Quadrophenia
Based off The Who’s OTHER rock opera from the early 70s, director Franc Roddam helmed this 1979 release with an overall story made up entirely from whole cloth yet still retaining the spirit of the original album. Music fans should be aware of two things going in: the film is NOT wall to wall Who music, but rather employs snippets of their songs and is actually very talky for the first ¾ of the way through, until The Who themselves fully take over in the last 20 to 30 minutes and their music is used to narrate essentially the final act of the film, and also, quite obviously, this is no Tommy. Whereas that story told things on a rather large scale in relation to faith and life experiences, this is a more personal story about a young man struggling to find his place in a British subculture of the early 60s called The Mods, essentially gang members fond of dressing in suits and ties and riding around on motor scooters (and whom The Who took their fashion style from in their early days), all the while still partying (mostly to corny 50s rock songs), doing drugs, screwing , and causing general mayhem to the populace while maintaining a ongoing hatred for The Rockers, the rival gang movement who rode more traditional motorcycles and adorned themselves in black leather. In the lead role of Jimmy, Phil Daniels is probably best described as adequate, successfully showing his character arc from full-fledged Mod who lusts after a hot young supermarket cashier named Steph (Meg Ryan-lookalike Leslie Ash) to having the time of his life at a Mod gathering in the beach community of Brighton which leads to an all brawl with The Rockers and a full scale riot, to becoming disillusioned with the shallowness of his existence when Steph goes from a sexual encounter with him to hopping into the arms of his best friend, to finally a drug crazed binge as he desperately tries to find himself (and loses all the adornments of his existence in the process) and even travels back to Brighton where he finally faces the fact that the gang life is all a pile of conformist bullshit and that he must finally face up to being his own man and leaving that careless life behind (this is where The Who’s music comes heavily into play). It is indeed that idea that The Mods vs Rockers rivalry becomes a major transcendent theme and allegory that can be spread across current times with trends such as The Crips vs The Bloods and even Republican vs Democrat: that we have a situation in our societies where two evenly powerful sides are drawn and normal people are roundly expected to choose a side and root for or even take on the activities of that side while adapting fully to the philosophical credo and ideology it entails, when the truth remains that we are basically all the same to begin with, and to hate another person simply because they dress or think differently than you is the bounds of ridiculousness. This is reflected in the story with Jimmy’s relationship with an old childhood friend (Ray Winstone in his first role) whom after not seeing him in years is appalled to find that he has joined the hated Rocker movement, yet finding little or no reason to hate the guy himself. Then there is Jimmy looking up to Ace Face (Sting in HIS first film role), the ultra-charismatic Mod whom all the girls want to dance with until Jimmy’s image of him is shattered when he finds out what the guy actually does for a living (those familiar with the album know exactly what I’m talking about). In the end, when the facets of the traditional story are thrown out the window and Daltrey, Townshend, Entwistle, and Moon have taken full control, the final revelations that Jimmy must face are delivered in awe-inspiring fashion, a reminder that NOBODY is under ANY obligation to conform to ANYTHING in our society, and if more people could come to realize that in today’s world without subscribing to the three ring circus comprised of our media, our government, and our pop culture, then maybe one day we can all be truly free…
9/10