Tommy (1975)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Ken Russell

Writers:

Pete Townshend (album)
Pete Townshend (story)
(more)

Release Date:

26 March 1975 (UK)

Genre:

Drama | Fantasy | Musical

Tagline:

Your senses will never be the same

Plot:

A psychosomatically deaf, dumb and blind boy becomes a master pinball player and the object of a religious cult because of that.

Plot Keywords:

Pinball | Murder | Holiday Camp | Wizard | Christmas Lights

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 2 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Oliver Reed	...	Frank Hobbs
Ann-Margret	...	Nora Walker
Roger Daltrey	...	Tommy Walker
Elton John	...	Local Lad
Eric Clapton	...	The Preacher
John Entwistle	...	Himself
Keith Moon	...	Uncle Ernie
Paul Nicholas	...	Cousin Kevin
Jack Nicholson	...	The Specialist
Robert Powell	...	Captain Walker
Pete Townshend	...	Himself
Tina Turner	...	The Acid Queen
Arthur Brown	...	The Priest
Victoria Russell	...	Sally Simpson
Ben Aris	...	Reverend Simpson
Mary Holland	...	Mrs. Simpson
Gary Rich	...	Rock Musician
Dick Allan	...	President Black Angels
Barry Winch	...	Young Tommy
Eddie Stacey	...	Bovver Boy
Liza Strike	...	Vocal Chorus (voice)
Gillian McIntosh	...	Vocal Chorus (voice)
Simon Townshend	...	Vocal Chorus / Newsboy (voice)
Vicki Brown	...	Vocal Chorus / Nurse #2 (voice)
Mylon LeFevre	...	Vocal Chorus (voice)
Kit Trevor	...	Vocal Chorus (voice)
Billy Nicholls	...	Vocal Chorus (voice)
Helen Shappel	...	Vocal Chorus (voice)
Jeff Roden	...	Vocal Chorus (voice)
Paul Gurvitz	...	Vocal Chorus (voice)
Margo Newman	...	Vocal Chorus / Nurse #1 (voice)
Alison Dowling	...	Vocal Chorus / Young Tommy (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jennifer Baker	...	Nurse #1 (uncredited)
Susan Baker	...	Nurse #2 (uncredited)
Imogen Claire	...	Nurse at the Specialist's Practice (uncredited)
Christine Hewett	...	Lady in Black Beauty Chocolate Commercial (uncredited)
Juliet King	...	Handmaiden to the Acid Queen (uncredited)
Gillian Lefkowitz	...	Handmaiden to the Acid Queen (uncredited)
James Payne	...	Man in strip club collecting a program (uncredited)
Alex 'Alien' Russell	...	(uncredited)
Ken Russell	...	Cripple (uncredited)

Directed by
Ken Russell

Writing credits
Pete Townshend		(album)
Pete Townshend		(story)
Ken Russell		(screenplay)

Produced by
Harry Benn	....	associate producer
Ken Russell	....	producer
Christopher Stamp	....	executive producer
Robert Stigwood	....	producer
Beryl Vertue	....	executive producer

Cinematography by
Dick Bush
Robin Lehman		(special material)
Ronnie Taylor

Film Editing by
Stuart Baird

Art Direction by
John Clark

Costume Design by
Shirley Russell

Makeup Department
George Blackler	....	makeup artist
Joyce James	....	hair stylist
Peter Robb-King	....	makeup artist

Production Management
John Comfort	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Jonathan Benson	....	assistant director

Art Department
Terry Ackland-Snow	....	assistant art director
Jack Carter	....	construction manager
Paul Dufficey	....	set designer
Christopher Hobbs	....	sculptor
Tim Hutchinson	....	set designer
Harry Newman	....	property master
Bryn Siddall	....	buyer
Ian Whittaker	....	set dresser

Sound Department
Iain Bruce	....	sound recordist
Charlie McFadden	....	boom operator
John Mosely	....	quintophonic sound developer
Bill Rowe	....	dubbing mixer

Camera and Electrical Department
Bob Bremner	....	gaffer
Eddie Collins	....	camera operator
Dickie Lee	....	key grip
Robin Lehman	....	camera operator: special material
Brian Smith	....	best boy
Malcolm Vinson	....	focus puller

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Richard Pointing	....	wardrobe supervisor
Leonard Pollack	....	assistant costume designer

