Quadrophenia (film)
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| Quadrophenia | |
|---|---|
 UK poster |
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| Directed by | Franc Roddam |
| Produced by | Roy Baird Bill Curbishley |
| Written by | Dave Humphries Franc Roddam Martin Stellman Pete Townshend |
| Starring | Phil Daniels Leslie Ash Ray Winstone Philip Davis Mark Wingett Sting |
| Music by | The Who Various Artists |
| Cinematography | Brian Tufano |
| Editing by | Sean Barton Mike Taylor |
| Distributed by | The Who Films |
| Release date(s) | September 14, 1979 (Toronto Film Festival) |
| Running time | 120 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | N/A |
Quadrophenia is a 1979 British film based on the 1973 rock opera album Quadrophenia by The Who. The film stars Phil Daniels in the leading role as a Mod named Jimmy. The film also stars Toyah Willcox, Mark Wingett, Leslie Ash, Ray Winstone, Timothy Spall, Gary Shail, Phil Davis, Michael Elphick, Kate Williams, Sting, John Altman and Trevor Laird. It was directed by Franc Roddam in his feature directing debut.
In 2004 the magazine Total Film named Quadrophenia the 35th greatest British film of all time.
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.[1] Subsequently the cast agreed to be part of a Quadrophenia Convention at Brighton in 2009.[1]
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[edit] Story
The film, set in 1964, follows the story of Jimmy Cooper (Phil Daniels), a London Mod (one of a group of fashion-obsessed working-class youths who listen to African-American soul, Jamaican ska, and British beat music and R&B, take amphetamines and ride Vespa and Lambretta scooters). The Mods' arch-enemies are the Rockers, who in turn wear black leather and ride motorcycles and prefer traditional Rock 'n' Roll. Disillusioned by his parents and a dead-end job as a post room boy in an advertising firm, Jimmy finds an outlet for his teenage angst with his Mod pals Dave (Mark Wingett), Chalky (Philip Davis) and Spider (Gary Shail). However, his angst and confusion are compounded by the fact that one of his Rocker rivals is in fact childhood friend Kevin (Ray Winstone), to whom he comments, "I don't wanna be the same as everybody else – that's why I'm a Mod, see?"
A bank holiday weekend provides the excuse for the rivalry between the two gangs to come to a head, as they both descend upon the seaside town of Brighton. A series of running battles ensues, based on the real-life "Second Battle of Hastings" riot of 1964. As the police close in on the rioters, Jimmy escapes down an alleyway with Steph (Leslie Ash), a girl on whom he has a crush, to have sex. When the pair emerge, they find themselves in the middle of the melee just as police are succeeding in detaining rioters. Jimmy is arrested and later fined £50.
Back in London, Jimmy becomes increasingly depressed and unstable as his life begins to fall apart. He is thrown out of his house by his mother, who finds his stash of blues (blue amphetamine pills). He then quits his job, blows his severance package on blues, and finds out that Steph has become the girlfriend of his mate Dave. After a fight with Dave, Jimmy crashes his scooter, and, high on pills, takes a train to a now tranquil Brighton in an attempt to recapture the elation he felt during the holiday weekend. He revisits the scene of his encounter with Steph, and then discovers that his idol, the suave Mod "poster boy" Ace Face (played by Sting), is in reality a lowly bellboy at a Brighton hotel. He steals Ace's scooter and heads out to the cliffs at Beachy Head, where he rides towards the cliff edge. The film ends with the scooter smashing on the rocks below. When the final shots of falling scooter are played in slow motion, a figure, presumably Jimmy, is visible standing at the top of the cliff. Since the film also opens with a shot of Jimmy walking back from the cliff edge, it can be assumed that he jumped clear at the last second.
[edit] Cast
- Phil Daniels as Jimmy
- Leslie Ash as Steph
- Philip Davis as Chalky
- Mark Wingett as Dave
- Sting as Ace Face
- Ray Winstone as Kevin
- Gary Shail as Spider
- Toyah Willcox as Monkey
- Trevor Laird as Ferdy
- Kate Williams as Mother
- Michael Elphick as Father
- Benjamin Whitrow as Mr. Fulford
- Daniel Peacock as Danny
- Jeremy Child as Agency Man
- John Phillips as Magistrate
- Timothy Spall as Projectionist
- George Innes as Cafe Owner
- John Bindon as Harry
- P. H. Moriarty as Barman at Villain Club
- Hugh Lloyd as Mr. Cale
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.[2][3]
[edit] Response
At the time of its original release, the film was received mostly negatively by critics and was panned for its large amounts of sex, violence, profanity and drug use, which were then still fairly uncommon in film. It did acquire a large word-of-mouth reputation amongst teenagers too young to go and see it. Today it is considered a cult classic and is recognised as a realistic reflection of youth culture in the 1960s. Many have praised Phil Daniels' intense performance. The film currently holds a 100% "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[4]
It was a major influence on the mod revival in music and fashion which provided a launching pad for the careers of bands such as Secret Affair, The Chords and The Lambrettas while boosting the popularity of The Jam, previously perceived as a punk act. Sting's appearance in it also benefited his band The Police.
[edit] Soundtrack
[edit] Production notes
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, a member of 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 may or may not have tried to kill himself at the end of the film, was the location of a real-life suicide that influenced the soundtrack and film adaptation (Beachy Head is a notorious suicide spot).
A scene from the top of the hill, supposedly overlooking Brighton, actually depicts Eastbourne.
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 on 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 The Roundhouse, Chalk Farm, was the opening act to The Who on December 20, 1970.
An interesting and well known continuity error in the film is that in the final scenes with Jimmy riding Ace's scooter along the cliffs, some scenes show the scooter to have a fly screen and other show it without. The shadow of the filming helicopter can also be seen as well as the tracks from the scooter from previous takes.
In one scene, Jimmy's parents are seen watching an episode of the TV series The Avengers (The Frighteners), which actually dates from 1961, rather than the time the film is set.
Also, during a fight scene in Brighton you see a close up on the bottom right of the screen of a very modern pedestrian crossing 'WALK' button on the traffic light.
[edit] DVD releases
Universal first released the film on DVD in 1999 with an 8-minute montage featurette. It notoriously used the VHS print, which was extremely grainy and washed-out and full of print damage.
Following this in the US was a special edition by Rhino, which included a remastered but 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, so it still truly wasn't considered the definitive DVD of the film.
On August 7 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. But like the US DVD, it was a matted wide screen version rather than the original full screen.[5]
[edit] References
- ^ a b "QUADCON The Quadrophenia Movie Convention". http://www.quadcon.co.uk. Retrieved 2008-11-15.
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079766/trivia Internet Movie Database. Retrieved January 5, 2010.
- ^ Catterall, Ali; Wells, Simon (2002). Your Face Here: British Cult Movies Since the Sixties. HarperCollins UK. ISBN 978-0007145546.
- ^ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/quadrophenia/
- ^ http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000GKHM2S
- Ali Catterall and Simon Wells, Your Face Here: British Cult Movies Since The Sixties (Fourth Estate, 2001) ISBN 0-00-714554-3
[edit] External links
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Quadrophenia |
- Cinema and Culture: The Angry Mods of Quadrophenia
- Quadrophenia at the Internet Movie Database
- Quadrophenia (film) at Rotten Tomatoes
- Liner notes on - songs Get Out And Stay Out, Four Faces, Joker James
- Snippet of Quadrophenia and Some Context
- Quadrophenia.net
