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Tommy is a 1975 British independent rock musical fantasy drama film based upon The Who's 1969 rock opera album Tommy about a "seemingly disabled" boy who becomes a pinball champion and religious leader. Directed by Ken Russell, the film featured a star-studded ensemble cast, including the band members themselves (most notably, lead singer Roger Daltrey, who plays the title role), Ann-Margret, Oliver Reed, Eric Clapton, Tina Turner, Elton John, and Jack Nicholson.
| Tommy | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Ken Russell |
| Produced by |
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| Screenplay by | Ken Russell |
| Based on | Tommy by The Who |
| Starring |
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| Music by | The Who |
| Cinematography |
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| Edited by | Stuart Baird |
Production company | RSO Records |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 108 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Budget | $5 million |
| Box office | $34.3 million |
Tommy was released by Columbia Pictures in the US on 19 March 1975 while in the UK it was released on 26 March 1975. Ann-Margret received a Golden Globe Award for her performance and was also nominated for the 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. The film was shown at the 1975 Cannes Film Festival, but was not entered into the main competition. In 1975, the film won the award for Rock Movie of the Year in the First Annual Rock Music Awards.
Screenplay
In the prologue, set in 1945, a montage displays the honeymoon of Captain Walker (Robert Powell) and his wife, Nora (Ann-Margret). After his leave ends, Walker goes off to fight in World War II as a bomber pilot, but is shot down during a mission. "Captain Walker" is listed as missing in action and is presumed dead, although—unknown to his family—the badly burnt Walker is in fact alive. Back in England, Nora goes into labour and gives birth to a son, Tommy, on V-E Day. Five years later, Nora has begun a new relationship with Frank (Oliver Reed), a worker she and Tommy meet at Bernie's Holiday Camp. Tommy looks up to his "Uncle" Frank and expresses his desires to run his own camp some day (“Bernie’s Holiday Camp”). In the 1950s, Nora and Frank dream of their future (“1951/What about the Boy?”), but, late that evening, encounter the returning Captain Walker. He surprises Frank and Nora in bed, leading to a struggle in which Frank kills the Captain by striking him with a lamp. Tommy, having followed his father into the room, has witnessed everything. Nora and Frank nervously yell at Tommy, which, along with the trauma of watching his father's murder, puts Tommy into a psychedelia-like "Amazing Journey", in which, outwardly, he cannot seem to see, hear or speak.
As time passes, Nora and Frank make several fruitless attempts to bring the now older Tommy (Roger Daltrey) out of his state. This involves a Preacher (Eric Clapton) and his Marilyn Monroe-worshipping cult ("Eyesight to the Blind") (religion) and an insane, LSD-serving coquette ("Acid Queen") (Tina Turner) (drugs), while also leaving him to be tortured by babysitters such as the bullying "Cousin Kevin" (Paul Nicholas), and perverted "Uncle" Ernie (Keith Moon) ("Fiddle About") (physical and sexual abuse). Nora and Frank begin to become more and more lethargic at the lack of effect and leave Tommy standing at the mirror one night, allowing him to wander off. He follows a vision of himself out of the house and to a junkyard pinball machine. Tommy is recognised by Nora, Frank, and the media as a pinball prodigy (“Extra, Extra, Extra”), which is made even more impressive with his catatonic state. During a championship game, Tommy faces the "Pinball Wizard" (Elton John) with the Who as the champion's backing band. Nora watches her son's televised victory and celebrates his (and her) success ("Champagne"), but soon has a nervous breakdown upon thinking about the real extremes of Tommy's condition.
Later, Frank finds a Specialist (Jack Nicholson) for Tommy (“There’s a Doctor”). The Specialist, upon testing the boy, concludes that his state is emotional, rather than physically triggered and the only hope is for him to continue to "Go to the Mirror". During the tests, Nora and the Specialist flirt, much to Frank's jealousy. Nora's growing frustration prompts her to "Smash the Mirror" by throwing Tommy through it, causing him to snap to full consciousness ("I'm Free"). Nora finds Tommy and explains what has happened during the time he has missed, while Tommy reveals that his experiences have transformed him and that he wishes to transform the world ("Mother and Son").
Tommy, a self-proclaimed "Sensation", goes on lecture tours which resemble glam rock/gospel shows and spreads a message of enlightenment by hang glider, gaining friends and followers everywhere he goes ("Sally Simpson"). Tommy and a more enlightened and elated Nora and Frank "Welcome" converts to their house, which quickly becomes too crowded to accommodate everyone. Tommy opens an extension for his religious campus ("Tommy's Holiday Camp").
The converts, confused about Tommy's odd practices and others' commercial exploitation of the compound, wrathfully demand Tommy teach them something useful. Tommy does so, deliberately deafening, muting, and blinding everyone, only to inadvertently invoke a riot. The followers kill Nora and Frank in the riot and destroy the camp in a fire ("We're Not Gonna Take It"). Tommy finds his parents in the debris and mourns before escaping into the mountains from the beginning of the film. He ascends the same peak where his parents celebrated their honeymoon, celebrating the rising sun ("Listening to You").
