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, cruises London on his motor-scooter and hears music such as that of 'The Who' and 'The High Numbers', he feels free and accepted. However, it's a flight into an illusionary world.If you’re from the United Kingdom and you’ve watched Quadrophenia (1979), for you it would be a film about your country in the 1960s but for everyone else unfamiliar with the Mod culture, it would probably not make so much sense. The film written and directed by Franc Roddam has been classified as an A-grade cult-classic, an influential factor of the Mod-revival of the 1980s and above-all just a damn good film. The film stars Phil Daniels in perhaps the most important performance of his underrated career and Sting (yes, the musician) in his first ever appearance on film. Surprisingly, even though Phil Daniels carries the entire film on his 21-year old shoulders, most of the publicity material and other marketing mostly featured the then rising music star Sting, who appears for less than 10 minutes in the entire film. Ray Winstone is featured in one of his earliest roles giving a short but memorable performance as a kind-hearted rocker.
Quadrophenia was made in 1979, a time when Mod culture had completely disappeared and the bohemian lifestyle of the rock music scene caught mass appeal. The film is set in 1964, the peak point of the Mod revolution and the crucial year of the infamous Brighton riot, often cited as the biggest fight between the Mods and the Rockers. The film’s name is taken from the famous album by The Who with the same name. Ironically, many of the famous Mod bands including The Who turned towards Rock music once the Mod culture started to decline in the mid-1970s.
