When ever I see SLC Punk! (1999) on TV, I?m watching it. It is one of those movies that
is so enjoyable to watch you can?t turn the channel. It isn?t the best movie, but definately
one of the most enjoyable and most importantly, one of the most truthful movies for what
it talks about. Movies about punk or even teenage rebellion in general where drug use and
violence is present is exploited. It is made to look good in order to better attract the
teenage crowd. This is shameless marketing to teenagers and everyone knows it. SLC
Punk! bring an honest truth to the people it tells about, people that are violent, people that
do abuse drugs and people that are basically in general rebelling, the main character in the
movie, Stevo, has many bad qualities to him but he realizes all of his bad qualities and he
admits to them but what Stevo in general is a character you are drawn to, a character you
can pick out in a crowd immediately and one you can like as he is basically giving a tour to
the audience watching him to all the eccentric characters that he knows and is in his world
of living in punk. Like Goodfellas before it, Stevo is a character that is both inside and
outside of this world, even stopping the movie at times and freely addressing the audience,
his main purpose is to bring us into the world of punks and their behaviors and how they
live. What is so great about this movie is that no character is the same, all operate on their
own levels and are still enjoyable and still as recognizable as the main character. Take for
example Heroin Bob, a character almost recognizable by his face, the black mo hawk we
and army jacket we identify him with but also his character, the fact that even know his
name has heroin in front of it he never took heroin and has an intense fear of needles in
general and his drug of choice is only beer. His voice is clear and stays the same and is
recognizable by just one word he says, this is not just for this character but for all the
characters in this story, all of them off beat and interesting and surprisingly for a movie,
fully developed!
The movie bases itself off of being about the minor characters and gives them all the time
to develop that when we watch the movie on multiple viewings we know that character
fully and appreciate him just on first sight. The movie also doesn?t follow one story line
but bringing different scenes together that involve all the characters, a normal movie
would have had a normal story line that would have had to have the minor characters not
be really developed because it would follow just the main characters. This movie is about
all the characters so it doesn?t base itself off the normal story line even though their are
traces of it in the movie towards the end. I was reminded of Robert Altman?s MASH and
how he said the movie at the beginning was not connected at all, that is was bascially just
scenes stuck together and only until he added the intercom into the movie did it even come
close to connecting together. But it really didn?t, it was just scenes that gave full attention
to all the characters and fully developed them. Even the best movies with a normal story
line have to be at fault at not developing all the characters while movies based on just
scenes together of characters showing who they are fully allowed to develop and still
maintain a sort of small storyline if it wants to.
The movie also realizes the true characters of punks themselves, people who are young, in
school, not fully being made yet to be responsible in the real world and dealing with the
fact that they are growing up and that they might have to make the transition into the adult
world and thus, out of their punk lifestyle, the lifestyle they identify with. Stevo is being
groomed to go to Harvard, his father went to Harvard and now is trying to convince his
son to go too. Stevo doesn?t want any part of it but the thing is, he gets the good grades,
he studies for all the tests that would put him into Harvard even though to not want any
part of it, he wouldn?t have done that so Stevo is conflicted, on one hand he doesn?t want
it but on the other hand he sees the reality of it and that he is going to have to move on.
As Stevo narrates the movie, we find out he is narrating as Stevo not living in the time it is
talking about but the Stevo who is in the future and has conformed and says at one point
of the movie that the Stevo he is narrating the movie would probably get his ass kicked by
the Stevo in the movie. As time drifts on for all the characters in the movie, they all start
to come with terms that they will have move on and they do. All of is left is Stevo and
Heroin Bob, the first two who got into punk and now the last two of the bunch to still be
in it and at a party late in the movie Stevo meets a girl, the girl he will eventually marry,
she takes a look at him and sees how he dresses as a punk and critcizes it, ?Wouldn?t it be
more rebellious if you didn?t spend so much time buying blue hair dye and going out to get
punky clothes?? She identifies his punk rebellion as a petty one and tells him that true
rebellion happens in the mind. But we find out this is not the reason for why Stevo and
Heroin Bob went into punk to begin with, we get that understanding from a very touching
and true flashback scene that shows both of them as normal 12 year old kids playing
Dungeons and Dragons and both of them are basically geeks, Bob then plays a tape to
Stevo, something different, punk music and says, ?Listen to this.? and their punk
revolution begins, but it isn?t one of rebellion, but one of trying to be basically loved and
accepted by a crowd of people. This is a movie of kids who are out for friendship but
disguised as punk attitude and rebelling against the norm. SLC Punks! stands out as an
adventurous and extremely entertaining movie while remaining truthful to its subject and
thus a movie worthy of my Notes On Movies series, and also more films to come.
