Tommy (film)

Name	Tommy
Caption	Theatrical release poster
Director	Ken Russell
Producer	Ken RussellRobert Stigwood
Writer	Ken RussellPete Townshend
Starring	Ann-MargretOliver ReedRoger DaltreyTina TurnerElton JohnEric ClaptonKeith MoonPaul NicholasJack NicholsonRobert Powell
Music	The Who
Cinematography	Dick BushRonnie Taylor
Editing	Stuart Baird
Studio	RSO
Distributor	Columbia Pictures
Released	March 19, 1975 March 26, 1975
Runtime	111 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	US$5 million
Gross	$34,251,525

Tommy is a 1975 British musical film based upon The Who's 1969 rock opera album musical Tommy. It was directed by Ken Russell and featured a star-studded cast, including the band members themselves (most notably, lead singer Roger Daltrey plays the title role). The other cast members include Ann-Margret, Oliver Reed, Eric Clapton, Tina Turner, Elton John, and Jack Nicholson.

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.

Plot

The film is sung-through, with occasional sporadic and surrealist elements. The plot begins as a sun lowers behind the horizon followed by several romantic experiences between Royal Air Force Group Captain Walker (Robert Powell) and his wife, Nora (Ann-Margret), among the intimacy of nature. Sometime later, Captain Walker's aeroplane is shot down while fighting in World War II. Nora receives the news while at work in a munitions factory filling bombs with ball bearings. She soon thereafter gives birth to a baby boy, Tommy. She eventually meets Frank Hobbs (Oliver Reed), known to Tommy as Uncle Frank, at a holiday camp and starts a relationship with him. Tommy, still only a boy now, hopes to one day own his own holiday camp.

Captain Walker, believed dead for six years, returns home one night. Tommy follows him to the master bedroom where Walker sees Nora and Frank (now Tommy's stepfather) in each other's arms. Tommy then watches Frank kill Walker by smashing a lamp on his head; in the original album version and later musical, however, it is Captain Walker who kills his wife's lover. Tommy is then told that he "didn't hear it, didn't see it" and "won't say nothing to no-one". As a result, Tommy goes into shock and ultimately becomes non-responsive, leading people to believe that he is deaf, dumb, and blind.

The film jumps ahead ten years, and Tommy, now a young man, is being taken by his mother and stepfather on various attempts to cure him, including a religious cult (centered on Marilyn Monroe from The Seven Year Itch and led by Eric Clapton as the preacher) and the Acid Queen (Tina Turner), a prostitute dealing in LSD who sends Tommy on a wild trip that ultimately, however, fails to awaken him, but does make him combine the Christian imagery his mother has tried to teach him with the image of his dead father, creating a half-cross/half-human symbol (that he later uses as a symbol in his own cult). Meanwhile, Nora and Frank Hobbs are rather negligent of Tommy, and leave him in the hands of his sadistic cousin, Kevin (Paul Nicholas), who beats him, and his uncle, Ernie (Keith Moon), who molests him.

Tommy's only stimulus seems to come from a large mirror that he stands and stares into. Led alone into a junkyard at night by a vision of himself, Tommy comes into contact with a device that will change his life forever. A pinball machine among the scattered scrap metal junk yard allows Tommy to rise to national prominence and fame. Apparently due to his inability to be distracted by the vivid sights and sounds produced by the pinball machine, he unintentionally masters the game. Tommy's pinball prowess and victory over the local champion (Elton John) transforms him into a folk hero. Nora and Frank acquire vast riches and live a selfishly luxurious life achieved through Tommy's pinball stardom.

Nora, however, is still upset that Tommy has not been able to respond to her since he was a young child. In her lavish bedroom, Nora becomes inebriated with champagne, fully releasing her feelings of guilt and anger toward Tommy's situation. In her drunken state, she believes that the television channel continues to skip back to one showing Tommy, intensifying her shame until she smashes the screen. She then hallucinates the broken screen exploding into streams of soap suds, beans and chocolate. Nora and Frank later take Tommy to a medical specialist, Dr. A. Quackson (Jack Nicholson), who confirms that Tommy's problems are psychosomatic and not necessarily permanent. At home, Nora, frustrated with Tommy's preoccupation with his own image in the mirror, pushes him into it, shattering it. The violent act wakes Tommy into normality at long last. He uses his newfound awareness to try to bring enlightenment to people using the symbol of a "T" topped with a sphere (a pinball). He starts giving speeches and enlightening people by canvassing. Tommy's stepfather exploits Tommy's followers to make money, and eventually Tommy becomes a worldwide religious icon.

The film briefly cuts to the story of Sally Simpson, who is unrelated to the plot except for her avid obsession toward Tommy as a young girl. While among other fans at one of his rallies, Sally, rushing toward Tommy, is kicked offstage by Frank and her face is injured when she falls; she later marries a rockstar but always remembers Tommy by the scar on her face.

