Tommy (film)
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Roger Daltrey as Tommy |
Tommy was a
1975 musical film, based on
The Who's 1969 "
rock opera"
concept album Tommy . It was directed by
Ken Russell and featured a star-studded cast, including the band members themselves.
Ann-Margret received a
Golden Globe Award for her performance, and was also nominated for an
Academy Award for Best Actress.
Pete Townshend was also nominated for an Oscar for his work in scoring and adapting the music for the film.
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Roger Daltrey – Tommy Walker
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Oliver Reed – Frank Hobbs, Tommy's step father
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Ann-Margret – Nora Walker Hobbs, Tommy's mother
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Elton John – Pinball Wizard
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Eric Clapton – Preacher
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John Entwistle – Himself
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Keith Moon – Uncle Ernie & himself in some parts
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Paul Nicholas – Cousin Kevin
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Jack Nicholson – A. Quackson, mental health specialist
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Robert Powell – Group Captain Thomas Walker
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Pete Townshend – Himself
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Tina Turner – The Acid Queen
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Arthur Brown – The Priest
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Victoria Russell – Sally Simpson
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Ben Aris – Rev. A. Simpson. V.C.
Much of the story is Psychedelic so there may be flaws in the following: Tommy's father, RAF Group Captain Walker, is away fighting the Germans in World War II. His plane is shot from the air even before Tommy is born. Tommy's mother believes her husband dead for nearly eleven years. She meets Frank Hobbs at a
holiday camp and falls into an affair with him. Captain Walker returns to find his wife in bed with another man and in a rage of passion is killed by Hobbs. Tommy is told that he "didn't hear it, didn't see it" and "won't say nothing to no-one," and as a result becomes deaf, dumb, and blind. Frank and Tommy's mother turn to such characters as the preacher (religion), the acid queen (drugs), and doctor (medicine) for cures to Tommy's ailment.
Tommy's salvation and cure comes from a strange chance of fate. Alone in a junkyard at night, Tommy comes into contact with a device that will change his life forever. A
pinball machine scattered among the refuse heaps allows Tommy to rise to national prominence and fame. Tommy's pinball prowess transforms him into a cult hero and many followers attend his holiday camps to find a new perspective on life. However, mercantile exploitation by Tommy's family and the tough and/or unreasonable demands of his cult cause the disciples to revolt against him and abandon him. His mother and stepfather are killed during the riot. Alone and abandoned by everybody, Tommy achieves a new enlightenment.
The film version of
Tommy showed a few changes from the original 1969 album. One such change is the date in which the story happened. The movie takes place in the post
World War II era as the album takes place in post
World War I. For example, in the song "Overture 1921" where on the album the line is,
"got a feelin' 21 is gonna be a good year." the movie changes it to
"got a feelin' 51 is gonna be a good year"' for the film. This allowed Russell to use more contemporary images for later scenes.
In the album, Captain Walker returns to find his wife with a new lover and proceeds to murder the lover. In the film it is flipped around; the lover kills Captain Walker. This is perhaps (though not necessarily) the cause for a different treatment of the title character. In the film, Tommy's fame as pinball champion is exploited by his mother and Hobbs, who use it to give themselves a much more lavish lifestyle.
Unlike other films of
rock operas (such as
Pink Floyd's
The Wall) the album is never dubbed over the film; the different actors sing the songs instead of
The Who. Because of this, all the songs are rerecorded and some shuffled around. A large number of songs have new lyrics and instrumentation. Notably:
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"The Amazing Journey" has almost completely different lyrics, and the "guide" from the album is shown as being Tommy's murdered father.
* Pinball Wizard has a few extra lyrics. References to pinball are removed from
"Christmas".
* Several new songs were written, including
"Prologue 1945",
"Bernie's Holiday Camp",
"Champagne",
"Mother and Son", and
"T.V. Studio".
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"Underture" is not present; Only a few brief snatches of
"Overture" can be heard.
* The visual part of the film involves many messages. It may be interpreted as containing a kafkaesque commentary on the rich and on the commersial, consumerist side of modern society in general (notably the famous scene with Ann-Margret bathing in the pool of beans). Also, perhaps not surprisingly, Tommy's cult is shown as resembling or imitating existing religions such as Christianity (e.g. its symbol is a "cross" formed by a T-shaped staff and a pinball ball on top of it) and Eastern religions (e.g. in the scene where Tommy is trying to teach cripples to meditate). The film also makes a large statement about how celebrities are loved almost to the point of being worshipped religiously, as seen in the church during the "Eyesight to the Blind" scene, where the church-goers are obviously worshipping
Marilyn Monroe and not an actual religious figure.
The film adaptation of the popular rock opera created by The Who is sometimes heavily criticized, especially for its changes in the music. For example, many feel that the film is mostly devoid of the original rock and roll style of music (which it traded in for a more pop/showtunes music at times). Besides that, some of the celebrities in the film (Oliver Reed and Jack Nicholson, as well as Keith Moon) were not known for their singing talents and generally got through the songs by talk-singing. Many have complained that their voices are obviously untrained and neglect to even hit the proper notes with the correct rhythm and inflection.
*Tagline: "Your senses will never be the same".
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Eric Clapton's appearance in the film was an expression of thanks to
Pete Townshend, who had helped Clapton kick his
heroin addiction.
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Rod Stewart was originally chosen to play the part of the Pinball Wizard.
Elton John convinced Stewart not to take the role, and then took it for himself.
* This movie was parodied in an episode of
Home Movies; instead of "Tommy" it was "Timmy".
* G4's X-Play made a reference to Tommy by saying "4 out of 5 unused Tommy references" in a review of a Metroid Pinball Game.
