A great oddity to behold, the big screen translation of The Who's Tommy is exclusively for fans of the band and admirers of Ken Russell. Attempting to catch up on all things Russell this year, I'm easily becoming a huge fan of his style. The man is a master of provocative imagery and this opera overfloweth with intoxicating gusto and memorable sequences just like everything I've so far seen from him. Like I said, the story is first and foremost for fans of the music, but who would blindly throw on Tommy without any knowledge of The Who? I slowly but surely grew tired of Ann Margaret as it went, but there are more than enough showstopping cameos and Oliver Reed secretly steals every moment like he does in every Russell film he's in.

Yet another film based on a Who "rock opera", but unlike the mopey and nihilistic Quadrophenia, this is brimming with goofy performances and energetic fun. Director Ken Russell dumps metric buttloads of his patented psychedelic pixie dust on the proceedings, producing a bizarre and nonsensical romp through Pete Townshend's epic of spiritual awakening.

What's even more surprising is that with the exception of passing off Oliver Reed's wounded water-buffalo grunts as "singing", most of the musical performances here are actually quite a bit better than the original tracks laid down on vinyl by The Who. In particular, Tina Turner's twitchy, howling turn as the smokin' hot Acid Queen stands head and shoulders above Townshend's weak-sauce vocal delivery on the album, and even Daltrey ups the ante with a balls-to-the-walls rendition of "I'm Free," followed by a transcendent "Listening to You" as the film ends with his apotheosis into a blazing globe of light. Dude.

An ambitious effort, this is a film that is entirely sung. And surprisingly, it works! The Who and director Ken Russell have constructed a fantastic rock opera for the big screen, with an array of bizarre cameos to boot (Elton John as the Pinball Wizard is the highlight). Towards the end, it begins to irritate, and some songs border on extremely bad taste ("Fiddle About"), but this is hammy, corny, well-made entertainment.

Not so much a great film as it is an entertaining one.

"Ever since I was a young boy
I've played the silver ball
From Soho down to Brighton
I must have played them all
But I ain't seen nothing like him
In any amusement hall
That deaf, dumb and blind kid
Sure plays a mean pinball"

Yet another film based on a Who "rock opera", but unlike the mopey and nihilistic Quadrophenia, this is brimming with goofy performances and energetic fun. Director Ken Russell dumps metric buttloads of his patented psychedelic pixie dust on the proceedings, producing a bizarre and nonsensical romp through Pete Townshend's epic of spiritual awakening.

What's even more surprising is that with the exception of passing off Oliver Reed's wounded water-buffalo grunts as "singing", most of the musical performances here are actually quite a bit better than the original tracks laid down on vinyl by The Who. In particular, Tina Turner's twitchy, howling turn as the smokin' hot Acid Queen stands head and shoulders above Townshend's weak-sauce vocal delivery on the album, and even Daltrey ups the ante with a balls-to-the-walls rendition of "I'm Free," followed by a transcendent "Listening to You" as the film ends with his apotheosis into a blazing globe of light. Dude.

fun but too much

Ann-Margret, the art direction, and some sections of The Who's score are the only (good) reasons to see this otherwise bland and incoherent mess of a rock opera.

Hahaha, this is one seriously messed up movie. The guys who made it was without doubt tripping hard on acid, It's so bad yet so entertaining. Aside from that The Who's music makes it worth a watch, even though many of the songs are sung by the other actors in the movie and not by Daltrey. The band all make appearances in the movie, Daltrey is even playing the main character, Tommy. The supporting cast also includes some big starts, the likes of Jack Nicholson, Elton John, Eric Clapton and Tina Turner.

acid queen

I'm currently reading the immensely enjoyable autobiography of Pete Townshend, so I figured it was time to finally watch TOMMY. On paper this should be something I'd like: directed by Ken Russell, music by The Who, a cast including Oliver Reed, Keith Moon, Jack Nicholson and Arthur Brown. But, watching the film I soon realized there is no way around the fact that I can't stomach musicals. I just can't get used to a world in which people suddenly break out in song - and in TOMMY they're singing non stop for the whole running time. Of course the film has some things to enjoy - like Tine Turner as the Acid Queen - but this was tough one to get through.

A great oddity to behold, the big screen translation of The Who's Tommy is exclusively for fans of the band and admirers of Ken Russell. Attempting to catch up on all things Russell this year, I'm easily becoming a huge fan of his style. The man is a master of provocative imagery and this opera overfloweth with intoxicating gusto and memorable sequences just like everything I've so far seen from him. Like I said, the story is first and foremost for fans of the music, but who would blindly throw on Tommy without any knowledge of The Who? I slowly but surely grew tired of Ann Margaret as it went, but there are more than enough showstopping cameos and Oliver Reed secretly steals every moment like he does in every Russell film he's in.

Not so much a great film as it is an entertaining one.