SLC Punk!

Infobox Film
name = SLC Punk!

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producer = Sam Maydew Peter Ward
director = James Merendino
writer = James Merendino
starring = Matthew Lillard Michael A. Goorjian Annabeth Gish Jennifer Lien
Til Schweiger
music = James Merendino David Lee Roth Bruce Slesinger Elmo Weber Elizabeth Westwood
cinematography = Greg Littlewood
editing = Esther P. Russell
distributor = Sony Pictures Classics
released = September 24, 1998
runtime = 97 min.
language = English
budget = $800,000
amg_id = 1:176050~T0
imdb_id = 0133189

"SLC Punk!" is an independent film written and directed by James Merendino. The movie, which was released in 1998, is about the young punk rocker Steven Levy (Matthew Lillard), or "Stevo". The character is portrayed as an exaggerated stereotype of an anarchist punk in the mid 1980s. Many events and characters in the movie are allegedly based on real life, although they may have been exaggerated. "SLC" stands for Salt Lake City, Utah.

Plot

The film outlines the daily lives of the seemingly only two punks in Salt Lake City, Stevo, who narrates the film from the future, and Heroin Bob, his best friend. The nickname is ironic (and potentially misleading), since Bob is scared of needles and actually believes that any drug legal or otherwise is inherently dangerous. The film is shot in documentary style with frequent soliloquies by Stevo.

Stevo and Bob, along with the rest of their friends, were once "Dungeons & Dragons" nerds who listened to Rush and John Denver. It is revealed toward the end of the film that Bob was the one who introduced anarchy and punk rock into their lives. Despite this, it is Stevo who always claims that Bob is a poser. Bob eventually falls in love with Trish, a girl who runs a head shop. Stevo, despite trying not to care, manages to receive great grades throughout high school and college (where he studied pre-law). His father, a lawyer with a Porsche and a penchant for younger women, sends an application to Harvard and Stevo is accepted; he nevertheless rejects it because of his beliefs. He casually dates a girl named Sandy and becomes angry when she sees other people. In one scene, he sees Sandy in bed with another person, and he starts punching him, ignoring Sandy's angry yells. Throughout the movie, Stevo becomes more and more depressed. He discovers an old classmate from high school is now homeless.

At a party, Trish and Bob set Stevo up with a rich girl named Brandy (his reluctant response to being set up is, "I'm a rich boy.") with whom Stevo is immediately taken. Brandy asks Stevo why he tries so hard to be rebellious; she concludes that trying so hard to be punk isn't a political statement, but rather a fashion statement. Despite this judgement, Stevo professes that the encounter is love at first sight. The day after the same party, Stevo's life changes when he discovers that Bob has died from an accidental drug overdose on alcohol and percodan that he took the night before for a headache, although when Bob took them, he was told the pills were merely vitamins. At Bob's funeral, Stevo is seen with a shaved head, whereas previously his hair was dyed bright blue, and he reveals he has decided to take his father's persistent advice to attend law school.

The narration is told from Stevo's point of view in the future. The future Steven is insinuated to be successful and actually married to Brandy, the girl he met at the party where Bob overdosed. He says that if himself from then could see himself now, his past self would kick his future self's ass. In fact, Stevo's last statement of the film is his finally admitting that he is a "poser".

The character of Stevo is based on the life of writer/director James Merendino, although the character is named after Stephen Egerton, originally known as Stephen O'Rielly ("Stevo"), who played for the Salt Lake City punk band Massacre Guys, and eventually joined the L.A. bands Descendents and ALL.

Events upon which the movie is based

Writer-director James Merendino created the film based on his experience growing up as a Mohawk-wearing punk in Salt Lake City. Although not autobiographical, Merendino has said that many characters were based on people he knew. [cite news| title=S.L.-filmed 'Punk!' becomes a cult classic| author=Chris Hicks | publisher="Deseret News"| date=2003-08-08| page=W05]

Some events in the movie are thought to be exaggerated. Sean Fightmaster, the supposed inspiration for the character Sean, needs to be cooberated independently, was working on a documentary to correct inaccuracies in the movie before he died December 6, 2006. No information or documentation of said documentary has ever been produced cite news| title=Punk's passing| author=Dan Nailen | published="Salt Lake Tribune"|date=2007-01-18] Among other things, Fightmaster maintained that Sean's acid-induced knife fight never actually occurred, although its been noted it was an important part of his myth, no proof has ever been shown. Reference needed.