- Ann-Margret as Nora Walker
- Oliver Reed as "Uncle" Frank Hobbs
- Roger Daltrey as Tommy Walker
- Barry Winch as young Tommy
- Alison Dowling as young Tommy's singing voice
- Barry Winch as young Tommy
- Elton John as The Pinball Wizard
- Tina Turner as The Acid Queen
- Eric Clapton as The Preacher
- John Entwistle as Himself
- Keith Moon as Uncle Ernie/Himself
- Paul Nicholas as Cousin Kevin
- Jack Nicholson as The Specialist
- Robert Powell as Group Captain Walker
- Arthur Brown as The Priest
- Pete Townshend as The Narrator/Himself
- Victoria Russell as Sally Simpson
- Ben Aris as Rev. A. Simpson V. C.
- Mary Holland as Mrs. Simpson
- Ken Russell as Cripple
In his commentary for the 2004 DVD release of the film, Ken Russell stated that the opening and closing outdoor scenes were shot in the Borrowdale valley of the English Lake District, near his own home, the same area that he had used to double for rural Austria and Bohemia in his earlier film Mahler, in which Robert Powell had starred. Much of the film was shot on locations around Portsmouth, including the scene near the end of the film featuring the giant 'pinballs', which were, in fact, obsolete buoys found in a British Navy yard, which were simply sprayed silver and filmed in situ. The Bernie's Holiday Camp ballroom sequence was shot inside the Gaiety Theatre on South Parade Pier. Exterior shots were filmed at Hilsea Lido. The Sally Simpson interior sequence was filmed in the Wesley Hall in Fratton Road, Portsmouth. The exterior intro sequence to the scene, however, shows Sally Simpson buying a badge and entering South Parade Pier.
On 11 June 1974, the pier caught fire and was badly damaged while the production was filming there; according to Russell, the fire started during the filming of the scene of Ann-Margret and Oliver Reed dancing together during the "Bernie's Holiday Camp" sequence, and smoke from the fire can, in fact, be seen drifting in front of the camera in several shots; Russell also used a brief exterior shot of the building fully ablaze during the scenes of the destruction of Tommy's Holiday Camp by his disillusioned followers. The Pinball Wizard sequence was shot at the Kings Theatre in Southsea, and the two pinball machines used were a 1965 Kings & Queens by Gottlieb—used by Roger Daltrey—and a Gottlieb Buckaroo also from 1965, used by Elton John. The machines' scoring displays were modified from their originals for the scene, to accommodate for large scores. Others on Portsdown Hill, which overlooks Portsmouth and local churches were used. All Saints in Commercial Road was used for the Sally Simpson wedding scene, whilst the meeting in the same sequence was filmed at the Wesley Hall in Fratton Road. The Eyesight to the Blind sequence was filmed at St Andrews Church in Henderson Road in Southsea. The other church featured was Warblington Church near Havant in Hampshire.
The famous scene in which Ann-Margret's character hallucinates that she is cavorting in detergent foam, baked beans, and chocolate reportedly took three days to shoot. According to Russell, the detergent and baked bean sequences were "revenge" parodies of real-life TV advertisements he had directed early in his career, although the baked bean sequence also references one of the cover photos and a parody radio ad from The Who's 1967 album The Who Sell Out. Russell also recalled that Ann-Margret's husband, Roger Smith, strongly objected to the scene in which she slithers around in melted chocolate. During the filming, Ann-Margret accidentally struck her hand on the broken glass of the TV screen, causing a severe laceration, and Russell had to take her to hospital to have the wound stitched, although she was back on set the next day. The film also includes a scene in which Mrs. Walker watches a parodic TV advertisement for the fictional product "Rex Baked Beans"; the costumes in this segment were originally made for the lavish masked ball sequence in Richard Lester's version of The Three Musketeers, and the dress worn by the Queen in the Rex ad is that worn by Geraldine Chaplin in the earlier film.
Elton John initially turned down the role of the Pinball Wizard and among those considered to replace him was David Essex, who recorded a test audio version of the "Pinball Wizard" song. However, producer Robert Stigwood held out until John agreed to take the part, reportedly on condition that he could keep the gigantic Dr. Martens boots he wore in the scene. Russell also recalled that Townshend initially balked at Russell's wish to have The Who performing behind Elton in the sequence (they did not perform the audio here), and also objected to wearing the pound-note suits, which were in fact stitched together from novelty pound-note tea-towels. On The Who's involvement with the film, members Daltrey played the title character; Moon played, in essence, a dual role as both Uncle Ernie and as himself along with Entwistle and Townshend lip-synching on their respective instruments in the "Eyesight to the Blind" and "Pinball Wizard" segments. About his role as the Specialist, Jack Nicholson stated: "In my whole career there was only one time when a director said to me, 'OK, come right down the pike and just look beautiful, Jack.' That was Ken Russell on Tommy."
Critical response
The film currently holds a 76% approval rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 25 reviews, of which 19 are positive. Roger Ebert gave the film three stars out of four, and praised Ann-Margret as being "simply great as Tommy's mother". He called the pinball tournament sequence "the movie's best single scene: a pulsating, orgiastic turn-on edited with the precision of a machine gun burst."
"Tommy was a great film," said Ol' Dirty Bastard. "A blind, deaf kid who could play pinball. What a very great idea." Perry Seibert of allmovie praised the film for its visuals and gave the film his higher star rating.
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