The Germs Movie.

What We Do Is Secret"

 The 2007 film about the punk rock band, "The Germs" has its good points about it and it also has some things in the movie that could have been better.

 The movie was in the middle of the pack on IMDB and Prime Video. It fared worse on Rotten Tomatoes (a 45 rating). The Germs were together from 1976 till 1980. The lead singer and band organizer Darby Crash (Shane West) had a five year plan for the band; they would be together for five years and then disband. 

 The movie portrays Crash as both a genius and a raving lunatic. He refers to life as a circle, that all things come back to where they originally were. The band would cut only one album which was produced by Joan Jett. That album was a success of some note. It gave them more popularity then they had before. The band even before their first album was popular among the punk crowd. They played places like "Whiskey", "88" and many more. 

 The movie was directed by Roger Grossman, who wrote the screenplay based on the story he had written with Michelle Baer Ghaffari,a friend of Crash's and a co-producer of the film. Rick Gonzalez, Bijou Phillips and Noah Segan respectively portray Pat Smear, Lorna Doom and Don Bolles. 

 The film was in production for several years due to adjustments in casting. West would take the lead as Crash and after the film was released, the band members went back out on tour with West as their lead singer. The band would perform sporadically for several years. The film was not financially successful and would received mixed reviews.

 Crash grew up as Jan Paul Beahm; He never knows his father; his mother is an alcoholic , and his brother died of a heroin overdose. He is an avid reader and grows to be an intelligent person, however, his anti-social behavior makes him a huge problem at his High School. 

 He proposes to a friend that he starts a band with a five year plan based on the David Bowie song "Five Years". The same year, 1975, he starts showing the lyrics to his friend, which he thinks are outstanding. George Ruthenberg would be his guitarist and closest friend throughout his short lived life.As the band forms and slowly gets a following in the LA punk seen, Crash starts to spiral out of control. He has a death wish (he constantly tells people he will not live very much longer), he brings problems to wherever he goes and the band suffers greatly. Being banned from every night club is around the time when they cut their first and only album. Even after all their adulation with the new album, they are relegated to renting warehouses to play. 

 The band had tremendous talent, but it would be the lead singers destructive personality that would lead to the bands demise. Even though the movie depicts them going out on top, the band members knew that it was over due to Crash's drug habits and self indulgences. Like many bands, ego's, different ideologies get in the way of creativity. Here the band wants to keep going but the reality of it was that Crash was spiraling, like so many other punkers, out of control with his drug use.I have for the most part really enjoyed the punk and metal movies on "Tubi". I have learned so much about the different genres in Metal, New Wave and Punk. Even the documentaries about the different nightclubs and cities where the bands performed were enlightening. I was also impressed with the talent of a lot of the musicians as well as the singers who performed in these genres. Unfortunately, many succumbed to drug addiction and died too early.

The movie about "The Germs" never really focuses on the band or Crash. It only gives us superficial snippets of the life they all lead. It would have been a lot better if it went into more detail, if it gave us more of the LA punk seen during that time. 

# Broadway Bob, # No Bull With Raging Robert, The Germs, LA California, Punk Rock,