Quadrophenia

I'm not from Brighton or London but understand a little about the culture. This is an honest and necessarily messy film of a specific place and time. Overall a good film and worth watching. Cool to see Sting in it if unaware (like I was) of his role. Kind of odd ending since it's obvious what happened and... not?

A young man joins the British mod movement and gains a feeling of belonging and importance, but this makes him even more disenfranchised from his boring 9 to 5 life.

Britain's answer to Rebel Without A Cause is based around a fair-to-middling Who concept album (they financed the movie too) and was made on a modest budget, but has far too much going for it to be ignored. Especially if you are working class and come from the UK.

(How it is viewed elsewhere is beyond my telling, but reading reviews on this site I get the impression that people from all over the world can relate to its central themes - even if the locations and accents are alien.)

Director Franc Roddam was smart enough to cast a young Phil Daniels in the central role of Jimmy. Daniels is a good actor, but he is neither smooth or particularly good looking. This prevents him being accused of glamorising some of the things that he gets up to.

Jimmy is, indeed, also a bit naive. He has a boring job in the post room of an advertising agency (note the satire about pushing smoking - this is the "no health warning" 60's!) and rides around on a scooter with lots of lights on the front.

Life, for him, is about getting through the day and partying at night/weekends to the hip sounds of the day - the non-Who soundtrack album is a taster to mid 60's Brit Pop.

(His parents don't understand him either - but this could be taken as read in this style of movie!)

As most of us know, and a few even tell Jimmy in the movie proper: Life cannot be all parties, cheap thrills and gang fights, but he doesn't seem to want to listen. He is one of the world's great "there must be more to life than this" merchants - in this he is right, but you need to be brighter, better educated or better looking to have it.

There is a good cast of British new wavers on show here: Leslie Ash plays Jimmy's love interest and Sting gets to be the "Ace Face" - the good looking top dog mod that Jimmy wants to be. The home truth about this character leaves Jimmy even more exposed.

Quadrophenia is one of the greatest films about being a teenager ever made and thank god we have video cassettes, DVDs and cable/sat TV so people can actually see it. A low budget classic that deserves to seen at least once by all film buffs and several times if it reflects your life in any way.

QUADROPHENIA is a cult classic movie that explores the life and loves of a Mod living in Britain in the 1960s. The lead character is played by Phil Daniels, a familiar face from British television, and he gives an exemplary performance as an awkward but likable youth struggling to grow up and make it in the adult world.

Produced by The Who, QUADROPHENIA offers as its backdrop a portrait of 1960s era Brighton and the like, where battles between the Mods and Rockers are just around the corner and a great soundtrack generally accompanies the action. I'll be the first to admit I'm not a huge fan of this era - I missed it by a long shot - but this likable drama paints a solid picture of the times.

It's also remarkable as a "before they were famous" movie, featuring performances from the likes of Ray Winstone, Timothy Spall, Leslie Ash, Phil Davis, Michael Elphick, even Sting before they hit the big time. Barely a minute or two goes by without a familiar face, and it's fair to say that everyone is putting plenty of effort into their performances. It's this level of enthusiasm all round which has led to QUADROPHENIA's well-deserved cult status.

A feast of future C-list celebs and also rans remind us why Punk was so vital in resuscitating the corpse of British music and why that cadaver needs more help than ever today; Quadrophenia demonstrates the absolute misery created by the fascist regime, that left the youths of the day with no future, with little to look forward to once they'd outgrown their primitive street gang days, and an underground movement that left them in a bit of a Jam.

Ultimately a culture destroyed by technology, as the Vespa riders, and just about all alternative identifiers of the day have chosen to play in the abstract digital world. A forgotten adolescent mainstream dispersed and scattered to the margins like so many other traditions and cultures of yesteryear. A classic British film - bring on the Bank Holiday!

I hated this film when I saw it as a teenager back in 1979. The reason was the movie was realistic--too realistic! I identified (in some respects) with the main character Jimmy, and his life was bleak and depressing. Seeing it over 20 years later, I love it! It's a superb mix of the 1960s British "Angry Young Men" films, the Who's great album and 1979 sensibilities. It's about Jimmy (excellent performance by Phil Daniels) and his friends. It takes place in 1964 London and there are constant battles between the Mods (Jimmy and friends) and the Rockers. The film is full of violence, sex, VERY strong language (good luck with the accents), anger, alienation...the works. However, there is a strong sense of humor (a break in at a drug store is hilarious) and it does have a (sort of) happy ending. But it is very dark and depressing.

The music score is excellent. It's not just the Who, but other 1960s groups are used also. The direction by Franc Roddam is wonderful--it perfectly merges the music, imagery and story (especially with "Love, Reign Over Me"). My only real complaint--why not use the whole album "Quadrophenia"? Only about 1/8 of the two record set is used! Also interesting to see Sting in his first movie. Don't miss this one!