very good feel for the many different and diverse sub-cultures within the scene. That in and of itself is a great accomplishment.
One of the things we learn is the role of gay and minority musicians within the scene. This helps to eliminate the misconceptions about who made this music and who it was against. Another thing is also clear from the groups profiled in this movie: musicianship ranged from really poor to exceptional, and at the very top of that hierarchy was Bad Brains. The larger question of who was the "best" group is left untouched, which has created some backlash from hardcore purists who were expecting their favorites to be highlighted.
The Cons
The documentary itself could have been better edited. The film is made up of clips of different former hardcore scene members discussing aspects of the music and the times. There seem to be way too many cuts from one person to the next, and they often move too quickly. While they have their names repeatedly captioned, I found myself having to pause and rewind to catch a lot of the names.
The whole Reagan theme really seemed over-played to me. The political aspects of hardcore definitely come through as important. Yet it seems to be so much more than that. I believe that hardcore would have rebelled against whoever was in power.
One thing I have not seen mentioned was the very light treatment of hardcore music within neo-nazi and other extremist groups. It is mentioned, but a true historical context would have included the other side of the coin regarding how people of color and other groups were treated and perceived by many hardcore fans.
The Special Features
If I had to rate the documentary alone, it might have been a lower rating. Going through the special features turned out to be the treasure trove I had been looking for. These special features add 3 stars on their own, and if I could I would have given this 10 stars.
Of course there is a standard writer and director commentary feature that lets aspiring film students and other history junkies get some background on the movie.
There are also 6 included recordings of historic live performances, including:
1. MDC - "Corporate Deathburger"
2. Bad Brains - "Big Takeover"
3. SSD - "Boiling Point"
4. Void - "My Rules"
5. YDI - "Enemy For Life"
6. Jerry's Kids - "I Don't Belong"
Several other more recent performances were included from premier parties for American Hardcore, one from DOA and one from Circle Jerks.
And there is also a very nice feature about the photography of Ed Colver which is used in the movie. The fact that these pictures were taken with a low end camera and lenses is even more amazing and totally consistent with the scene and the way this music was made.
Even the included previews were awesome, many of them about movies I've already seen and several about other music related features that I'm definitely going to see now. Sony Pictures Classics has been doing really great work bringing specialty music movies to the market.
The real gems in these features are the deleted scenes. This footage alone could have been used to make another movie, and most of it was good enough that it could have been included in the movie. There is over 1 HOUR of this stuff! Truly amazing, and thank you to the filmmakers for including this here. All movie companies should take note and start doing this. These extra clips have tremendous historical value for anybody who needs to research this topic in the future.
Conclusion
Would it have been nice to have an entire history of all of punk rock including all of the better known bands? Yes, but that's not what this is. After watching this I was left with a much greater respect for Sony Pictures Classics for making this at all. It is very difficult to invest the time and money to acquire, produce, market and distribute a movie like this.
Those who were not hardcore fans perhaps may have more to learn from watching this. Not all hard-core fans will be pleased with the documentary, but all should appreciate this DVD version much more if they watch all the extras that are included.
If you love learning about music you have a lot to gain from watching this.
Enjoy!
DVD Review: Your cage is clean
Summary: 3 Stars
Good documentary, but leaving out Dead Kennedys and the Misfits is like doing a documentary on hippie culture and leaving out, I don't know, Jimi Hendrix and the Greatful Dead. I find mistakes that are this obvious really annoying. You wonder what the makers of the film were thinking. Another oddity is some bands getting as much attention as Minor Threat, or Black Flag. It's democratic giving everyone some time to tell their story and that's in the spirit of that scene, but there are some bands that were the primary influences and really got sh** going.
In anycase, AMERICAN HARDCORE serves as an incomplete and warped history, but it's an entertaining one. It is definitely still worth taking a look at if you have an interest in punk rock, for sure. I don't know how much someone with a basic familiarity with this culture will actually learn, but you'll enjoy seeing all these guys reminisce. Clearly the hardcore scene was one of the most vital and important culural movements of the last 30 years. I had to laugh at the comments made at the end about punk being dead. Tell that to some people I've known over the years! But, honestly I always had the sense that even they had to know the wave had peaked a long time ago.
Description of American Hardcore
Fueled by a ferocious soundtrack, director Paul Rachman's American Hardcore gives fans an all-access pass to the rise and fall of the U.S. punk scene, an explosive musical and cultural phenomenon that shaped everything from the grunge movement to the emo and pop/punk music currently riding the charts. Set against the conservative early '80s political landscape, American Hardcore chronicles the homegrown hardcore scene that was a swift kick in the head to corporate rock and mainstream complacency, as disaffected teens adopted the same collective credo - harder, faster, louder. From downtown warehouses to suburban bedrooms, the scene spread from city to city like wildfire, uniting bored, angry outcasts into an authentic underground revolution. A raw blast of politics, passion, and rage, American Hardcore features never-before-seen live footage from Black Flag, Minor Threat, Bad Brains, MDC, SSD, DOA, DRI, The Adolescents, 7 Seconds and many more, plus exclusive interviews with punk icons like Henry Rollins, Ian MacKaye, Keith Morris and H.R. (Paul Hudson).The history of hardcore punk--the tougher, faster, and more politically minded stepchild of the '70s punk movement that arose in the '80s--is examined in exuberant detail in Paul Rachman's documentary American Hardcore. Rachman's cameras careen across the landscape of the U.S. to trace the movement's beginnings in cities like Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and New York, and cherrypicks interviews with the musicians that helped shape its sound and impact, including Henry Rollins and Greg Ginn of Black Flag, H.R. (frontman for the highly influential, all-African American outfit Bad Brains), Ian MacKaye of Minor Threat (and now Fugazi), and many others. Hardcore's violent reaction against the Reagan administration and the complacent mindset of middle-class America is also detailed in countless performance footage clips and poster-art reproductions, which do much to dismiss the popular opinion of hardcore as nothing more than mindless hooliganism. Some fans may find the omission of certain bands a considerable oversight (San Francisco's lethally satirical Dead Kennedys are not mentioned only in passing), but for most punk devotees, American Hardcore will be vital and essential viewing. The DVD includes several deleted scenes and bonus performances, commentary by Rachman and writer Steven Blush (whose book of the same name provided the inspiration for the film), and a gallery of photos from photographer Edward Colver, who covered the hardcore scene in detail during its heyday. -- Paul Gaita
Stills from American Hardcore (click for larger image)
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