Linkshoch Wonderful Movie

Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

GamerTab That was an excellent one.

ChicRawIdol A brilliant film that helped define a genre

FrSallyBowles Let's not argue about what is and isn't punk, it's very unpunk.This is a superb documentary that deserves to sit beside Jon Savage's book England's Dreaming as thorough punk rock history, well researched and presented. The study of the interplay between NY and London illuminates much of why things happened as they did even if it does tend to prejudice NY punk over the more politically charged London punk.This doco should have appeal to anyone interested in social and cultural history. For the enthusiasts, an amazing array of talking heads bring their own take on those years and the archival footage used is an absolute treasure.Punk remains an important moment in history that is still little understood and subject to very many prejudices. This documentary is an important foundation stone in understanding where punk came from, why it seemed to go so badly off the rails and how much a little chaos effected the world we inhabit today.SPOILER: Siouxsie Sioux looks more gorgeous than ever. ;-]

DYLARAMMA Let's spend five minutes with the dictators and only show them playing "search and destroy" and later one up that History of RocknRoll Punk Episode by by skipping the first four years of Black Flag so we can look at a long haired Henry Rollins as we switch back to Minor Threat and immediately wind up turning down interviews with Rolling Stone with Fugasi. Then we can do that same mistake jumping strait to Nirvana...all of a sudden Limp Biscuit was on the screen...That's when I had to change the channel...thinking back now they spent five minutes talking about how every one in England hung out in Don Letts bedroom...it get's a four only for the live footage of Velvet Underground.

Local Hero I am always dismayed to see the conceptions many people have of punk rock, so I was elated to find a film that finally hits the nail on the head: Don Letts' "Punk: Attitude." I think I have seen every punk documentary out there, but this is the first film that, in my opinion, finally gets it right. If you want a good, solid overview of the history of punk, and, more importantly, if you want to understand the true essence of punk at its best, this is the film to watch. As the film's title suggests, punk rock was and is always a socio-political attitude, first and foremost. Safety pins, haircuts, instrumentation, tempo: these are not the criteria of true punk. Attitude -- political, social, artistic -- is what matters. Perhaps a mention of the L.A. band X was merited, but once one begins to quibble...

John McGraw Letts tops himself, and I didn't think that was possible after his excellent documentary on The Clash. This is the finest broad survey of punk ever. It suggests that punk is an attitude at the heart of rock, which existed before there was a "punk rock" per se. As soon as "punk rock" appears, you have little scenesters making necessities of virtues, imposing orthodoxies that undermine the freedom that the music longed for or expressed. Tons of interviews with the pantheon of punk royalty, but it is often the forgotten geniuses who never made significant commercial indentation that have the most to offer. Punk also has the virtue of many short & tight tunes, so there is less excerpting of musical performances than one sees in 99% of music documentaries. Is there a soundtrack available?