# Quadrophenia (film) {#quadrophenia-film .reader-title}
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16--21 minutes
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This article is about the feature film based on the Who. For the album,
see Quadrophenia.
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Quadrophenia |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| {file-width="267" |
| file-height="373" height="349" width="250"} |
| |
| <div> |
| |
| UK theatrical release poster\ |
| by Renato Casaro |
| |
| </div> |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Directed by | Franc Roddam |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Screenplay by | <div> |
| | |
| | - Dave Humphries |
| | - Franc Roddam |
| | - Martin Stellman |
| | - Pete Townshend |
| | |
| | </div> |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Based on | *Quadrophenia*\ |
| | by the Who |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Produced by | <div> |
| | |
| | - Roy Baird |
| | - Bill Curbishley |
| | |
| | </div> |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Starring | <div> |
| | |
| | - Phil Daniels |
| | - Leslie Ash |
| | - Toyah Willcox |
| | - Philip Davis |
| | - Mark Wingett |
| | - Sting |
| | - Ray Winstone |
| | |
| | </div> |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Cinematography | Brian Tufano |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Edited by | <div> |
| | |
| | - Sean Barton |
| | - Mike Taylor |
| | |
| | </div> |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Music by | <div> |
| | |
| | - The Who |
| | - Various Artists |
| | |
| | </div> |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Production\ | The Who Films Ltd\ |
| companies | Polytel Films\ |
| | Curbishley-Baird Enterprises |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Distributed by | Brent Walker Film Distributors |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Release dates | <div> |
| | |
| | - 16 August 1979 (Premiere) |
| | - 17 August 1979 (London) |
| | |
| | </div> |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Running time | 120 minutes^\[1\]^ |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Country | United Kingdom |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Language | English |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Budget | £2 million^\[2\]^ |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Box office | \$1,050,000^\[3\]^ is |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
'*Quadrophenia'* is a 1979 British drama film, based on the Who\'s
1973 rock opera of the same name. It was directed by Franc Roddam in his
feature directing debut. Unlike the adaptation of *Tommy*,
*Quadrophenia* is not a musical film, and the band does not appear live
in the film.
The film, set in London in 1964, depicts a period of emotional turmoil
in the life of Jimmy Cooper (Phil Daniels), a young mod who escapes from
his dead-end job as a postroom boy by dancing, partying, abusing
Dexamyl, riding scooters and brawling with rockers.
In 1964, a young London mod named Jimmy Cooper, disillusioned with his
parents and a dull job as a post-room boy at an advertising firm, vents
his teenage angst by abusing Dexamyl, partying, riding scooters and
brawling with rockers, accompanied by his mod friends Dave, Chalky and
Spider.
An attack by hostile rockers on Spider leads to a retaliatory attack on
Jimmy\'s childhood friend Kevin, one of the rival rockers. Jimmy
initially participates, but on realising the victim is Kevin, he berates
the other attackers but does not stop them, instead riding away on his
scooter, revving his engine loudly in frustration.
A planned bank holiday weekend away provides the excuse for the rivalry
between mods and rockers to escalate, as both groups descend on the
seaside town of Brighton. Jimmy plans to be noticed as a \'face\' and
hints to Steph -- a girl on whom he has a crush -- that he would like
her to ride with him, but she confirms plans to ride instead with Pete,
an older, well-heeled mod.
To prepare for the weekend, the friends attempt to buy some recreational
drugs from London gangster Harry North but are cheated with fake pills.
After vandalising the drug-seller\'s car in retaliation, they
desperately rob a pharmacy, finding a large quantity of \"blues\".
After an early morning group ride from London to the south coast, the
friends gather on the seafront, where Jimmy first sees a flamboyant
scooter-riding mod he describes as *Ace Face*. Later, in a dance hall,
Jimmy suggests that he will help Steph, whose escort is now chatting to
an attractive American girl, to dance with Ace Face but on the dance
floor ushers her away to dance by himself. Steph leaves Jimmy to dance
with Ace Face, whereupon Jimmy plots to gain attention by climbing up
onto the balcony-edge and dancing with much applause, annoying Ace Face.
After diving into the audience, Jimmy is ejected by bouncers. Steph\'s
escort leaves with the American girl.
The lads spend the night sleeping rough, meet up at a café the following
morning, then proceed along the promenade, where a series of running
battles ensues. As the police corner the rioters, Jimmy escapes down an
alleyway with Steph and they have sex. When the pair emerge, they find
themselves amidst the melee just as police are detaining rioters. Jimmy
is arrested and detained with the volatile Ace Face. When fined a hefty
£75---equivalent to £1,300 in 2023---Ace Face mocks the magistrate by
offering to pay on the spot with a cheque, impressing the fellow mods
with his presumed wealth.
