Jimmy Cooper loathes his dead-end job and his working-class parents. He seeks solace with his mod clique, scooter riding, and drugs, only to be disappointed.Jimmy Cooper loathes his dead-end job and his working-class parents. He seeks solace with his mod clique, scooter riding, and drugs, only to be disappointed.Jimmy Cooper loathes his dead-end job and his working-class parents. He seeks solace with his mod clique, scooter riding, and drugs, only to be disappointed.
- Chalky
- (as Philip Davis)
- Kevin
- (as Raymond Winstone)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaSting and his band The Police were little known when the film was shot, but had broken out by the time it was released.
- GoofsThe shadow of the helicopter that filmed the final scenes on the white cliffs at Beachy Head is visible. Most people call these the white cliffs of Dover, but they aren't. The cliffs at Beachy Head are higher than the white cliffs of Dover.
- Quotes
Kev: I don't give a monkey's arsehole about Mods and Rockers. Underneath, we're all the same, 'n't we?
Jimmy: No, Kev, that's it. Look, I don't wanna be the same as everybody else. That's why I'm a Mod, see? I mean, you gotta be somebody, ain't ya, or you might as well jump in the sea and drown.
Kev: That's why I joined the army. To be different. To get away from all this. Don't matter where you go, there's always some cunt with stars and stripes who wants to push you about.
- Crazy creditsJeans By Levis
- Alternate versionsThere are at least 4 scenes that have been deleted from the final film. These scenes have never been released anywhere in full, apart from on a short documentary that came with the 1997 UK video, but even then they are shown as photographs and not the actual full scenes. Most notable was the entire deletion of almost all of the dialogue from Ace Face (played by Sting), including 2 extended scenes from the police van and one of all the mods meeting up on their scooters before going to Brighton. Supposedly, the reason that all of Ace Face's dialogue was deleted was that Sting and the producers both agreed that this ruined his 'mysterious' character that he was playing and also may have taken the focus of the protagonist of the story, Jimmy.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Talking Pictures: Episode #1.1 (1979)
- SoundtracksHi-Heel Sneakers
Written by Tommy Tucker (aka Robert Higginbotham)
Performed by Cross Section
Published by The Who Group Limited
Without his familiar crutches (hooliganism, drugs, girlfriends, Mod clansmen, job, parents, home and 'scooter'), Jimmy is faced with a terrifying realization that he - alone - must completely rebuild and reinvent himself.
In a way that is hard to describe in words, director Franc Roddam exposes the raw core of life, unadorned by all the temporal things by which we measure success, worth and happiness. Better still, he forces the viewer to examine the very definition of 'a life'.
The movie generates ever increasing momentum, culminating in one of the most intensely disturbing realizations ever captured on film, with the white cliffs of Dover as the foreground, and the The Who's equally monumental and haunting "Love Reign O'er Me" in the background.
With the possible exception of Bill Murray's version of "The Razor's Edge", this is about as perfect a chance as we are ever afforded to examine the foundations of our own lives (...what more can you ask of a film?). Though this is not an uncommon cinematic theme, it has never been so brilliantly achieved.
An emotional and spiritual tour de force, and simply one of the best films ever made.
- delphivagi
- Aug 12, 2002
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Quadrophenia - A Way of Life
- Filming locations
- Beach Cafe, Brighton, East Sussex, England, UK(where the mods have breakfast)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross worldwide
- $2,258
- Runtime2 hours
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1