Tommy is a 1975 British musical fantasy drama film written and directed by Ken Russell and stars the who with singer Roger Daltrey as Tommy as well as Oliver Reed, Ann-Margret, Elton John, Eric Clapton, Jack Nicholson, Robert Powell, and Tina Turner. The film follows Tommy a psychosomatically deaf, mute, and blind boy who becomes a pinball champion and religious leader. Tommy is a good weird, strange surreal over the top unique film that fans of musicals, rock music and weird cult films should watch.
The direction in the film is good. The film is seemingly very normal at the begging looking like a social realism film before transitioning to over top surrealism showcasing the film as having contrasting styles. Again, this juxtaposition of styles is shown with gritty war violence contrasting with surrealism on cancan girl running around with gasmasks on showcasing the WW2 themes in the film. the WW2 themes continue as Tommy’s mum sleeps in safety cage as well as being over the top as Tommy’s dads plane gets shot down and he dies, the film then transitions to showing ball and pinballs showing a main part of the film in an over-the-top musical style. The film then shows the post-war celebration victory with Tommy being shown like Jesus the chosen one. Him and his mum then go to see Frank in his holiday camp with an over-the-top song as Frank and Nora having a romantic song. The film is both dark and over the top and comedic at the same time. The film shows that Tommy essentially became deaf, dumb, and blind at the fault of Frank and Nora giving his character depth as his silence judges them. This phycological depth is shown with Tommy’s dreams of him and his dad in his plane which is then seemingly shot down as they play a video game as his dreams are seemingly destroyed. His head is in a black box showing how he has no senses. He then sees his dad holding the sun as he is in a plane is space with his dad links to his children trauma. He is then being crucified as his face becomes a pinball which opens to revel Tommy showing him as a Christ like figure.
Tommy is a character that has true sadness to him. This is clearly shown at the Christmas scene as Tommy understands what’s going on and wants to communicate with them as he touches the nativity and smashes it up out of rage. Due to this he goes to see a Rock and Roll faith leader showcasing the religious themes in the film as the normal people have blind faith and the film shows the danger of this as well as the fears of idol worship in blindly following someone. Tommy loses his virginity in a drug fuelled haze as from this Tommy sees a reflected version of himself in another realm. Tommy is shown to have experienced physical and sexual abuse at the hands of his family members showcasing the psychological depth of his character, this is shown with Tommy being literally and phycology split into three people red, blue, and yellow and then back to one. Tommy becomes a pinball god like figure showing the religious themes of the film as further shown with him defeating the previous pinball champion in a pinball battle as him and the family are rich. Nora is a paradoxical character she both loves the luxury and vapid lifestyle but is also haunted by Tommy not being able to enjoy it. She tries to drown herself in luxury to forget about it but is just makes her crazy and disgusted. The over-the-top style of Tommy shows his emotional condition and trauma, due to her frustration to Tommy’s condition she those him through a window.
From this trauma Tommy is cured and can talk see and hear. He has freedom reborn like Jesus as he walks around soldiers and runs on a green screen against the sea, sky, and lava, as the film depicts a weird kind of sweetness between Tommy and his mum. Tommy rises again like a horst like character using pinball as a religion as he strips her of everything showing the religious undertones as he baptises her. The film shows an innocent victim of Tommy’s religious indoctrination in the form of Sally Simpson a young follower of Tommy’s. She idolises him and loves him as she goes to see one of his sermons and gets kicked off the stage and physically scared as Tommy continues, she ends up getting married to a rock musician and still has the scar on her cheek she doesn’t care anymore and doesn’t think of him in the same way other girls do. Tommy is the messiah changing people into religious converts, as he takes his people to his church however people become an overcrowded rowdy rob going crazy over Tommy. Tommy is like a televangelist advertising on TV tommy camps all around the world, as the family exploits people’s religious faith through communalisation. In the film Tommy is symbolic of Jesus. There is an interesting binary opposition in that Tommy is pure in his actions however people are angered by the cult like characters of the camp and the family’s commercial exploitation and demand Tommy tech them something useful. Tommy teaches them pinball blinding, deafening, and muting them he is pure in his actions however the people see him as a form of control. This is shown by him stopping people drinking, getting high and being stuck up as they are blinded and muted with his cult. He makes them play pinball as the people see this as control and exploitation and start a riot. The people kill Frank and Nora and run away as the police come. The film ends with Tommy finding his parents dead and mourns their deaths. He then ascends into the mountains at the begging of the film as he ascends the same mountain his parents celebrated their honeymoon as he celebrates the sun rise. This demonstrates Tommy as a religious figure a Jesus like character who like Christ will rise again.
