Quadrophenia (1979)

Jimmy loathes his job and parents. He seeks solace with his mod clique, scooter riding and drugs, only to be disappointed.

Director:

Franc Roddam

Writers:

Dave Humphries (screenplay), Martin Stellman (screenplay)

Stars:

Phil Daniels, Leslie Ash, Phil Davis

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Phil Daniels	...	Jimmy
Leslie Ash	...	Steph
Phil Davis	...	Chalky (as Philip Davis)
Mark Wingett	...	Dave
Sting	...	Ace Face
Ray Winstone	...	Kevin (as Raymond Winstone)
Garry Cooper	...	Peter
Gary Shail	...	Spider
Toyah Willcox	...	Monkey
Trevor Laird	...	Ferdy
Kate Williams	...	Mother
Michael Elphick	...	Father
Kim Neve	...	Yvonne
Benjamin Whitrow	...	Mr. Fulford
Daniel Peacock	...	Danny

Storyline

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.

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Plot Keywords:

sex scene | the who | casual sex | spontaneous sex | male full frontal nudity | 

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Taglines:

We are the mods, we are the mods. We are, we are, we are the mods.

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Genres:

Drama | Music

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Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

Last feature film of John Bindon.

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Goofs

When Jimmy enters the scrap yard to see Peter Fenton, an 'NF' (National Front, a British white supremacist political party) graffiti is seen scrawled on the gates. The National Front was not officially formed until 1966, and its 'NF' symbol was not commonly seen in graffiti until the mid 1970's.

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Quotes

Peter: If you don't work, you don't get paid no money. And I like money.

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Crazy Credits

Jeans By Levis

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Alternate Versions

About half a dozen scenes had been cut from the original German releases in a more or less random selection, shortening the movie by some 20 minutes. Newer versions seen on cable TV include these missing parts non-dubbed with German subtitles.

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Connections

Featured in Quadrophenia: Vespa Mini-Documentary (2001)

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Soundtracks

Green Onions
Written by Al Jackson Jr., Booker T. Jones, Lewie Steinberg and Steve Cropper
Performed by Booker T. & the M.G.s (as Booker T & The 'M.G.'s)
Published by Atlantic Records & WEA.

User Reviews

The British Rebel Without A Cause...

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.

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 November 1979 (USA)

Also Known As:

Quadrophenia

Filming Locations:

Lewes Magistrates Court, High Street, Lewes, East Sussex, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

The Who Films, Polytel

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby (Dolby Stereo)

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor) (uncredited)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1