Directed by Ken Russell, Nora who’s a pregnant Wife (Ann-Margret) of a Military World War 2 fighter pilot, (Robert Powell) discovers that her lover is missing in action and is presumed to be dead. 5 years later after hearing about the loss of her lover and giving birth to their son Tommy, she and Tommy go to a Holiday Camp, where she starts a romantic relationship with one of the employees working at the camp named Frank (Oliver Reed). However, in a very strange turn of events, it turns out that Nora's deceased husband did actually survive the War (despite that the War's been over for a few years), and finds her in bed with Frank, which causes Frank to kill him with a lamp (which actually looks more like a minor strike to the face, than an actual death). After Frank's successful attempt of murdering Nora's ex-husband, the couple discovers that Tommy has witnessed the murder and begs for Tommy to not say a word of this to anyone else, resulting with Tommy to suddenly become deaf, dumb, and blind, after witnessing this traumatizing scene. Even though Tommy will remain silent from witnessing his Father’s murder since he can longer speak, see, or hear; Nora is still upset by the fact that her son can no longer enjoy life under his condition, as she fears for his soul since he doesn't know who "Jesus was, or what praying is". As the years go by, Nora and Frank try to find ways to bring Tommy (who is now a young adult played by the lead singer of "The Who" Roger Daltrey) out of his state, but none of their attempts work. However, despite that Tommy has hardly any sense of his surroundings; he surprisingly becomes a Wizard at Pinball that gains him and his family fame and fortune. Tommy does eventually get out of his state (or else, why would you cast the lead singer of a famous band as a non-singing role in a Rock Opera) as he reveals that his experiences have changed him, and that he sees a path to spiritual enlightenment through pinball, which attracts a crowd of people who follow him as if he were Jesus.
If the plot sounds strange and bizarre to you, that's because it is, and the film knows that its a strange premise too, by having the strangeness being set in an over the top environment that's just as out of the norm as the story. I mean this film has a Marilyn Monroe worshiping church; a junky hooker who turns into a Metal cabinet with needles filled with acid pointing inside it; a scene with soap, beans, and chocolate bursting out of a TV set that splashes all over on Ann-Margret; a Pinball Wizard who wears giant shoes, and plays the game of Pinball with a piano keyboard; a young girl who marries a rock-star who dresses up like the Frankenstein monster; and if that doesn't all sound weird enough for you, Jack Nicholson actually sings in this movie, and he doesn't ham it up like he usually would. It's indeed a very out there movie, and given the fact that the film is completely sung through with no lines of dialogue, only adds to the film's ludicrous world.
Roger Daltrey as our lead Tommy, at first I thought was an odd casting choice since he doesn't really sing that much in the film since he's deaf, dumb, and blind for the majority of his appearance. But since Tommy is the protagonist of the film, and that he is given the majority of songs to sing during the last 25 minutes or so of the film, it actually was a casting choice that’s just as solid as casting Ann-Margret as the female lead. It's no surprise that he can sing these songs ever so flawlessly, given that he did sing the majority of the songs on the album that the film was based on. But his on-screen presence is not only charming, but he can also bring a performance that’s just as emotionally touching as Ann-Margret's, only he's a little more subtle in comparison. And I have to admit, even though I like watching Daltrey sing throughout the film's third act more than I do watching him in the first half of his appearance, I was still very impressed by the blank look on his face that he has to carry when his character can't hear, see, or speak. The amount of things that the film puts in front of him (Including Ann-Margret giving her out of nowhere sexy dance as she yells at Daltrey's emotionless stare) are so insane and so hard to keep a straight-face, that I was legitimately surprised by how well Daltrey made the character seem like he had no sense of anything happening in front of him. It must have been very hard for him to not so much as crack a smile as all this madness is going on. The only moment that I found to be uncomfortably awkward involving Roger Daltrey's performance as Tommy, is when he reconnects with his Mother after when he finally awakens from his condition. I get that the scene is supposed to be an emotional charming scene of Mother and Son finally getting back together. But I don't know, just seeing Tommy strip off his Mother's jewelry that's followed by them standing incredibly close to each other in the ocean, almost feels like that this is a romantic scene, instead of a heartwarming reunion, which just doesn't feel right.
As for Oliver Reed as Tommy's Step-Father Frank, I honestly felt like they could've gotten someone better. I mean he looks the part, and acts the part, but when he sings the part, ahhh man, it just isn't good. I'm not going to act like that his singing is one of the worst singing voices that I've ever heard, since I can tolerate it ok. But given that our two leads can sing beautifully, you'd think that they would've casted someone who can sing just as well as our stars can, considering that he is one of the main characters. On top of the poor choice of casting an actor who can't sing, I also really didn't like the character himself. I get that Frank is supposed to be a careless sleaze, but I always felt like that it should have been Tommy's Father who kills the boyfriend, not the other way around. It would make more sense since he and Nora actually have a past together, where you can tell during the film's opening act that they do legitimately care for each other. When with Frank on the other hand, Nora is still trying to get to know him. And given the overall fact that she watches her new lover kill the man that she's been crying about for all these years, and yet still remains by his side is pretty hard for me to swallow. Why would Ann-Margret's character stay with the man who kills a person that she loved in an act of cold blood, where his actions was the cause of Tommy's condition. Even when he interacts with Tommy and his Wife after this tragic turn of events, he hardly ever acts like that he actually cares about them. I seriously feel like that the film should have switched around the deaths of the characters, especially when considering that the Father did kill the boyfriend in the album. Granted that the actor playing the Father doesn't look like that he can sing either, and it would still seem out of the blue if the Father just came in and killed the boyfriend at random, instead of seeing them getting into a fight first. But I would at least understand why Nora would stay with a man after carrying out such a dark deed, and maybe perhaps feel more connected to him considering that he is Tommy's Father, even if the filmmakers do decide to make him a sleaze like Frank. However, as much as I despise this change, like Reed's singing, I can still condone it fine.