The acting in the film is good. Oliver Reed does a good job as Uncle Frank Nora’s brute boyfriend who has a soft side. Ann-Margret does a good job as Nora Walker Tommy’s mother who is obsessed with glamor and luxury but also has a dep love for her son. Roger Daltrey does a good job as Tommy Walker a deaf dumb and blind man who develops a messiah complex. Elton John does a good job as The Pinball Wizard a cocky former pinball world campion. Eric Clapton does a good job as The Preacher the leader of a Marilyn Monroe cult. Keith Moon does a good job as Uncle Ernie frank pervert friend. Paul Nicholas does a good job as Cousin Kevin Tommy’s sadomasochist relative. Jack Nicholson does a good job as Dr A. Quackson a doctor who helps curing Tommy as hi mand Nora have romantic tension. Robert Powell does a good job as Group Captain Walker Nora’s Royal air force pilot and late husband. Tina Turner does a good job as The Acid Queen an eccentric prostitute and LSD dealer. Arthur brown does a good job as The Priest and is a maniac assistant to The Preacher. Victoria Russell does a god job as Sally Simpson a Tommy fan Girl who sneaks into a concert and gets hurt. Ben Aris does a good job as Rev. A. Simpson V.C. and Mary Holland as Mrs Simpson sally’s conservative religious parents.
The writing in the film is good. The film begins with the husband and wife in cliché love scenes which is contrasted to the brutality to WW2. The they find their son dead; the film has great surrealism in it with the cancan girls running around with gas masks on. The film shows his dad dead as he goes off to war as a fighter pilot in WW2 as his plane gets shot down and he seemingly dies. His mum becomes a worker in the missile factories as she finds out about her husband’s death as she gives birth to her son as the scene shows happiness but is still tinged with a melancholy of her husband passing. Uncle Frank and his holiday camp song are shown as sleezy but not evil, as Frank gets with Nora. It is questionable if he cares about Tommy or not with Tommy seeming liking him but questioning whether he was actually a solider. Frank and Nora’s romance is shown as being over the top. Tommy’s dad is still alive and visits him as Tommy sees his dad again. His mum and Frank see him as Frank attacks him in a fit of boiling rage and accidently kills him in this fight tommy sees this however, they both convince Tommy he did not see or hear anything and never will. This shows Tommy psychological issues in how his trauma curses his condition. In the moment Tommy panics dissociative state where he outwardly appears deaf, dumb, and blind. Tommy is now deaf, dumb, and blind as they are safe, but he is judging them. This shows the circumstances of Tommy caused his condition showcasing his phycology.
Tommy sees his world destroyed by alienation as his uncle deals with Tommy’s trauma via drugs, at Christmas time Tommy can’t enjoy it which distraught Nora as she wants him to enjoy life. Tommy is taken to a faith healing priest and lead singer of a rock band to try and heal him with worshiping Marilyn Monroe. This criticises the idea of idol worship and people giving themselves to a false profit. Tommy is then taken to a drug dealer to try and help him as he is drugged up symbolically losing his virginity. However, Tommy comes out as his dad as symbolically his trauma remains, he comes out blooded covered in poppies and roses and the crosses and skeleton with a snake as he is a human sacrifice. He exits exhausted but unchanged as they have both been on drugs. His parents become lethargic due to the lack of a cure for tommy and leaving him with his cushion Kevin who is a psycho who physically tortures him. this shows the phycology what happened to tommy to shape him.
