Tommy (1975)
Directed by: Ken Russell
Premise: A rock opera featuring music by The Who. A boy becomes blind, deaf, and mute after witnessing a murder. As an adult (Roger Daltry) he becomes a master pinball player, making him a celebrity and later the center of a cult.
What Works: The 1970s saw rock and roll performers take some big artistic swings both musically and in mixed media. In 1969 The Who released their concept album Tommy which musically narrated the titular character becoming a messianic figure. The 1975 film version of Tommy adapted and expanded the concept. The film version presents Tommy as a child of the post-World War II era who becomes psychosomatically blind, deaf, and mute after witnessing his mother and stepfather commit murder. From there Tommy develops into a master pinball player and upon regaining his senses he becomes the centerpiece of a cult. The film version of Tommy is one of the great melds of filmmaking and rock music in part because of the complementary styles of Ken Russell’s filmmaking and The Who’s music. Russell was known for his intense and highly stylized productions, namely Women in Love and The Devils, and he had made musically oriented films such as Savage Messiah and The Music Lover. The Who combined a pop-oriented sensibility with novel instrumentation and vocal effects and their lyrics were fun but also possessed poetic, political, and occasionally spiritual qualities. Rock and roll is traditionally preoccupied with freedom and Tommy centers on a man who is trapped in his own mind, by his parents, and by fame and he struggles to escape. Tommy aurally and visually brings those elements together. It’s visually arresting and the film has some challenging things to say about religion and the deification of celebrities. But the movie is also a lot of fun and despite some tragic plot turns there is quite a bit of humor to it.
What Doesn’t: The “Acid Queen” sequence is a bit awkward. Tommy’s stepfather takes him to an opium den in pursuit of a cure. The song is good—it’s well performed by Tina Turner—and the sequence serves the story; the parent’s desperation and the stepfather’s unscrupulousness bring them to this point. But the scene involves drug use and given that this is a rock and roll musical we might expect more to come of introducing narcotics into the story. The ending is also a bit sudden. Tommy has become the centerpiece of a cult which becomes another trap. The cult section of the story isn’t quite up to the same level as the celebrity pinball movement. The ending serves its purpose thematically and narratively but it would have been more interesting and impactful if the filmmakers had further developed this idea and worked up to Tommy’s emancipation.
Disc extras: The 4K release by Shout! Factory contains no extras.
Bottom Line: Tommy is one of the great combinations of rock music and feature filmmaking. Although it is a product of a specific time, the film’s themes are relevant enough, its music and story are appealing enough, and its visuals are weird enough that Tommy continues to play for audiences half a century after its release.
Episode: #1041 (March 30, 2025)