Chicago Sun-Times: Quadrophenia review

["Brian Cady" <cadyb@home.com>]

On line at:
http://www.suntimes.com/output/show/quad20.html

`Quadrophenia' still packs a weak punch
July 20, 2001
MOVIES By Jeff Wisser

Since the moment his hairline began receding, it seems that Pete Townshend,
songwriter and guitarist for the British rock band the Who, has been finding
ways to repackage, remaster and recycle the aggressive rock and roll that he
produced in his youth.

The overblown concept album "Tommy," for instance, begat the overblown
symphonic disc "Tommy," which begat the overblown Ken Russell film "Tommy,"
which begat the overblown "Tommy" tour, which begat the overblown Broadway
spectacle "The Who's Tommy." That deaf, dumb and blind kid sure plays a mean
multimedia moneymaker.

Similarly, the aborted concept album "Lifehouse," which was pared down to
the Who's classic 1971 LP "Who's Next," was released as a multidisc set last
year and Townshend is said to be developing it into a stage production. The
epic, magnificent 1973 double album "Quadrophenia" is also rumored to be
headed for a stage near you.

But before "Love, Reign O'er Me" and "The Real Me" ever emanate from an
orchestra pit near you, Franc Roddam's 1979 film version of "Quadrophenia,"
a cult favorite and midnight-showing staple, is being cleaned up and dusted
off for a theatrical run in advance of a Sept. 25 DVD release.

A gritty tale of 1960s British working-class youth searching for thrills and
perhaps even meaning in a world of limited prospects and little promise,
"Quadrophenia" is the story of Jimmy, a scooter-riding Mod whose days are
filled with popping pills, fantasizing over pictures of scantily clad (if
clad at all) women, hitting the dance clubs and streetfighting with the
Mods' leather-clad, motorcycle-straddling greaser archenemies, the Rockers.

Give Roddam at least this much credit: He believes in his story here and
infuses it with some tough, indelible visual images and an overwhelming
sense of bleakness. His is a naturalistic approach to the work of the Who, a
far cry from Ken Russell's absurdly overproduced, star-studded take on
"Tommy," a 1975 film that gave us everything from a leering Jack Nicholson
to Ann-Margret awash in gallons of pork and beans. Instead, we get decidedly
unstarlike, unfamiliar faces such as Phil Daniels' Jimmy, awash in harsh
light and viewed through a lens that is anything but flattering.

Like its youthful protagonist, the script for "Quadrophenia" has nowhere to
go. Ultimately, it wheezes and huffs to an all-too-predictable conclusion,
offering neither insight nor satisfaction. All the audience is left with are
some striking visuals and an only occasionally gripping character study
that, however freshly rendered by Daniels and his castmates, comes up short.
In the end, even the trump card here, the Who, doesn't get played, with the
group being reduced until the film's final 30 minutes to incidental music,
product placements and short cameo glimpses on Jimmy's television.

Despite the film's virtues, viewers will be mouthing the words of the Who
from the "Quadrophenia" album: "I've Had Enough."

***

        -Brian in Atlanta
         The Who This Month!
        http://members.home.net/cadyb/who.htm