Written by Dave Humphries, Martin Stellman, and Franc Roddam
Directed by Franc Roddam

Quadrophenia: a personality split into four separate facets. An advanced state if schizophrenia, twice the normally accepted medical condition. Inability to control which facet is foremost at any one time. An extremely volatile state of mind. A condition of today.


Probably no other rock band was as successful at crossing their songs over to another medium than The Who. Sure, artists like Bruce Springsteen penned songs that told stories within the lyrics, and in the more recent time period, Billy Joel had a successful run on Broadway with a play derived from his songs. But it was The Who that paved the way for him, with a couple of successful translations of their music to the stage and silver screen. One of those was Quadrophenia. The Who produced the movie as well as contributed the majority of the soundtrack to this film about disaffected youth in England. It was inspired by a newspaper article Pete Townshend read about an eighteen or nineteen-year-old who had thrown himself off a cliff.

Initially, Jimmy (portrayed by Phil Daniels) seems no different than youth anywhere else in the world at the time. He gets around town on a motorcycle and rebels against parental authority in general. He’s experimenting with drugs at a time when it’s pretty acceptable. He hangs out at clubs and has his eye on a pretty girl.

His world is divided into two factions, Mods and Rockers. Jimmy hangs around with the Mods. By day, he works in an office at some low-level mailroom-type job. At night, he hangs out with his buddies, rides around on a motorbike, and on occasion fights Rockers. He runs into an old friend who enlisted in the army. After deciding that wasn’t quite up his alley, the friend returned home and became a Rocker. In some ways, it doesn’t really bother Jimmy, but at the same time, he isn’t too keen on his buddies finding out about it.

After a day of street fighting in Brighton, Jimmy ends up locked up in a police wagon with Ace (portrayed by Sting). Ace is the Mod who is revered by all, although he stops short of being a leader. Ace’s actions inspire Jimmy, and after a confrontation at home that results in his getting tossed out, Jimmy also tells off his boss and quits his job. He thinks he’s at the top of his game, being as cool or cooler than anyone else.

But the world isn’t going to work in his favor. The girl he has been dreaming of spurns him after a tryst during the rioting. An accident with his motorbike leaves him without transportation, but still popping pills. His remaining dreams shatter when he learns the truth about Ace. Every comfort he had in the world is stripped from him, and he is left to find his own truth in the world, beginning over from the ground up, if he is strong enough to do that.

Quadrophenia is a great movie because it captures Jimmy’s angst at his life and not feeling like he fits in. Even when he is with his friends, it’s like he is always trying to be cool so they will like him; he needs the constant reassurance that he belongs somewhere. Phil Daniels really captures the nervousness of Jimmy’s personality in that the last thing he wants is to be on the outside looking in. This is why he is drawn to Ace, who is the coolest of the cool.

Unlike the rock-opera Tommy, Quadrophenia seems much more like a real-world setting. Jimmy holds a real job surrounded by real people. He has parents who act like the normal, dorky parents most kids view their own parents as. Unlike other movies that don’t hold up to time, Quadrophenia holds up well even though the era of the Mods and Rockers has passed. It’s something most people can relate to, having seen factions like this in their own teenage and young adult life.

While the music is a distinct part of the movie, it doesn’t overwhelm the film. There’s no one breaking into song in the middle of a scene, but rather, the music serves as a narration of sorts. Quadrophenia is one of The Who’s greatest albums, if not the greatest in some people’s eyes. Hits like Lover Reign O’Er Me and My Generation accompany songs by other musicians such as Da Doo Ron Ron by The Crystals and Night Train by James Brown. The result is a superior film that doesn’t hinge on the works of one band but manages to capture the age more accurately due to the dedication to the subject itself rather than the band’s own ego.

If I have one complaint, it’s that the transfer to DVD is not all that great. Right in the beginning, I could see signs that it hadn’t been cleaned up before being written to DVD. There are instances of snow and dirt in the picture when Jimmy is standing at the beach. The documentary in the extras shows what Rhino did to the video and audio to make it suitable for DVD release, so it’s not like they just slapped it on a disc without a thought. I just feel like it could have been better. In some ways, the roughness works to depict the world Jimmy exists in, but mostly, I felt like it didn’t quite get the care and attention it deserved.

There’s a decent amount of extras on the DVD that do show some attention by Rhino, although there probably could have been more. One of the most interesting was the documentary on the Vespa scooter, which is the vehicle of choice of the Mods in Quadrophenia.

Although the era of Mods and Rockers might have passed you by, this is a great film to check out. It’s something most people can relate to, having experienced a world divided by factions in their own lives. The music isn’t the movie like in Tommy, but works well to have Quadrophenia seem grounded in reality rather than a fairy tale. I highly recommend it.

Extras:

• Commentary with Director Franc Roddam
• Original Theatrical Trailer
• Interview with Sting
• Trivia Track
• Vespa Mini-Documentary
• Rhino’s Film Restoration
• London to Brighton: Go For a Drive
• Quiz: Are You a Mod or a Rocker?
• Photo Gallery
• Cast and Filmmakers
• The Who – Discography
• British Mod Film Compendium