Quadrophenia (film)

Plot

The film, set in 1964, follows the life of Jimmy Cooper (Phil Daniels), a young London Mod. Disillusioned by his parents and a dull job as a post room boy in an advertising firm, Jimmy finds an outlet for his teenage angst by taking amphetamines, partying, riding scooters and brawling with Rockers, accompanied by his Mod friends Dave (Mark Wingett), Chalky (Philip Davis) and Spider (Gary Shail).

One of the Mods' rivals, the Rockers, is in fact Jimmy's childhood friend, Kevin (Ray Winstone). An attack by hostile Rockers on Spider leads to a retaliation attack on Kevin. Jimmy initially participates in the beating, but when he realises the victim is Kevin, he remonstrates with the other attackers but does not stop them, instead riding away on his scooter revving his engine loudly in frustration.

A planned bank holiday weekend away provides the excuse for the rivalry between Mods and Rockers to escalate, as both groups descend upon the seaside town of Brighton. Jimmy plans to be noticed as a 'face', and hints to Steph (Leslie Ash) – a girl on whom he has a crush – to ride with him, but she confirms plans to ride with Pete (Garry Cooper), an older, well-heeled Mod instead. They both agree "...he's a bit flash", then Steph asks Jimmy "Eh, [are] you jealous?...".

In preparation for the weekend, the pals try to buy some recreational drugs from a London gangster, Harry North (John Bindon), but are cheated with fake pills. After vandalising the drug-seller's car in retaliation, in desparation, they burglarise a pharmacy, finding a large quantity of their favourite 'blues'.

After an early morning group ride from London to the south coast, the friends gather on the seafront, where Jimmy first sees a flamboyant scooter-riding Mod he describes as Ace Face. Later in a dance hall, Jimmy suggests that he will help Steph, whose escort is now chatting to an attractive American female, to dance with Ace Face, but on the dance floor ushers her away to dance with himself. Steph leaves Jimmy to dance with Ace Face, whereupon Jimmy plots to gain attention by climbing up on to the balcony-edge and dancing with much applause, to the annoyance of Ace Face. After diving into the audience, Jimmy is ejected by bouncers. Steph's escort leaves with the American female, and once again Jimmy tries to get with Steph, this time for the night but she has arranged accommodation with a female pal.

The lads spend the night sleeping rough, meet up at a cafe on the following morning, then proceed along the promenade, where a series of running battles ensue. As the police close in on the rioters, Jimmy escapes down an alleyway with Steph and they have casual sex. When the pair emerge, they find themselves in the middle of the melee just as police are detaining rioters. Jimmy is arrested and detained with the volatile, popular Mod he calls 'Ace Face' (Sting). When fined £75, a then-large sum, Ace Face mocks the magistrate by offering to pay on the spot with a cheque, to the amusement of the fellow Mods.

Back in London, Jimmy becomes severely depressed. He is thrown out of his house by his mother, who finds his stash of amphetamine pills. Arriving at work a day late after being detained he then quits his job, spends his severance package on more pills, and finds out that Steph has become the girlfriend of his friend Dave. After a brief fight with Dave, the following morning his rejection is confirmed by Steph and with his beloved Lambretta scooter accidentally destroyed in a crash, Jimmy takes a train back to Brighton, becoming more emotionally unstable with increasing pill-taking.

In an attempt to relive the recent excitement, he revisits the scenes of the riots and of his encounter with Steph. To his horror, Jimmy discovers that his idol, Ace Face, is in reality an undistinguished bellboy at a Brighton hotel. Jimmy steals Ace's scooter and heads out to Beachy Head, riding close to the cliff-edge. Finally, he crashes the scooter over a cliff, which is where the film begins, with Jimmy walking back from the cliff-top with a sunset back drop.

Cast

John Lydon (Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols) screen-tested for the role of Jimmy. However, the distributors of the film refused to insure him for the part and he was replaced by Phil Daniels.

Most of the cast were reunited after 28 years at Earls Court on 1 and 2 September 2007 as part of The Quadrophenia Reunion at the London Film & Comic Con run by Quadcon.co.uk. Subsequently the cast agreed to be part of a Quadrophenia Convention at Brighton in 2009.

Soundtrack

Quadrophenia is the soundtrack album to the 1979 film of the same name, which refers to the 1973 rock opera Quadrophenia. It was initially released on Polydor Records in 1979 as a cassette and LP and was re-released as a compact disc in 1993 and 2001. The album was dedicated to Peter Meaden, a prominent Mod and first manager of The Who, who had died a year prior to the album's release.