Editorial Department
Sati Tooray	....	colorist

Music Department
Richard Bailey	....	musician: drums
Howie Casey	....	musician
Phil Chen	....	musician: bass
Eric Clapton	....	musician: guitar
Dave Clinton	....	musician
Ray Cooper	....	musician
Geoff Daley	....	musician
Graham Deakin	....	musician: drums
Bob Efford	....	musician
John Entwistle	....	musician: bass, brass
Martyn Ford	....	music arranger
Nicky Hopkins	....	music arranger
Nicky Hopkins	....	musician: piano
Elton John	....	musician: piano
Davey Johnstone	....	musician: guitar
Kenney Jones	....	musician: drums
Mike Kelly	....	musician: drums
Keith Moon	....	musician: drums
Dee Murray	....	musician: bass
Ron Nevison	....	music recordist
Tony Newman	....	musician: drums
Nigel Olsson	....	musician: drums
Caleb Quaye	....	musician: guitar, lead guitar
Mick Ralphs	....	musician: guitar
Terry Rawlings	....	music editor
Alan Ross	....	musician: acoustic guitar
Ronnie Ross	....	musician
Fuzzy Samuels	....	musician: bass
Gerald Shaw	....	musician: theatre organ
Chris Stainton	....	musician: organ and acoustic guitar
Tony Stevens	....	musician: bass
Ray Thomas	....	musician: drums
Pete Townshend	....	musical director
Pete Townshend	....	musician: arp synthesizer, guitar, keyboards, piano
Dave Wintour	....	musician: bass
Ron Wood	....	musician: guitar

Other crew
Lee Bolon	....	location manager
Ricky Green	....	location manager
Gillian Gregory	....	choreographer
Kit Lambert	....	original album producer
Kay Mander	....	continuity
Ken Messenger	....	flyer
James Payne	....	utility stand-in
Dave Raymond	....	flyer
Pete Townshend	....	synthesizer programmer

Thanks
Bill Curbishley	....	special thanks

Production Companies

• Hemdale Film
• Robert Stigwood Organisation Ltd.

Distributors

• Sandrew Film & Teater (1975) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Seven Keys (1975) (Australia) (theatrical)
• Valio-Filmi (1977) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Columbia Pictures (USA)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (1994) (USA) (laserdisc)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (1999) (USA) (DVD)
• DNC Home Entertainment (2005) (Italy) (DVD)
• EuroVideo (West Germany) (VHS)
• Future Film (2008) (Finland) (DVD)
• Hemdale Film Distribution (1975)
• Mainostelevisio (MTV3) (1997) (Finland) (TV)
• PolyGram Video
• Umbrella Entertainment (2004) (Australia) (DVD)
• Universal Pictures Finland Oy (2001) (Finland) (VHS)
• Yleisradio (YLE) (1988) (Finland) (TV)

Special Effects

• Effects Associates
• Nobby Clarke Camera Effects

Other Companies

• Birdman Sports Promotion, Limited  our thanks to
• Bluesell Railway Preservation Society  our thanks to
• Lee Lighting  grip and lighting equipment
• Polydor  soundtrack
• The City of Portsmouth  our thanks to
• The National Trust, Lake District  our thanks to

Also Known As:

The Who's Tommy
Tommy by 'The Who' (USA) (complete title)
Tommy: The Movie (USA) (promotional title)

Runtime:

111 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Quintaphonic (5 channel Dolby Stereo) | Dolby

Certification:

Italy:T | Japan:PG-12 | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Iceland:L | Canada:G (Quebec) | Finland:K-15 (uncut) (2001) | New Zealand:R16 | Denmark:15 (DVD rating) | Finland:K-16 (cut) (1977) | Sweden:15 | USA:PG | UK:15 | Singapore:PG | Ireland:15 | UK:AA (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Brighton, East Sussex, England, UK

Company:

Hemdale Film

Trivia:

Ann-Margret largely improvised the infamous bean scene. Ken Russell simply told her that her character was having a nervous breakdown, and that she could do whatever she wanted. Unfortunately at one point during filming her hand accidentally struck the broken glass of the TV screen and Russell had to rush her to hospital for stitches.

Goofs:

Factual errors: During the Pinball Wizard sequence, the song says "I thought I was the Bally table king..." but both Tommy and The Champ are playing machines from D. Gottlieb & Co., not Bally.

Quotes:

Nora Walker Hobbs: But what's it all worth? What's it all worth when my son is blind? He can't hear the music nor enjoy what I'm buying. His life is worthless, affecting mine. I'd pay any price to drive his plight from my mind!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: Pod People (#4.3)" (1991)

Soundtrack:

Prologue-1945

An Introduction to Opera for Pop Fans

Anybody generally familiar with opera will immediately recognize that the Who's Tommy suffers from neither a weak nor outrageous nor terribly surreal nor even bizarre storyline in comparison to what passes for plot in many classic operas.