Back in London, Jimmy becomes severely depressed. His mother throws him
out after finding his stash of Dexamyl. He then leaves his job, spends
his severance package on more pills and learns that Steph is now his
friend Dave\'s girlfriend. After briefly fighting with Dave, the
following morning his rejection is confirmed by Steph, and his beloved
Lambretta scooter is damaged in a crash involving a Royal Mail parcel
van. Jimmy takes a train back to Brighton, taking increasing levels of
pills and becoming more emotionally unstable.
Lonely and unsure what to do with himself, he revisits the scenes of the
riots and his encounter with Steph. Then Jimmy is shocked to discover
that his idol, Ace Face, has a menial job as a bellboy at the Grand
hotel. Jimmy steals Ace\'s Vespa scooter and heads to Beachy Head,
riding close to the cliff-edge. For a time, he appears to be having an
enjoyable ride in the sunshine, but then he stops and glares miserably
at the sea. Finally, the scooter is seen crashing over the cliff-top,
which is where the film began (with Jimmy walking back against a sunset
backdrop).
<div>
- Phil Daniels as Jimmy Cooper
- Leslie Ash as Steph
- Philip Davis as Chalky
- Mark Wingett as Dave
- Sting as Ace Face
- Ray Winstone as Kevin Herriot, Jimmy\'s childhood friend
- Gary Shail as Spider
- Garry Cooper as Peter Fenton, Steph\'s boyfriend
- Toyah Willcox as Monkey
- Trevor Laird as Ferdy
- Andy Sayce as Kenny
- Kate Williams as Mrs Cooper, Jimmy\'s mother
- Michael Elphick as Mr George Cooper, Jimmy\'s father
- Kim Neve as Yvonne Cooper, Jimmy\'s sister
- Benjamin Whitrow as Mr Fulford, Jimmy\'s employer
- Daniel Peacock as Danny
- Jeremy Child as Agency Man
- John Phillips as Magistrate
- Timothy Spall as Harry the Projectionist
- Patrick Murray as Des the projectionist assistant
- George Innes as Cafe Owner
- John Bindon as Harry North, gangster
- P. H. Moriarty as Barman at Villain Club
- Hugh Lloyd as Mr Cale
- Gary Holton as aggressive Rocker 1
- John Altman as Johnny \'John the Mod\' Fagin
- Jesse Birdsall as aggressive Rocker 2
- Olivier Pierre as Jimmy and Danny\'s tailor
- Julian Firth as drugged up Mod
- Simon Gipps-Kent as party host (uncredited)
- Mickey Royce as Ken \'Jonesy\' Jones
- Dave Cash as newsreader (uncredited)
- John Blundell as the Rockers leader (uncredited)
</div>
John Lydon (Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols) screen-tested for the role
of Jimmy Cooper. The distributors of the film refused to insure him for
the role and he was replaced by Phil Daniels.^\[4\]^
Most of 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.^\[5\]^ Subsequently, the cast agreed to be part of a
Quadrophenia Convention at Brighton in 2009.^\[5\]^
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Several references to the Who appear throughout the film as \"Easter
eggs\", 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 television 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, the
drummer for the Who, died, but in the words of Roddam, the producers,
Roy Baird and Bill Curbishley, \"held it together\" and the film was
made.^\[*[citation\ needed]{title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (January 2021)"}*\]^
Only one scene in the film was shot in the studio; all others were on
location. Beachy Head, where Jimmy considers suicide at the film\'s
ending, is 14 miles (23 km) from Saltdean, the site of the real-life
cliffside death of a young mod in 1964 that Roddam has said inspired
Townshend\'s original concept, though Townshend has denied this.^\[6\]^
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Jeff Dexter, a club dancer and disc jockey fixture in 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.
