To Be Someone

There's a long-running tradition of British crime comedy caper films going back years. They include films such as The Ladykillers, The Lavender

Hill Mob, The Italian Job, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Layer Cake, Snatch, and Love, Honour and Obey. After watching Love, Honour and Obey, then a trip to Brighton in 2003, Pete Meadows hatched an outline idea based around speculating on what happened next to the characters, specifically Jimmy, in Quadrophenia. At that stage, he had no idea what moving forward with those thoughts would have in store for him.

Pete, with no previous experience of writing, came up with an outline rough draft of his storyline for a novel, with the intent for it to become a film. He sent it off to The Who's management, thinking if they didn't like it as a sequel to Quadrophenia, it might make a decent comedy gangster film. What started off as a labour of love turned into a seemingly never-ending obstacle course of Grand National proportions. An abundance of huge, daunting hurdles were encountered one after another, involving copyright, threats of legal action, rewrites and plot changes along with redeveloping and renaming characters. The Who's guitarist Pete Townshend gave his permission for Pete to base his ‘Jimmy' on the Quadrophenia (album) character. To Be Someone (part 1) was published as a novel in 2011, with To Be Someone (part 2) published as a novel in 2013. Before the two books were launched Pete met with actor, scriptwriter, director and producer Ray Burdis in 2010, who liked the book(s) and thought there was potential for a film. Ray asked Pete to come up with a draft film script. Ray then tinkered around with Pete's screenplay script to make it work as a film. It goes without saying that to make a film, even a low budget one, funding is required. Then there's the casting and all the other necessaries before the physical shooting begins. More obstacles to deal with. Finally, over four weeks, in 2019, To Be Someone was filmed, largely in and around Stevenage in Hertfordshire, with some actors who appeared in Quadrophenia featuring in prominent roles. To Be Someone made its debut at Berlin Film Festival in February last year (2020), with the premiere and general UK cinema release originally scheduled for April 2020. However, obvious circumstances worldwide postponed those plans until July 2021. If Pete Meadows thought that with the film ‘ready to go' all his trials, tests and tribulations with To Be Someone had passed, fate intervened one last time. This led to the original venue (in Stevenage) for the UK launch pulling the plug with only a couple of weeks' notice. Despite this last-minute stumbling block To Be Someone premiered at The Peartree Pub, with three live bands, some of the cast, and a capacity crowd of 300 on July 25, 2021. Given that restrictions in the UK had only just been lifted and that the entertainment industry, including cinemas – especially independent ones – had been hit hard, those able to reopen to the public opted for big-budget blockbuster movies in the main. This meant To Be Someone was screened by fewer cinemas than was hoped for when on general release. To Be Someone was also released on DVD in August 2021, the format in which most interested parties are likely to be viewing the film.

The film itself is a British gangster comedy romp in a similar vein to Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Love, Honour and Obey. It has 21st century Mods, scooters (classic ones as well as quite a few Royal Alloys), a scooter shop and also references to the Isle of Wight August Bank Holiday weekend scooter rally as an integral part of the plot. Additionally, extras, as in scooterist and Mod scooter riding extras, include Welwyn Stags, Wasps London, Cambridge SC plus, of course, many of the Stevenage Mod and scooter crowd. The soundtrack features contemporary bands (The K's, The Mynd Set, Colour Eyed), playing original music, all, at times, playing ‘live' during the film. As for the cast, there's an abundance of familiar faces, (Mark Wingett – Uncle Tommy, Toyah Willcox – Bunny, Leslie Ash – Judy, Trevor Laird – Rudi, Gary Shail – Charlie Boy), all playing larger-thanlife characters. There's a very evident and real chemistry between them, born more than 40 years ago, a last-gangin-town togetherness which infectiously draw younger cast members into their fold. Sam Gittens plays central character Danny, scooter shop and club co-owner Mod, with Laura McMonagle as Linda (Danny's wife), Amelia Bath – Daniella (top girl at Tommy and Bunny's escort agency, located above Danny's scooter shop), Marc Pickering – Vinny (Mad Mike's estranged son), Jared Garfield – Sharp Steve (top Mod in Danny's circle). All is good in Danny's life until Ginger Tony is released from a long stretch in prison. Through a series of flashbacks, the plot unfolds, and psychotic gangster Mad Mike wants the remaining amount of ‘his' buzz-bomb pills. Through strong-arm tactics, threats and intimidation he forces Danny into going to fetch them. Even the police appear to be in the pocket of Mad Mike. The stash is hidden on the Isle of Wight in a haunted ruin. Danny enlists help from friends, family and acquaintances to help collect the stash over the Isle of Wight scooter rally weekend. It's a fun, feelgood, light-hearted British crime caper, with an abundance of amusing moments, scenes and one-liners. A bonus is the scooters entwined in the plot, a good cast and original music too. Quadrophenia 2 it is not, nor is it a documentary of the contemporary Mod scene. However, if you have a good sense of humour, To Be Someone is more than worth a watch. It made me smile a lot, and laugh more than a few times.