Salt Lake City

The entire film was shot on location in Salt Lake City, Utah, because the directors wanted the title to coincide with the location. Numerous scenes took place in locally well-known areas:

*Stevo's high school, which he calls "Southeast High", is actually West High School and is near downtown Salt Lake City.

*The scene wherein Heroin Bob chastises Stevo for being wasted takes place atop "Presidents Circle" at the University of Utah.

*Stevo introduces the "posers" and gives his "Who Started Punk Rock?" speech at the Cottonwood mall.

*Stevo and Sandy drop acid at Memory Grove Park, a World War I memorial park.

*Many exterior street scenes occur just north of the Frank E. Moss Federal Courthouse in the downtown area.

*The band portraying ECP at the SLC Indian Center is 8 Bucks Experiment.

*The scenes depicting Heroin Bob's Funeral were shot inside and outside The Cathedral of the Madeleine. The cathedral is located just east of downtown Salt Lake City.

The tribes

The film features several cliques known as "tribes" in the film. The film focuses primarily on the punk tribe, but includes several other tribes as well:

* Punks: Stevo, Bob, and Mike belong to this tribe, although Mike doesn't dress the part. The punks are rivals of the mods, Nazis and rednecks.

* Mods: Mods wear suits and ties, and they ride scooters. They're generally the rivals of the punks, but the character John the Mod acts as a diplomat who freely moves between the tribes. In the beginning of the movie, the mods are trying to buy acid from Sean.

* Rednecks: Rednecks are rural Utah folk who wear blue jeans and flannel, and drive around in big trucks. Punks dislike them for their conservative values.

* Nazis: Nazis are white power skinheads who wear pseudo-military fatigues and Nazi armbands. Punks and mods are shown to be predatory towards the Nazis.

* The Heavy metal Guys: They have long hair and flannel. Not much else is known about them, except that Stevo explains that Nazis were predatory towards them.

* New Wavers: They are people who dress like New Romantics and are said to be the least threatening of the tribes. They are described as being "the new hippies."

Cast

* Matthew Lillard as Stevo
* Michael A. Goorjian as Heroin Bob
* Annabeth Gish as Trish
* Jennifer Lien as Sandy
* Christopher McDonald as Stevo's dad
* Devon Sawa as Sean, Not Sean Fightmaster. Rumor based on similar lifestyle.
* Jason Segel as Mike
* Adam Pascal as Eddie
* Til Schweiger as Mark
* James Duval as John the Mod
* Summer Phoenix as Brandy
* Chiara Barzini as Jennifer
* Kevin Breznahan as Chris
* Christina Karras as Jamie
* Russell Peacock as Jones

oundtrack

infobox album
Name = SLC Punk!
Type = soundtrack
Artist = Various
Released = March 16 1999
Genre = Punk rock
Label = Hollywood Records

# "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden" – The Suicide Machines (originally performed by Lynn Anderson)
# "Sex And Violence" – The Exploited
# "I Love Livin' In The City" – Fear
# "1969" – The Stooges
# "Too hot" – The Specials
# "Cretin Hop" – Ramones
# "Dreaming" – Blondie
# "Kiss Me Deadly" – Generation X
# "Rock N' Roll" – The Velvet Underground
# "Gasoline Rain" – Moondogg
# "Mirror in the Bathroom" – Fifi (originally performed by The English Beat)
# "Amoeba" – The Adolescents
# "Kill the Poor" – Dead Kennedys
# "Look Back and Laugh" – Minor Threat

References

External links

* [http://www.sonypictures.com/classics/slcpunk Official website]
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