| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Phil Daniels | ... | ||
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Leslie Ash | ... |
Steph
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| Phil Davis | ... |
Chalky
(as Philip Davis)
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| Mark Wingett | ... |
Dave
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| Sting | ... | ||
| Ray Winstone | ... |
Kevin
(as Raymond Winstone)
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| Garry Cooper | ... |
Peter
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Gary Shail | ... |
Spider
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| Toyah Willcox | ... |
Monkey
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Trevor Laird | ... |
Ferdy
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Kate Williams | ... | |
| Michael Elphick | ... | ||
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Kim Neve | ... |
Yvonne
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| Benjamin Whitrow | ... |
Mr. Fulford
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Daniel Peacock | ... |
Danny
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London, 1965: Like many other youths, Jimmy hates the philistine life, especially his parents and his job in a company's mailing division. Only when he's together with his friends, a 'Mod' clique, cruising London on his motor-scooter and hearing music such as that of 'The Who' and 'The High Numbers', does he feel free and accepted. However, it's a flight into an illusionary world. Written by Tom Zoerner <Tom.Zoerner@informatik.uni-erlangen.de>
What a wonderful film. If you ever thought you were safe, or that your world was impregnable, then you must see this film. Watch as every important elements of a young man's (Jimmy's) life is stripped away, piece by piece, until he has no anchor, no magnet, and no direction in life.
Without his familiar crutches (hooliganism, drugs, girlfriends, Mod clansmen, job, parents, home and 'scooter'), Jimmy is faced with a terrifying realization that he - alone - must completely rebuild and reinvent himself.
In a way that is hard to describe in words, director Franc Roddam exposes the raw core of life, unadorned by all the temporal things by which we measure success, worth and happiness. Better still, he forces the viewer to examine the very definition of 'a life'.
The movie generates ever increasing momentum, culminating in one of the most intensely disturbing realizations ever captured on film, with the white cliffs of Dover as the foreground, and the The Who's equally monumental and haunting "Love Reign O'er Me" in the background.
With the possible exception of Bill Murray's version of "The Razor's Edge", this is about as perfect a chance as we are ever afforded to examine the foundations of our own lives (...what more can you ask of a film?). Though this is not an uncommon cinematic theme, it has never been so brilliantly achieved.
An emotional and spiritual tour de force, and simply one of the best films ever made.