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RAMONES
- END OF THE CENTURY
6/10
USA
2004 (copyright-dated 2003) : Jim FIELDS & Michael GRAMAGLIA : 111
mins
When the Ramones bring that sign onstage that says "GABBA GABBA
HEY," what
it really stands for is "We accept you." Once you get past the
armor of dog collars,
black leather and S&M affectations, you've got some of the gentlest
or at least most
harmless people in the world... almost all their violence is self-directed.
Lester Bangs, Village Voice, 30th April 1979
 It's
just as well I knew before going in to Ramones - End of the Century
what the 'Gabba gabba hey' sign meant - or rather, what it "stood
for". Because there's no explanation in this very watchable, entertaining,
occasionally inspiring documentary about the legendary proto-punk four-piece
from the New York suburb of Forest Hills. Nor are we told why Messrs Erdelyi
(Tommy), Colvin (DeeDee), Hyman (Joey) and Cummings (Johnny) chose to
adopt the nom de punk 'Ramone' - apparently something to do with
a pseudonym once adopted by Paul McCartney.
Nor is there
any mention of the fact that Erdelyi was born and brought up in his parents'
native Hungary, or that DeeDee was born and brought up in Berlin, where
his dad was posted in the US military, or how this impacted on such a
supposedly 'All American' outfit. These backstory elements would be well
known by any self-respecting Ramones fans, of course - and they're likely
to prove End of the Century's most satisfied audiences. Even they,
however, might just query the decision to name the movie after what seems
to have been one of the band's lesser albums.
Non-initiates,
meanwhile, may balk at the somewhat hagiographic approach taken by Fields
& Gramaglia, though if any American group deserves a full-blown two-hour
big-screen celebration it is indeed probably this lot, who pretty much
define the much-overused term 'seminal'. Then again, there's always something
troubling about the whole idea of making any kind of documentary about
punk legends - the 'movement' was (and is) about the here and now, not
about looking back nostalgically over your shoulder at the giants of yesteryear.
And it's almost
always the case that people who do make films about punk are themselves
so old and clapped-out that they adopt decidedly non-punk methods to do
so: End of the Century adheres slavishly to the tried-and-tested
archive-footage/talking-head format, bookended with elegaic farewells
to the two Ramones who died while the movie was being compiled*. This
form/content disparity is especially troubling when we get to the 1980s,
and MTV is starting to exert its influence - the Ramones weren't willing
to file off their rougher edges to obtain airplay and mainstream acceptance,
but Fields & Gramaglia's film is sufficiently slick to slot right
into the schedules of MTV or even VH1.
That said,
there's much to be said for the methodical approach, which gives us an
objective view of the disparate personalities and troubled dynamics of
this most 'gang-like' of bands. Despite their longevity as a band, however,
the Ramones - who famously never aged or changed their appearance - didn't
really get up to anything especially remarkable off-stage: there were
some member changes here and there, Johnny and Joey fell out over some
girl. But apart from DeeDee's hilariously ill-advised excursion into rap
we're a long way from Spinal
Tap type high-jinks.
Fields &
Gramaglia tiptoe around one of the more promising, unexpected elements
of the story - Johnny's rabidly Republican views - but, perhaps wary of
this most volatile and confrontational of Ramones, pull back from any
proper investigation or analysis. Here, as elsewhere, you wish they'd
show just a little more of the in-yer-face punk-as-fuckness that the Ramones
- and Lester Bangs - possessed in such copious abundance.
15th September,
2004 (seen 27th August : Cameo Edinburgh : public show - Edinburgh
Film Festival)
click HERE for our full coverage of the 2004
Edinburgh Film Festival
* postscript:
Joey Ramone died 15th September, 2004
by Neil
Young
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