The supporting cast of actors each gives a performance that's just as crazy and rockin, as Daltrey and Margret do. Famous guitar player Eric Clapton plays the guitar strumming priest of a Marylin Monroe cult, who actually gives a cool performance with his smooth voice and guitar playing, as opposed to playing things out as excessive as the rest of the cast does. Paul Nicholas as Tommy's punk cousin Kevin gives a performance that starts out as playfully taunting, to flat out mad and sadistic, that Nicholas manages to capture so well. Pete Townshed as the film's narrator is a casting choice that's just as perfectly fitting, as casting Roger Daltrey as our lead, since they both provided the vocals on the original album. And Jack Nicholson as the Doctor who tries to cure Tommy, even though singing is not really for him, compared to Reed's singing, he's really not that bad. I say this because instead of him trying to sing and hit the high notes like Reed does, he pretty much just talks and sings his number at the same time, rather then actually attempting to sing. And even though I'm a tad bit disappointed that they didn't hire an actor or singer who can sing the song since it was one of my favorite songs on the album, he still does a satisfying job. But you know what I find more surreal than making Jack Nicholson sing; the fact that Jack Nicholson is playing a Doctor, the same year that he was playing a patient of a "Mental Institution" in "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest".
With the exception of Jack Nicholson as the Doctor, there are three singers in the cast of supporting characters that stand-out to me the most for whenever I watch this movie. First there's the Drummer of "The Who" Keith Moon as Tommy's wicked and perverted Uncle Ernie. And despite the fact that he's playing a pedo, Moon puts so much energy and insane expressions to his character, as he's given so many props to play with (most of them being gag toys), that he walks a mighty fine line of being comical and creepy. The second singer who stands-out to me the most in the film's line-up of supporting characters is Tina Turner as the drug obsessed whore, the Acid Queen, who nails this character and song so superbly that I could honestly watch her performance and listen to her sing that song for hours. The way she moves and dances around, while singing out her heart, as we are being presented with plenty of crazy imagery, and energizing rock music that plays in the background, are easily what makes her appearance and the sequence itself one of the highlights of the movie. But the one who tops them all by a long shot is Elton John as the Pinball Wizard. I mean my god does he kill it on-screen, with his singing, piano playing, expressions, and energy, as he has to wear those gigantic boots and play with "The Who" in front of a screaming live audience in a colorful environment. It's without question thee highlight of the movie and in my opinion is better than the original song... BUT the original version still rocks out loud!
The songs in this movie are all awesome. Each of them are so catchy, and tell the story so beautifully that you can listen to the film's soundtrack without seeing the film, and still understand what's going on as you rock out to it. Which should be no surprise since the original album, did the same exact thing, only the film’s album made the story and characters much clearer since they’re sung by different actors. Now if you're a fan of the original album and are trying to follow it as you watch this film, like all film adaptations of something popular, this one does change around plenty of things (which I'm sure you've probably already figured out after when I talked about the rearranging of deaths of Nora's lovers). The lyrics to the songs that you know from the album, while mostly staying to true their original melody and lyrics, they still have been altered to fit the changes that the film has made. As well as even changing one of the titles for the songs since the film is set at a different time by calling the song "1951" instead of "1921". The order of songs has also been rearranged, which will truly make fans who are trying to follow the album while watching the film even more difficult. And being that the film is nearly 2 hours long, instead of being an hour and 15 minutes like the album itself, new songs were added in to give more depth to the characters. I'm not at all against the majority of these changes from the album, since they do suit the film fine; but if you're a fan of the album who is just looking to see the film accurately follow the order of songs from it, with no changes added in what-so-over, then you're going to be as disappointed as a person whose upset with a film not following their favorite book accurately.
What I always find myself continuously admiring about the film whenever I watch it, is its visual style. The film is chock full of so much colorful surreal imagery that you never get the feeling that Ken Russell is ever trying to hold back on the amount of creativity that he throws into the film. The stylized sets, the over the top visual gags, the symbolism's (regarding the film’s religious satire and events that have happened in the plot), the crazy costumes, and the cool and trippy looking special effects and cinematography, are all what make the film so visually distinctive. There's just so much stuff being thrown at you visually that it's one of those films that you have to see more than once to catch them all. It's definitely a cool looking movie in terms of Movie Musicals based on Rock Music. Even when the effects do look cheesy, like the green-screen effect used when Roger Daltrey is running to different places that he's clearly not at for example, they’re still fun to watch since the film knows that they are cheesy, but are going to have fun with it anyway. And given how crazy and out of the norm that this film is, stuff like that is more than welcomed.
I'm not going to go as far as to call the film a 5/5 masterpiece in terms of movies based on music, since there are times when the film did get a little too crazy to the point where the actors and visuals become either annoying or awkward. And the choice of casting Oliver Reed as one of the leads, and changing his character's story-arc around, are indeed decision that I don't fully support. But with all that aside, it's still an overall fun movie, with its kickass songs; over the top acting at its finest; a crazy but compelling story-line to keep you invested; and endless amazing visuals that help add to the film's surreal and comical atmosphere. It may not to be a perfect film, but it's still a great film adaptation to a great album.
RATING 4/5
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