The album contains ten of the seventeen tracks from the original rock opera Quadrophenia (as not all of the tracks were used in the film). These are different mixes than those that appear on the 1973 album as they were remixed in 1979 by John Entwistle. The most notable difference is the track "The Real Me" (used for the title sequence of the film) which features a different bass track, more prominent vocals and a more definite ending. Most of the tracks are also edited to be slightly shorter. The soundtrack also includes three tracks by The Who that did not appear on the 1973 album.

Production

Several references to The Who appear throughout the film, including an anachronistic inclusion of a repackaged Who album that was not available at the time, a clip of the band performing "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere" on the TV series Ready Steady Go!, pictures of the band and a "Maximum R&B" poster in Jimmy's bedroom, and the inclusion of "My Generation" during a party gatecrashing scene. The film was almost cancelled when Keith Moon, the drummer for The Who, died, but in the words of Roddam, the producers, Roy Baird and Bill Curbishley, "held it together" and the film was made.

Only one scene in the whole film was shot in the studio; all others were on location. Beachy Head, where Jimmy considers suicide at the end of the film, was the location of a real-life suicide that supposedly influenced the film's ending.

The stunt coordinators underestimated the distance that the scooter would fly through the air after being driven off Beachy Head. Franc Roddam, who shot the scene from a helicopter, was almost hit.

Jeff Dexter, a club dancer and disc jockey fixture in the Sixties London music scene was the DJ in the club scenes, and was the uncredited choreographer of 500 extras for the ballroom and club scenes. He also choreographed Sting's feet in his dance close-ups. Dexter managed America whose first major gig at "Implosion" at The Roundhouse, Chalk Farm, was the opening act to The Who on 20 December 1970.

Reception

Janet Maslin, reviewing the film for The New York Times in 1979, called it "...gritty and ragged and sometimes quite beautiful", creating a "...slice-of-life movie that feels tremendously authentic in its sentiments as well as its details." Maslin states that the director's scenes of youth battles "...capture a fierce, dizzying excitement that epitomizes a kind of youthful extreme." Reviewer Brian Gibson from Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada) stated that "Roddam's look back at an angsty young man in '65 is a throwback to the kitchen-sink dramas that began plumbing the depths of working class lives then. Reeking with a restless teen spirit, Quadrophenia leads us down adolescence's blind alleys of rebellion." Critic Matt Brunson from Creative Loafing stated that the film "[m]anages to be both quintessentially British and irrefutably universal", giving it a 3.5/4 score. Reviewer Eric Melin from Scene-Stealers.com states that the film has a "...gritty, realistic feel and the themes of youthful rebellion and confusion are absolutely timeless, magnified by the specificity of the setting rather than being limited by it"; he also gave the movie a 3.5/4 score. Critic Peter Canavese from Groucho Reviews called the film an "...anti-musical" that is "...all the more brilliant for this seemingly counter-intuitive approach"; he gave the movie a 3.5/4 score. Reviewer Christopher Long from Movie Metropolis commented that "[w]hen you're an angry young man [like the main character], there's no better way to prove you're an individual than to dress and act exactly like everybody else"; Long gave the film a 6/10 score.

Dennis Schwartz from Ozus' World Movie Reviews stated that the "...film lives through the superb raw angst-ridden performance of [lead] Phil Daniels"; Schwartz gave the movie a B+. Critic Cole Smithey from ColeSmithey.com called the film a "...glorious representational story of male teen angst that transcends its British locations and great music with a sense of the confused romantic notions that young men the world over carry with them"; Smithey gave the film an A+. Reviewer Ken Hanke from the Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC) called it a "[d]isappointing film version of a great concept album"; he gave the film a 3/5 score. Film critic Jeffrey M. Anderson from Combustible Celluloid states that where the film "...succeeds[, it does so] through its devil-may-care attitude and energy"; on the other hand, Anderson states that the film "...feels like a low-budget homemade movie from the period."

Rotten Tomatoes collected reviews from 11 critics and gave Quadrophenia a 100% rating.

Home media

Universal first released the film on DVD in 1999 with an 8-minute montage featurette. It used the VHS print, resulting in a much lower-quality video than expected. Following this in the US was a special edition by Rhino, which included a remastered matted wide screen transfer, a commentary, several interviews, galleries, and a quiz. However, it was a shorter cut of the film, with several minutes of footage missing.

On 7 August 2006, Universal improved upon their original DVD with a Region 2 two-disc special edition. The film was digitally remastered and included a brand new commentary by Franc Roddam, Phil Daniels and Leslie Ash. Disc 2 features an hour-long documentary and a featurette with Roddam discussing the locations. Unlike their previous DVD, it was the complete, longer version, and it was matted to the correct aspect ratio.

On 1 January 2012, The Criterion Collection hinted in their annual New Year's drawing that they would be releasing a special edition version of this movie. This edition was released on 28 August 2012, on both DVD and Blu-Ray formats.