is so enjoyable to watch you can?t turn the channel. It isn?t the best movie, but definately
one of the most enjoyable and most importantly, one of the most truthful movies for what
it talks about. Movies about punk or even teenage rebellion in general where drug use and
violence is present is exploited. It is made to look good in order to better attract the
teenage crowd. This is shameless marketing to teenagers and everyone knows it. SLC
Punk! bring an honest truth to the people it tells about, people that are violent, people that
do abuse drugs and people that are basically in general rebelling, the main character in the
movie, Stevo, has many bad qualities to him but he realizes all of his bad qualities and he
admits to them but what Stevo in general is a character you are drawn to, a character you
can pick out in a crowd immediately and one you can like as he is basically giving a tour to
the audience watching him to all the eccentric characters that he knows and is in his world
of living in punk. Like Goodfellas before it, Stevo is a character that is both inside and
outside of this world, even stopping the movie at times and freely addressing the audience,
his main purpose is to bring us into the world of punks and their behaviors and how they
live. What is so great about this movie is that no character is the same, all operate on their
own levels and are still enjoyable and still as recognizable as the main character. Take for
example Heroin Bob, a character almost recognizable by his face, the black mo hawk we
and army jacket we identify him with but also his character, the fact that even know his
name has heroin in front of it he never took heroin and has an intense fear of needles in
general and his drug of choice is only beer. His voice is clear and stays the same and is
recognizable by just one word he says, this is not just for this character but for all the
characters in this story, all of them off beat and interesting and surprisingly for a movie,
fully developed!
The movie bases itself off of being about the minor characters and gives them all the time
to develop that when we watch the movie on multiple viewings we know that character
fully and appreciate him just on first sight. The movie also doesn?t follow one story line
but bringing different scenes together that involve all the characters, a normal movie
would have had a normal story line that would have had to have the minor characters not
be really developed because it would follow just the main characters. This movie is about
all the characters so it doesn?t base itself off the normal story line even though their are
traces of it in the movie towards the end. I was reminded of Robert Altman?s MASH and
how he said the movie at the beginning was not connected at all, that is was bascially just
scenes stuck together and only until he added the intercom into the movie did it even come
close to connecting together. But it really didn?t, it was just scenes that gave full attention
to all the characters and fully developed them. Even the best movies with a normal story
line have to be at fault at not developing all the characters while movies based on just
scenes together of characters showing who they are fully allowed to develop and still
maintain a sort of small storyline if it wants to.
The movie also realizes the true characters of punks themselves, people who are young, in
school, not fully being made yet to be responsible in the real world and dealing with the
fact that they are growing up and that they might have to make the transition into the adult
world and thus, out of their punk lifestyle, the lifestyle they identify with. Stevo is being
groomed to go to Harvard, his father went to Harvard and now is trying to convince his
son to go too. Stevo doesn?t want any part of it but the thing is, he gets the good grades,
he studies for all the tests that would put him into Harvard even though to not want any
part of it, he wouldn?t have done that so Stevo is conflicted, on one hand he doesn?t want
it but on the other hand he sees the reality of it and that he is going to have to move on.
As Stevo narrates the movie, we find out he is narrating as Stevo not living in the time it is
talking about but the Stevo who is in the future and has conformed and says at one point
of the movie that the Stevo he is narrating the movie would probably get his ass kicked by
the Stevo in the movie. As time drifts on for all the characters in the movie, they all start
to come with terms that they will have move on and they do. All of is left is Stevo and
Heroin Bob, the first two who got into punk and now the last two of the bunch to still be
in it and at a party late in the movie Stevo meets a girl, the girl he will eventually marry,
she takes a look at him and sees how he dresses as a punk and critcizes it, ?Wouldn?t it be
more rebellious if you didn?t spend so much time buying blue hair dye and going out to get
punky clothes?? She identifies his punk rebellion as a petty one and tells him that true
rebellion happens in the mind. But we find out this is not the reason for why Stevo and
Heroin Bob went into punk to begin with, we get that understanding from a very touching
and true flashback scene that shows both of them as normal 12 year old kids playing
Dungeons and Dragons and both of them are basically geeks, Bob then plays a tape to
Stevo, something different, punk music and says, ?Listen to this.? and their punk
revolution begins, but it isn?t one of rebellion, but one of trying to be basically loved and
accepted by a crowd of people. This is a movie of kids who are out for friendship but
disguised as punk attitude and rebelling against the norm. SLC Punks! stands out as an
adventurous and extremely entertaining movie while remaining truthful to its subject and
thus a movie worthy of my Notes On Movies series, and also more films to come.
