Documentary chronicaling the rise and fall of the punk movement with rare interview footage of Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen. Also concert and news footage.Documentary chronicaling the rise and fall of the punk movement with rare interview footage of Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen. Also concert and news footage.Documentary chronicaling the rise and fall of the punk movement with rare interview footage of Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen. Also concert and news footage.
Stiv Bators
- Self
- (as The Dead Boys)
Terry Chimes
- Self
- (as The Clash)
Topper Headon
- Self
- (as The Clash)
Tony James
- Self
- (as Generation X)
Mick Jones
- Self
- (as The Clash)
John Lydon
- Self
- (as Johnny Rotten)
Gene October
- Self
- (as Generation X)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaFilmed in 1978.
- Alternate versionsOn the 2017 MVD Rewind BluRay edition, music has been rescored. The original Iggy Pop studio recordings of "Nightclubbing" and "Lust For Life" have been swapped out for live versions of the same songs. The film's end credits, which previously featured Augustus Pablo's "AP Special," now features a generic reggae instrumental.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The Filth and the Fury (2000)
- SoundtracksNightclubbing
Performed by Iggy Pop
Written by Iggy Pop and David Bowie
© 1977 Bewlay Bros Music and Fleur Music Ltd and James Osterberg Music
Featured review
Padded punk rock picture
My review was written in April 1981 after a screening in Greenwich VIllage:
D. O. A." is the sixth film thus far attempting to use the defunt group The Sex Pistols to document the much-publicized punk rock movement of 1977-78. Director Lech Kowalski hits only the obvious point in his padded survey approach, creating an artifact of sociological interest only.
Pic focuses mainly on the Pistols' 1978 U. S. tour. Kowalski intercuts performance footage with lots of stray footage of freaked-out U. S. fans and camp followers, as well as no-nothing opponents of the new music fad. Pompous statements by Warner Brothers Records execs set the tone as helmer seeks out various straw men representing "the establishment" to expose as reactionaries. Chief amongst these are a tough-talking but hissable member of the Greater London Council who is opposed to punk rockers and a mercenary record store operator, Bleecker Bob.
Randomly inserted in the film are grubby sequences purporting to show contemporary England in a state of decay, while man-on-the-street interviews indicate punk may be an outlet for aggressions of unemployed youth in Blighty. The American fans, by way of contrast, seem merely out to have a wild time.
To achieve feature length, Kowalski pads the picture with footage of other punk bands, ranging from the genuinely exciting Sham 69 to the incompetent Terry & the Idiots. Leader of latter outfit, Terry Sylvester, is interviewed at length to boring effect, Hokey subtitles are superimposed to highlight the barely-intelligible lyrics of the Pistols' songs.
Pic's highpoint, as far as historians and black humor fans are concerned, is a morbid non-interview with Pistols' member Sid Vicious and his g.f. Nancy Spungen. As titles-over remind us, duo died in 1978 and 1979, and spectacle of watching a near-comatose Vicious lamely attempt to answer questions while Spungen yells at him puts "D. O. A." briefly into the "Mondo Cane" expose school of filmmaking.
Sound recording is poor for most of the film and blown-up from 16mm visual are murky.
Pic focuses mainly on the Pistols' 1978 U. S. tour. Kowalski intercuts performance footage with lots of stray footage of freaked-out U. S. fans and camp followers, as well as no-nothing opponents of the new music fad. Pompous statements by Warner Brothers Records execs set the tone as helmer seeks out various straw men representing "the establishment" to expose as reactionaries. Chief amongst these are a tough-talking but hissable member of the Greater London Council who is opposed to punk rockers and a mercenary record store operator, Bleecker Bob.
Randomly inserted in the film are grubby sequences purporting to show contemporary England in a state of decay, while man-on-the-street interviews indicate punk may be an outlet for aggressions of unemployed youth in Blighty. The American fans, by way of contrast, seem merely out to have a wild time.
To achieve feature length, Kowalski pads the picture with footage of other punk bands, ranging from the genuinely exciting Sham 69 to the incompetent Terry & the Idiots. Leader of latter outfit, Terry Sylvester, is interviewed at length to boring effect, Hokey subtitles are superimposed to highlight the barely-intelligible lyrics of the Pistols' songs.
Pic's highpoint, as far as historians and black humor fans are concerned, is a morbid non-interview with Pistols' member Sid Vicious and his g.f. Nancy Spungen. As titles-over remind us, duo died in 1978 and 1979, and spectacle of watching a near-comatose Vicious lamely attempt to answer questions while Spungen yells at him puts "D. O. A." briefly into the "Mondo Cane" expose school of filmmaking.
Sound recording is poor for most of the film and blown-up from 16mm visual are murky.
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- lor_
- Dec 31, 2022
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- D.O.A.: A Rite of Passage
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