And anybody generally familiar with 1970s cinema will note that Ken Russell's envisioning of this film was actually one of a very small handful of intelligent and serious musicals produced during that decade, not a psychedelic experiment or a contribution to the avant-garde.

Many of the less complementary comments offered here on IMDb concerning this movie appear to be driven by commenters' personal opinions or prejudices about The Who or about Ken Russel, and seem to have very little to do with this film.

In 1969, The Who released their wildly innovative breakthrough album "Tommy". Written almost entirely by 23-year old Pete Townshend, Tommy was, like many albums of its time, an early example of album-oriented rock. But unlike similarly assembled LPs by the likes of Pink Floyd, Jefferson Airplane, The Beatles, etc., Tommy told a story through music and lyrics.

Tommy knew his father - Captain Walker - mainly through the photograph which has stood on the nightstand next to his bed all of his young life. His mother, Nora (Ann Margaret), a war widow, has shacked up with "Uncle Frank", a well-off and well-intentioned but rather low-brow gentleman (Oliver Reed). One night, Captain Walker comes home to find his beloved wife in bed with Uncle Frank, and Uncle Frank, in a panic, kills him. Tommy witnesses this and Nora and Frank expand the trauma by shouting silence and near-catatonic autism into the young boy with the classic lines "You didn't hear it, you didn't see it, you won't say nothing to no one, never tell a soul... what you know is the truth."

So Tommy grows up in a state of trauma-induced deafness, muteness and blindness. Guilt and sincere love drive his mother and her new husband Frank to seek every possible cure, and Townshend (and Russel) waste no opportunity to skewer religion, medical science, traditional family dynamics, and testosterone-influenced views of sexual rites of passage.

Eventually, Tommy and his mother will find their own cures - in quite unexpected places. And Tommy will offer his apparently miraculous awareness to the rest of the world as a universal form of salvation.

Although the medium of the album and the film is rock music, Tommy strings together many of the most powerful elements of classical opera. Religion plays an important, though atypical, role in Townshend's story. Allegory is a key to understanding the entire process. And both the lyrics and the film incorporate widespread and often incisive social criticism - touching on broad intellectual themes such as the escape from freedom, the subjectivity of truth, and the inherent futility and silliness of most efforts to improve the lot of humanity.

If you let yourself 'go with it' Tommy will likely take you places you've never been. I won't promise that you will like it, but rather, that if you keep your mind open and let it pour in, like most operas, Tommy will move you.

WITH REGARD TO THE FILM:

Facing a nearly impossible task, Ken Russel enlisted Townshend, Daltrey, and a host of very talented and popular musicians and actors to make Tommy. Most of the time, this works - Ann Margaret, Roger Daltrey, and cameos by Jack Nicholson, Elton John, Tina Turner and Keith Moon are all outstanding. Unfortunately, Oliver Reed, as well-cast as he was, has no vocal talent to speak of, and Eric Clapton has the on-screen charisma of a desk lamp.

Despite the common 21st century wisdom concerning the amount of experimentalism in 1970s films, films like Tommy, Rollerball, Deathrace 2000, French Connection, Solyaris, 2001, etc, were actually very few and far between during that decade. In fact, most of the films released in the 1970s were so uninventive and uninteresting that they can only be found on public domain download sites and budget mega-pack DVD sets.

Although Russell was a shoe-in for directing this film - given his longstanding interest in visualization of classical music (http://pro.imdb.com/name/nm0001692/) and more challenging subjects, Tommy was - even for Russell - a wildly innovative film:

- NO DIALOGUE -

a singing cast tells the story, set against The Who's original music, and Russell's visual story-telling is as powerful and striking here as it was in Gothic and many of his better-known films. Oliver Reed's bellowing vocalizations are a bit overbearing, and too much synthesizer is added to embellish a score which was 6-years old by the time the film was released. But the problems with the sound track are at least partly made-up for by fabulously campy musical cameos by Tina Turner and Elton John, and - FINALLY - by Daltrey's excellent performance once Tommy himself gains a voice. Ann Margaret's singing is also quite good, but, unfortunately, several of her songs are infected by Reed's brutish howling.

All considered Tommy is a must-see for open-minded film enthusiasts, and particularly those interested in the evolution of the modern musical.

Recommended.