They also leave him with is acholic uncle Ernie who sexually abuses him which again is another thing that happened to him. Tommy then goes to a junkyard where he finds a pinball machine and is parody who states his main motive in the film. Tommy symbolically becomes a god like figure defeating the previous pinball champion in a pinball battle as he is rich. Nora watches Tommy’s victory and a bean advert about a queen as she is living a life of luxury reflecting the advert. They paradoxically love and hate it at the same time as Tommy can’t enjoy his life as she wants to forcefully destroy his condition but, she is in a room with a smashed TV as she rides around on the TV distraught as the film shows her deigned phycology. Frank finds a doctor who states his condition is emotionally triggered and not physically and that curing him could give him a massive shock as in his own way he does care about Tommy. At the same time Nora grows increasingly frustrated with Tommy’s condition and those him out the window which cures him as in hero weird new way Nora does care for hi mand id help him. From this trauma he is then cured talk, seeing and hearing as Tommy wakes up, she tells him how amazing he is. Tommy rises from the water symbolically like Christ and using pinball as he is then symbolically reborn.
Tommy strips is mother of her material possessions and baptises her. The film showcases an innocent victim of Tommy’s religious indoctrination in the film of the Sally Simpsons song a young follower of Tommy’s ideologies him. This religious indoctrination continues as he goes to one of his sermons and gets kicked of the stage physically scared as the sermon continues. She then got married to a rock musician and still has a scar on her cheek she has seemingly grown out of her fangirling as she doesn’t care but there are other girls thinking about him in the same way she used to think about tommy. A biker gang then attacks some people until Tommy comes along and everybody from all different walks of like come alone to follow Tommy becoming religious converts. This again shows the themes of Tommy being a messiah like figure. He then takes people to his church however they become an overcrowded rowdy mob showing the dangers of people becoming messiah characters. Tommy becomes a televangelist advertising on TV about tommy camps all around the world, Tommy is pure in his actions but his family exploits people’s religious faith through commercialisation.
Tommy is a Christ like figure who is pure in his actions however the people are angry by the cult like characteristics of the map and his family’s commercial exploitation and demand Tommy teach them something useful. Tommy teaches them pinball blinding, deafening, and muting them he has a pure soul however they see this as a form of control. He stops people drinking and getting high and being stuck up as they must do things Tommy’s way by blinding, deafening, and muting them. He makes them play pinball, as the people sees Tommy’s enlightenment as just a form of control and exploitation and there start a riot. They kill Frank and Nora and urn away as the police come. Tommy finds his parents dead and mourns their deaths. He then escapes into the same mountain his parents celebrated his honeymoon on as he celebrates the sunrise. This shows Tommy as the messiah who as ascends to a god.
The cinematography in the film is good. The film has a good silhouette shot of a sunset as well as a good use of flashes and overlays. The film has great imagery of planes in space with is dad being crucified, as his face then becomes a pin ball to open to reveal Tommy in cool surreal imagery. The film has good kaleidoscope effect as well as good, mirrored effects and multiple overlays. The film has a good use of fast in and out zooms and red lighting. There is a god use of red and yellow lighting shing on Tommy as well as blue lighting. The film has a god use of yellow lighting, as well as interesting camera movements moving and zooming. There is also a good centre framed shot of Tommy smashing through the window. The film also has a good green screen effect of Tommy running against the sea, sky, and lava, as well as a cool silhouette shot.
The special effects in the film are good. The film has a god use of piratical effects of London in flames and destroyed buildings. The film has good makes up effects of facial burns as well as an interesting costume design of Marilyn Monroe face marks as well as good set design with a Marylin Monroe statue. The film has unique practical effects and set design with a sci-fi iron maiden with drug needles for the spikes as blood is taking out of him and put back in as his spinning. The film has great weird costume design as a character having massive stilt legs and shoes as well as set design of a massive pinball machine. The film has interesting wired and interesting effects when Nora mashes her TV and champagne bubbles spew forth as she is drowned in beans and chocolate, dancing around in it going crazy. The film using green screen effects of Tommy running against the sea, sky, and lava. The film also has great over the top production design of giant sets that have a giant cross and organ, as well as this the film also as interesting set design in the form of giant pinballs.
Tommy is a good wired crazy of the top film that’s fans of surreal musicals and cult cinema should watch.