Trevor Laird (Ferdy) was scripted to appear in a party scene kissing and
having sex with a white girl, but was excluded from the scene by
associate producer John Peverall due to concerns that it could cause
problems with distributors in South Africa and the southern United
States. Toyah Willcox has said that cast members discussed going on
strike over the incident.^\[7\]^
*Quadrophenia* is the soundtrack album to the 1979 film of the same
name, which refers to the 1973 rock opera *Quadrophenia*.^\[8\]^ It was
initially released on Polydor Records in 1979 as a cassette and LP and
was re-released as a compact disc in 1993 and 2001. The album was
dedicated to Peter Meaden, a prominent mod and first manager of the Who,
who had died a year before the album\'s
release.^\[*[citation\ needed]{title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (January 2021)"}*\]^
The album contains 10 of the 17 tracks from the original rock opera
*Quadrophenia*, as not all of the tracks were used in the film. These
are different from those that appear on the 1973 album as they were
remixed in 1979 by John Entwistle. The most notable difference is the
track \"The Real Me\" (used for the title sequence of the film) which
features a different bass track, more prominent vocals and a more
definite ending.^\[9\]^ Most of the tracks are also edited to be
slightly shorter. The soundtrack also includes three tracks by the Who
that did not appear on the 1973
album.^\[*[citation\ needed]{title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (January 2021)"}*\]^
The film was first shown during the Cannes Film Festival on May 14,
1979. The film had its premiere at the Plaza cinema in London on 16
August 1979.^\[10\]^ It opened to the public the following day and
grossed £36,472 in its opening week from four cinemas in London, placing
second behind *Moonraker* at the London box office.^\[10\]\[11\]^
Janet Maslin, reviewing the film for *The New York Times* in 1979,
called it \"\...gritty and ragged and sometimes quite beautiful\",
creating a \"\...slice-of-life movie that feels tremendously authentic
in its sentiments as well as its details.\"^\[12\]^ Maslin states that
the director\'s scenes of youth battles \"\...capture a fierce, dizzying
excitement that epitomizes a kind of youthful extreme.\"^\[12\]^
Reviewer Brian Gibson from *Vue Weekly* (Edmonton, Canada) stated that
\"Roddam\'s look back at an angsty young man in \'65 is a throwback to
the kitchen-sink dramas that began plumbing the depths of working class
lives then. Reeking with a restless teen spirit, *Quadrophenia* leads us
down adolescence\'s blind alleys of rebellion.\"^\[13\]\[14\]^ Critic
Matt Brunson from *Creative Loafing* stated that the film \"\[m\]anages
to be both quintessentially British and irrefutably universal\", giving
it a 3.5/4 score.^\[15\]^ Reviewer Eric Melin from Scene-Stealers.com
states that the film has a \"\...gritty, realistic feel and the themes
of youthful rebellion and confusion are absolutely timeless, magnified
by the specificity of the setting rather than being limited by it\"; he
also gave the movie a 3.5/4 score.^\[16\]^ Reviewer Christopher Long
from *Movie Metropolis* commented that \"\[w\]hen you\'re an angry young
man \[like the main character\], there\'s no better way to prove you\'re
an individual than to dress and act exactly like everybody else\"; Long
gave the film a 6/10 score.^\[17\]^
Dennis Schwartz from *Ozus\' World Movie Reviews* stated that the
\"\...film lives through the superb raw angst-ridden performance of
\[lead\] Phil Daniels\"; Schwartz gave the movie a B+.^\[14\]^ Critic
Cole Smithey from ColeSmithey.com called the film a \"\...glorious
representational story of male teen angst that transcends its British
locations and great music with a sense of the confused romantic notions
that young men the world over carry with them\"; Smithey gave the film
an A+.^\[14\]^ Reviewer Ken Hanke from the *Mountain Xpress* (Asheville,
NC) called it a \"\[d\]isappointing film version of a great concept
album\"; he gave the film a 3/5 score.^\[14\]^ Film critic Jeffrey M.
Anderson from *Combustible Celluloid* states that where the film
\"\...succeeds\[, it does so\] through its devil-may-care attitude and
energy\"; on the other hand, Anderson states that the film \"\...feels
like a low-budget homemade movie from the period\".^\[14\]^
Rotten Tomatoes collected reviews from 16 critics and gave
*Quadrophenia* a 100% rating.^\[14\]^
*The New York Times* placed the film on its *Best 1000 Movies Ever*
list.^\[18\]^
[]{#DVD}[]{#DVD_releases} Sirius Publishing released the film on the now
defunct MovieCD format in 1991. The package included three discs for the
movie itself along with other promotional material for the format and
other films offered by Sirius on MovieCD. The packaging also carries the
logo for Rhino Home Video indicating some form of involvement in this
release.^\[19\]^
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment first released the film on DVD in
the United Kingdom in 1999 with an eight-minute montage featurette. It
used the VHS print, resulting in a much lower-quality video than
expected. Following this in the United States was a special edition by
Rhino, which included a remastered letterboxed 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.^\[*[citation\ needed]{title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (January 2021)"}*\]^
Rhino Home Video released the film on DVD on 25 September 2001.^\[20\]^
On 7 August 2006, Universal improved upon its original UK DVD with a
Region 2 two-disc special edition. The film was digitally remastered and
included a 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.^\[21\]^ Unlike their previous DVD, it was the
complete, longer version, and it was matted to the correct aspect
ratio.^\[*[citation\ needed]{title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (January 2021)"}*\]^
The Criterion Collection released a special edition version of this
movie on 28 August 2012, on both DVD and Blu-ray formats.^\[22\]^
\
- Ali Catterall and Simon Wells, *Your Face Here: British Cult Movies
Since The Sixties* (Fourth Estate, 2001), ISBN 0-00-714554-3
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