In just a year, Tommy begins to have a profound impact on people whenever he nears them. A pair of violently fighting motorcycle gangs and a group of slot-machine gamblers all relinquish their immoral activities when Tommy approaches. Masses of people begin to gather at Tommy's house, seeking spiritual fulfillment. When more and more keep coming, Tommy sets up holiday camps all over the world, landscaped with masses of enormous pinballs.

At one of the camps, his uncle Ernie, like Frank, financially exploits Tommy's followers. Here, Tommy bans the use of illicit substances and has each follower wear a headgear that blinds, deafens, and silences them. They are also each provided with their own personal pinball machines. The mob of followers, however, spontaneously begins rioting, destroying the machines, and spreading fire over the camp when they become bored and angered by Tommy's stringent policies. Frank, violently repelling the mob, is stabbed to death by one rioter while another approaches Tommy with a glass bottle in hand. Nora, though, steps in-between the two and is killed when the bottle breaks over her head. Suddenly, police sirens are heard, scaring the mob and making them retreat. During the ensuing stampede, Uncle Ernie is trampled and crushed by the escaping rioters. Tommy, only mildly injured, flees as flames engulf the camp. As Tommy escapes, he arrives at the same place in the wilderness in the beginning of the film where his parents spent a romantic day together (presumably the day he was conceived). Although alone, Tommy attains an even greater sense of self-awareness as he faces a rising sun and a new dawn.

Cast

Roger Daltrey as Tommy Walker

Ann-Margret as Nora Walker

Oliver Reed as Frank Hobbs (Uncle Frank)

Victoria Russell as Sally Simpson

Elton John as The Champ

Eric Clapton as The Preacher

Keith Moon as Uncle Ernie/Himself

Paul Nicholas as Cousin Kevin

Jack Nicholson as The Specialist

Robert Powell as Group Captain Walker

Pete Townshend as Himself

John Entwistle as Himself

Arthur Brown as The Priest

Tina Turner as The Acid Queen

Ben Aris as Reverend Arthur Simpson

Mary Holland as Mrs. Simpson

Gary Rich as Rock Musician

Dick Allan as President Black Angels

Barry Winch as Young Tommy

Eddie Stacey as Bovver boy

Ken Russell (uncredited) as Cripple

Production

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 Bavaria 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 movie 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. Several other segments, including part of the Bernie's Holiday Camp sequence and the concert scenes in the 'Sally Simpson' sequence were shot inside the Gaiety Theatre on South Parade Pier at Southsea in Hampshire.

On June 11, 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, others on Portsdown Hill, which overlooks Portsmouth and two local churches were also used, one in Old Portsmouth, the other St John's in Stamshaw.

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 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.

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 Elton 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 Pete 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 teatowels). At the time that the film was in production various "Quadraphonic" (four speaker) sound systems were being marketed to the domestic HiFi market. Some of these were so-called "matrix" systems which combined the four original channels into two which could be recorded on, or transmitted by, existing 2-channel stereo systems such as LP records or FM radio. John Mosely used one of these systems (QS from Sansui) to record front left, front right, back left and back right channels on the left and right tracks of a 4-track magnetic striped print of the Cinemascope type. A discrete center channel was also recorded on the center track of the print. The fourth (surround) track on the striped print was left unused. In addition John Mosely used DBX noise reduction on the magnetic tracks.

Unlike the usual multiple small surround speakers used in movie theaters, the Quintaphonic system specified just two rear speakers, but of the same type as those used at the front.

One problem that arose was that by the 1970s the 4-track magnetic sound system was largely moribund. Only a few theaters were equipped with the necessary magnetic playback heads etc. and of those that did in many cases it was not in working order. So in addition to installing the extra electronics and rear speakers John Mosely and his team had to repair and align the basic magnetic playback equipment. So each theater that showed Tommy using the Quintaphonic system had to be specially prepared to take the film. In this respect there is a similarity between Tommy and Walt Disney's Fantasia for which a special sound system (Fantasound) had been devised and required each theater that showed it in the original release to be specially prepared. Also, like Fantasound, Quintaphonic Sound was never used again.

Tommy was later released with mono, conventional 4-track magnetic and Dolby Stereo soundtracks.

Changes from album

The film version of Tommy differs in numerous ways from the original 1969 album. The primary change is the period, which is moved forward to the post-World War II era, while the original album takes place just after World War I. As a result the song "1921" is renamed "1951" and the opening line "got a feelin' '21 is gonna be a good year" changes to "got a feelin' '51 is gonna be a good year". The historical change allowed Russell to use more contemporary images and settings.

In the album, Group Captain Walker returns to find his wife with a new lover and kills him, but in the film this is reversed; the lover (Reed) kills Walker in front of Tommy, heightening the psychological trauma.

Unlike other filmed rock operas (such as that of Pink Floyd's The Wall) the album is never dubbed over the film; the different actors — including Nicholson and Reed, neither of whom were known for their vocal prowess (Reed's character's songs were cut from Oliver!, and Nicholson's in On a Clear Day You Can See Forever appeared only in the now-lost roadshow version) - perform the songs in character instead of The Who, with the exception of Daltrey as Tommy and where Townshend sings narration in place of recitative.

