Quadrophenia (1979)

I knew little to nothing about the 'mods' and 'rockers' of Swinging Sixties London and the fierce rivalry that bristled between them before going into the film, but Quadrophenia, Franc Roddam's film based on The Who's rock opera of the same name, completely immerses the viewer in their world. The images I tend to conjure of this important era in Britain's history is that of The Beatles running from a screaming crowd of ecstatic girls in A Hard Day's Night (1964). While Richard Lester's film has the fortune of being made at the time this movement was thriving, it's light-hearted fare, albeit a terrific one.Quadrophenia doesn't pull its punches, and portrays the mods, in particular the young, alienated Jimmy (Phil Daniels) in all of their rough-and-tumble, amphetamine-popping glory. Adorned in the latest fashion and riding around London on his customised scooter, Jimmy funds his lifestyle by begrudgingly working as a post room boy for the kind of stiff-upper-lipped types he loathes. Outside of his job, he is a living nightmare for his parents, constantly out all hours listening to rock music with his friends and popping blue uppers to keep him on edge.He is romantically invested in Steph (Leslie Ash), who is currently involved with another chap, but after he does finally sleep with her, he discovers that the experience didn't have the same lasting effect it did on him. Jimmy also learns that his friend Kevin (Ray Winstone), fresh out of the army, is a rocker and therefore an enemy. A sense of alienation builds inside of the protagonist, with only the sense of belonging within the gang and cheap drugs to help drag him through his depression. It all builds up to a visit to Brighton where, along with super-cool mod Ace Face (Sting), meet up for a huge brawl with a gang of rockers.Backed by a terrific soundtrack from The Who, Quadrophenia recreates a fashion craze now long-gone, and does so convincingly with a real sense of time and place. Jimmy and his gang are all working-class, slumping through dead-end jobs to fund their lifestyle in spite of their humble upbringings, infusing the film with a sense of social- awareness. The group show no desire whatsoever to fit in the social structure of a society they feel is unfair, with Jimmy in particular feeling left hung out to dry. But the most impressive aspect of the film is the young Phil Daniels as the raging tearaway whose character often treads dangerously close to being plain loathsome. He plays the role with an irresistible charm and swagger that make him entirely sympathetic. An underrated cult gem.

Stumbling upon this eponymous tie-in of THE WHO's 1973 rock opera album QUADROPHENIA comes as simple as a happenstance out of a grab bag, haven't heard of the album and being an outsider to this period of mods fashion, it is a primitive yet purest experience to appreciate a film on its own terms.It is another REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE (1955, 8/10) youth ill at ease, a telling zeitgeist encapsulation recounts a young mod's contradiction against the world in 1960s, his family, his job, his friends, his idol, and his love interest, all fail to gratify him. When the only thing he is left with is a revamped vespa, his destructive bravado indicates whether it is a resounding emblem of all perish together or a belated disillusion to bode farewell to his vapid and futile past? Fortunately the film chooses the latter (unlike the album's more radical stance), so it is a more generically pleasing alternative, but since our protagonist is not such a sympathetic character, a whiff of insouciance is irrevocable to eschew even in the culminating sequences alongside a magnificent precipice.The mods vs. rockers commotions play a key role in venting the discontent among sociopaths, anarchists and boredom-driven young generation, which is universally pertinent to elsewhere in the world, we may blame youth for their narrow-minded prejudices, but the adult world depicted here is no more appealing neither. Phil Daniels and his pals (Wingett, Davis and Shail) exude excellent street cred of the fashion, although none of them galvanizes me into any further inspection, save Leslie Ash's promiscuous lass, she is the only one seems to be cool about what's happening around and understand the ephemeral phase of idiocy. Sting has a supporting role as mechanical as one can imagine despite of his gorgeousness, and a budding Ray Winstone in his seldom seen role as the injured party of a brawl.The songs from the namesake album segues fluently throughout the film, nostalgia works much better in audio than visual this time I must say, it is a movie attracts its own cult followers and its socio-cultural astuteness may be worthy of a conscientious rediscovery if put inside a time capsule and wait to be exhumed a few more generations later.

Quadrophenia (1979)*** (out of 4)The Who's 1973 rock opera was turned into a feature film and centers on Jimmy (Phil Daniels), a teenager in the U.K. who deals with a wide range of issues but most of them surrounding growing up in the era. QUADROPHENIA, the album, is considered one of the band's greatest as well as one of the greatest ever made. I never was a big fan of the film TOMMY but I found this one here to be much better overall. I think the greatest thing going for this film is the soundtrack, which not only includes The Who songs from this album but we also get some of their older material (a memorable bit on My Generation) as well as songs from other artists. This soundtracks is certainly something terrific and The Who songs are put to good use here. Another thing working well is the performance of Daniels who perfectly nails this troubled character. I thought he was extremely believable from the start to the finish as he perfectly nailed the various emotions that this teenager is going through. I thought he was especially good towards the end once the guy starts to finally have a breakdown. Leslie Ash is also very cute and charming in her supporting bit. Director Franc Roddam doesn't add too much style to the picture but I found this to be a good thing. What the director does a great job with is the rawness of the picture. It almost feels as if you're watching a documentary on a real group of people because the look and feel of the picture are so on the mark.

I should say that the title is based on the name of the song by the band The Who, and they are a band that the lead character of this film likes, anyway, the reason I wanted to see this was purely because of the good looking cast list. Basically, set in 1965, London, Jimmy Cooper (Blur - Parklife's Phil Daniels) is a young man who lives a near reclusive life when it comes to his parents, his job as a mail room worker for an advertising company, and being part of regular society in general. He escapes what he considers the boring side of life by hanging out his fellow Mod teenage pals, including Dave (Mark Wingett), Chalky (Collision's Philip Davis) and Spider (Gary Shail), and they have their rivals, in the gang the Rockers led by Kevin (Nil by Mouth's Ray Winstone). The rivalry between the Mod and the Rockers comes a big head on a bank holiday on the seasides of Brighton when battles and rioting spread, and the police are out to catch all involved in whatever way. After "quickie" sex with long time crush Steph (Men Behaving Badly's Leslie Ash) in an alleyway, Jimmy does end up caught and arrested by the police, alongside the Mod he calls Ace Face (introducing singer Sting), and he gets fined £50, while his companion is fined £75 and mocking the court magistrate. Jimmy returns to London and becomes highly depressed, his mother throws him out for stashing amphetamine pills, he quits his job, spending his last payment on more pills, and he finds out Steph is now the girlfriend Dave. After fighting with Dave, getting a definite from Steph, and his treasured Lambretta scooter ruined in a road accident, Jimmy travels by train back to Brighton, and he is devastated to see that Ace Face is a hotel bellboy, and in the end he decides to finally end his life by driving near a high cliff, and eventually driving the stolen scooter off the edge. Also starring Toyah Willcox as Monkey, Michael Elphick as Father, Timothy Spall as Projectionist and EastEnders' Nasty Nick actor John Altman as John. Daniels as the young man with the love for 60's rock music, and Sting in his acting debut, along with the rest of the cast of young then rising stars in the British film and television industry, do really well, it is fascinating to see them all younger and making their mark for the rest of their future careers, as for the film itself it is realistic in terms of the time period, it has funny moments, it is filled with some dramatic moments, and it is certainly an interesting social drama. Very good!