D.O.A.

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.

Firstly, all credit to the makers for having the foresight to capture the Sex Pistols and the punk scene in it's element for future prosperity.

Whether you like punk or not, you can't deny it made a lasting impression on the music scene. This documentary is padded out with lots of additional footage in the form of an artistic montage. I would like to have seen more film depicting the punk scene on the streets and interviews in addition to the bands performing.

I don't think so much footage of 'Terry and the Idiots' adds that much value to the documentary. It would be nice to see an even longer alternative edit of this in restored quality HD. I imagine there's far more unused footage available.

As it stands, it's a unique visual record of the Sex Pistols in the USA but I feel it will mostly appeal to punk fans or curious onlookers. The making of D. O. A documentary is much better.

The film features not only punks and their performances, but also the reactionary times they played in. It's fascinating to see how threatened the powers-that-be felt, threatened by youth culture. (And it's too bad that the reactionary politicos of today are too secure to be threatened by any populist movement...)

"Why, why, why why why?!" Discharge may have had something else in mind when penning the lyrics to that classic crust-punk tune, but it's a question that comes to my mind each and every time I think about Lech Kowalski's semi-lost semi-classic, "D.O.A.-A Right Of Passage." (That's the way the title was misspelled on my bootleg VHS copy.) Why oh WHY has this flick never had an official DVD release??! The director received the "film classic" treatment from Troma for one of his lesser works, "Gringo," AKA "Story of A Junkie," so why not THIS one?

Yes,this includes a far longer version of the infamous "bed-terview" with Sid& Nancy than what was seen in "The Filth & The Fury." The film is well worth watching for these scenes alone. You get the feeling that these two are almost entirely unaware of the camera, and the far-reaching consequences of its presence. Also, that they've been lolling about on that bed for a very, VERY long time. (Still think junkies are 'glamorous?')

Perhaps, like Penelope Spheeris' "The Decline," the interminable delay has something to do with securing the music rights from such a disparate and far-flung group of people. In the meantime, while we wait (and wait) for these two vital documents of my youth to have official releases, do you think maybe You-Tube could STOP removing clips of them for copyright violations??!

FINALLY had a chance to see this raw, indy piece of work. As a punk snob from the era it refreshing to hear the original brit punks that slogged it out for obscure cult status and to be on about a zillion punk compilations, but w/ little else to show for it. Fans of Green Day, Rancid or whatever $$$-making outfit should bow their heads to these folks that would have loved the glory and cash but it was not to be.

A good non-obtrusive film that lets music speak for itself (albeit somewhat out of sync). It was a pleasure to see and hear COMPLETE songs as so many documentaries show perhaps a minute of a song and go back to commentary, etc.

Covers the Sex Pistols tour rather well, both on stage and crowd reaction. About 10 songs in all from the early '78 tour.

Sid and Nancy are there for real and are anything but the shapely, stylish Chloe Webb and Gary Oldman from "Sid and Nancy" from Alex Cox. Rather wrenching to sit through it all.

A tragic highlight was suffering through working-class yob Terry Sylvestre and his 'Terry and the Idiots' outfit that bomb heavily at the local pub.

If you want a double feature, pick up "Decline of Western Civilization" - a bit more polished, but pretty damn raw and worth it for the Fear concert footage.