Because of this, all the songs are rerecorded and the song order is shuffled around considerably; this and the addition of several new songs and links creates a more balanced structure of alternating short and long sequences. A large number of songs have new lyrics and instrumentation, and another notable feature is that many of the songs and pieces used on the film soundtrack are alternate versions or mixes from the versions on the soundtrack album.

Major differences between the 1969 and 1975 version:

The film opens with an a new instrumental, "Prologue 1945" (partly based on the 1969 "Overture") which accompanies the opening sequences of Captain Walker's romance and disappearance.

"It's A Boy" is separated from "Overture" and becomes the medley "Captain Walker / "It's A Boy"; in the film this medley narrates the aftermath of Walker's disappearance, the end of the war and the birth of Tommy.

A new song, "Bernie's Holiday Camp", which follows "Captain Walker" / "It's A Boy", portrays Tommy's childhood and his mother's romance with Hobbs (Oliver Reed). The song also features the melody from "Tommy's Holiday Camp".

"1921" from the 1969 version becomes the medley "1951/What About The Boy", covering the sequence that climaxes with the return of Tommy's father and his killing.

"The Amazing Journey" (shortened to three minutes) has almost completely different lyrics, and the "guide" from the album is depicted as Tommy's dead father.

The running order of "Christmas" and "Eyesight to the Blind" is reversed; references to pinball are removed from Christmas and the character of The Hawker becomes The Preacher (Eric Clapton), leader of a faith-healing pop cult worshipping Marilyn Monroe. Arthur Brown is cast as the character The Priest in the film who sings a verse in the song but is not featured on the soundtrack.

The running order of "The Acid Queen" and "Cousin Kevin" is reversed.

"Underture" is removed but parts from it have been re-arranged as "Sparks".

"The Acid Queen", "Cousin Kevin", "Fiddle About", and "Sparks", linked by three renditions of "Do You Think It's Alright?", form an extended sequence depicting Tommy's inner journey and his trials.

A three-minute version of the "Sparks" theme (with, then new, synthesizer orchestration) precedes "Pinball Wizard". In the film it is used behind the sequence of the dazed Tommy wandering into a junkyard and discovering a pinball machine. The music on the film soundtrack is heavily edited, however, and is a noticeably different mix from the version on the soundtrack album.

A new linking theme, "Extra Extra", narrates Tommy's rise to fame and introduces the battle with the pinball champ. It is set to the tune of "Miracle Cure".

"Pinball Wizard" has extra lyrics.

A new song, "Champagne", which follows "Pinball Wizard", covers the sequence of Tommy's stardom and wealth and his parents' greed.

"Go To The Mirror!" is shortened, not featuring the elements of "Listening To You", nor the phrase "Go to the mirror".

"I'm Free" is moved earlier, and now follows "Smash The Mirror" (as was done on the 1971 symphonic album); it covers the lavish psychedelic sequence depicting Tommy's reawakening.

"I'm Free" is followed by a new song, "Mother and Son", which depicts Tommy's rejection of materialism and his vision for a new faith based around pinball.

"Sensation", featuring extra lyrics, is moved forward and covers the spread of Tommy's new religion.

"Sensation" and "Sally Simpson" are joined by the link "Miracle Cure" (a version of the "Extra Extra" theme).

In "Sally Simpson", the album version mentions her father's Rolls-Royce as blue, but the movie changes the lyrics to black. (The Rolls-Royce in the film is also black).

In "Sally Simpson", the album version describes Tommy giving a lesson. In the film, Tommy gives a lesson, and the lyrics are changed to the words of the lesson.

In the album version of "Sally Simpson", the title character jumps on the stage and brushes Tommy's cheek, but in the movie she is kicked off the stage before she can get close to Tommy.

A new linking piece, "T.V. Studio", is used between "Welcome" and "Tommy's Holiday Camp".

The 1969 album's closing track "We're Not Going To take It" is split into two pieces, "We're Not Gonna take It" and "Listening To You" / "See Me Feel Me"; this covers the climactic film sequences of Tommy's fall from grace and his final redemption.

The recent CD reissue of the soundtrack album opens with new version of "Overture From Tommy", which was not included in the film or on the original soundtrack LP. The various instruments on this version of "Overture" are played entirely by Pete Townshend.

Soundtrack

;Sales chart performance ;Album

References

External links

Category:Tommy (rock opera) Category:1975 films Category:1970s drama films Category:1970s musical films Category:British drama films Category:English-language films Category:Films directed by Ken Russell Category:Fictional blind characters Category:Fictional cult leaders Category:Fictional deaf characters Category:Films based on operas Category:Films set in the 1940s Category:Films set in the 1950s Category:Musical drama films Category:Musical fantasy films Category:Rock music films Category:The Who soundtracks Category:Columbia Pictures films