My dad was a mod when mod meant mod.
Fred Perry before it was hijacked by the chav.
Ben Sherman when it was a design classic.
Shrink to fit 501's.
Original US army fish tail parka.
A Vespa.
Mohair suit.
He was a face at The Place.
Me?
Not really I suppose but I've flirted with it...hoovering up three button Fred Perry originals, trim-fit Ben Shermans with a pleat, Clarks desert boots and obsessing over Motown, Stax, Atlantic and The Kinks!
"Bronco Bullfrog" is a quasi-documentary look at the fag end of the mod movement...1969, the exact moment when the mods morphed into skinheads in rebellion of the soft, flower-power, psychedelia of the summer of love.
The eponymous "Bronco" is really a bit part player here as the story centres on the adolescent love and lust of Del and Irene (played with incredible warmth and honesty by Del Walker and Anne Gooding). With disapproving parents, dead end jobs and petty crime being the order of the day the two elope...briefly and ultimately find that it really is very difficult to escape the "real" world.
Director Barney Platts-Mills manages to capture the reality of coming of age and also a fascinating moment in British youth subculture...the clothes, the attitudes and the aspirations are all achingly real and despite being over 40 years old it is still relevant and fresh. With a DVD release looming in September this is one to look out for.
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