Hard Core Logo
Hard Core Logo is a 1996 Canadian mockumentary adapted by Noel S. Baker from the novel of the same name by author Michael Turner. The film was directed by Bruce McDonald and illustrates the self-destruction of punk rock. Released in 1996, the film documents a once-popular punk band, Hard Core Logo, comprising lead singer Joe Dick (Hugh Dillon), fame-tempted guitarist Billy Tallent (Callum Keith Rennie), schizophrenic bass player John Oxenberger (John Pyper-Ferguson), and drummer Pipefitter (Bernie Coulson). Julian Richings plays Bucky Haight, Dick's idol. Several notable punk musicians, including Art Bergmann, Joey Shithead and Joey Ramone, play themselves in cameos. Canadian television personality Terry David Mulligan also has a cameo, playing a fictionalized version of himself. In a 2001 poll of 200 industry voters, performed by Playback, Hard Core Logo was named the fourth best Canadian film of the last 15 years. In 2002, readers of Playback voted it the 4th greatest Canadian film ever made. A sequel, Hard Core Logo 2, premiered at the Whistler Film Festival on December 4, 2010 with the members of Die Mannequin and McDonald walking the red carpet. It had its second screening at the Victoria Film Festival on February 6, 2011. Plot The movie is about a documentary team that follows the reunion of Hard Core Logo. Joe Dick gets the band back together ostensibly for an anti-gun benefit after hearing Canadian punk rock legend Bucky Haight, and personal mentor, is shot. They begin the tour in Vancouver and travel thousands of kilometers east along the Trans-Canada Highway to Winnipeg, then northwest along the Yellowhead Highway to Edmonton. On the way the band's dark secrets are revealed, however while they travel they keep ignoring each other's darkness. John Oxenberger loses his schizophrenia medication and slowly loses his sanity. Billy Tallent finds out that by going on tour he loses his position in mainstream rock band Jenifur and with that his one shot at stardom. The band stops by Bucky Haight's reclusive estate only to find he was never shot and that Joe Dick fabricated the lie in order to get the band together. The band and documentary crew drop acid and experience hallucinations. Bucky admonishes Joe Dick for using him to get the band together. At Edmonton, Billy Tallent finds out he has another opportunity to permanently join Jenifur. Joe Dick finds out from the film crew and later attacks Billy on stage. Joe Dick destroys Billy Tallent's Fender Stratocaster, which was a gift from Bucky Haight, and the band parts ways. In the final scene Joe Dick drinks with the documentary crew members and shoots himself in the head. Cast Hugh Dillon as Joe Dick Callum Keith Rennie as Billy Tallent John Pyper-Ferguson as John Oxenberger Bernie Coulson as Pipefitter Julian Richings as Bucky Haight Benita Ha as Pipefitter's Girlfriend Claudia Ferri as John Oxenberger's Girlfriend Joey Ramone as Joey Ramone Corrine Koslo as Laura Cromartie Production McDonald grew up in the Vancouver punk rock scene in the late 1970s and early