A new generation of
Mods, mainly from Barnsley and Preston, were recruited at a Scooter rally in
Southend and put up in digs and given a mechanic for their scooters. However, a
shortage of Rockers led to Roddam recasting several of these Mods as the enemy:
apocryphally one of the Rockers foregrounded in the police van would not show
his face to the camera lest friends at home discovered his treachery. To the
first call of ‘Action!’, down the slope and onto the beach to the west of the
Palace Pier charged the Mods of ‘78, while from the opposite direction came a
set of (less authentic) leather boys, with in the middle police on horseback
jostling and jumping over them. Roddam was pleased with the first take until
told that some of the extras playing policemen had been laughing and putting
their hats on back to front. So as they reset the scene, Roddam ran over to the
Mods and told them that the police – many of them punks – were ruining the
shooting, and that they should go for them for real. Though balsa wood deck
chairs were in place, Roddam’s goading led to scenes of genuine fighting
and a realistic recreation of chaos. Cinematographer Brian Tufano, got in there
amidst the flying stones and flying fists, capturing the aggro ‘on the hoof’.
No comments:
Post a Comment