Destroy All Movies
BY CASSADY DIXON
Books. I know you remember them. Real, live, actual books that you can hold in your hands, free from the increasingly glare-less void of an e-reader. At any rate, do yourself a favor and book it down to your local store to check out the recently released epic tome Destroy All Movies!!! The Complete Guide to Punks on Film. This truly amazing creation, primarily the work of editors Zack Carlson and Bryan Connolly, does exactly as alluded to in the title. It reviews every single film (from the 20th century) that has even a passing image of a punk character in it. That means everything from Repo Man or Class of 1984 down to Brewster’s Millions (there’s a punk cameo).
Essentially, the book works as an excuse to revisit countless amounts of B-movie schlock and independent fare from the 70s, 80s and 90s. What’s more, the editors (who hail from the storied Alamo Drafthouse movie theater in Austin) interview many of the people involved in these works of art and/or delectable trash. So you have Penelope Spheeris and Alex Cox, but you also have the dude who had a brief role as a rabble-rouser on a bus in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.
And one must actually experience this book in person. It is massive, and filled with ridiculously obscure photos and movie posters. The internet has almost eliminated any hiding place for weird bits of meta-information, but this book manages to out-obscure even the most arcane of Wikipedia entries when it comes to its central conceit (which, in case you forgot, is punks on film). It’s Leonard Maltin meets The Ramones, and it’s killer. Here’s the book’s website with links to purchase:
http://www.punksonfilm.com/DAM!!!/DESTROY_ALL_MOVIES!!!_The_Complete_Guide_to_Punks_on_Film.html