Tommy
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Movie Reviews of Tommy
Movie Review: Visually perfect!
Summary: 5 Stars
I saw this movie when I was young and absolutely loved it. Not a word is spoken, only sung to the Who's rock opera by the same name. I would call this a "modern day silent film". Innovative for its time. Pete Townshend shows that he is one gifted writer and musician.
Briefly, the movie is about a boy who lost his father during World War II before he was born and suffered a tramatic shock when he saw an event. He lost his ability to see and hear and then regains it after a long journey. This is the journey we witness.
When I saw this again the other day, it still had the same impact on me, visually perfect. Since no words are spoken, the story must be conveyed through sight and sound (music), something Tommy is lacking. I grew up in a photographically minded family and remembered my dad liking this movie for the cinematagraphy (he didn't like the Who's music).
This film has a great cast. Roger Daltry, Ann Margret, Tina Turner, Jack Nicholson, Eric Clapton, Elton John and even Keith Moon. It was great to hear Nicholson try to sing, and Elton in those big boots.
You have to like the Who's music to totally enjoy this film, but it still is a visual and musical feast after all these years. Buy and enjoy. This version sounds great on a home theater system!
Oh, if you're too young and don't think you remember the Who's music, think again. All three of the CSIs use the Who's songs as their theme songs. "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" ("Who are you"), "CSI: Miami"("Won't Get Fooled Again") and "CSI: NY" ("Baba O'Riley"). All written by Pete Townshend and performed by the Who.
Movie Review: Amazing Journey
Summary: 5 Stars
If you have any interest in this besides a casual one, please listen to the Tommy album before seeing this movie. Seeing the movie first ruins the beauty and subtlety of the album, because Townshend was forced to work out all the details of the story and change things about when switching mediums.
Anyway, that being said, I truly loved this film. Let people say it was a sell out (which it was not) I dont care I still think Ken Russell did a brilliant job with it. People get too bogged down comparing it to the album. They aren't comparable, in my opinion, so there's no use trying.
The film at times can be a bit strange (Roger running wildly over various backgrounds, Ann-Margaret 'zinging' Roger with her hair and dancing, assumedly to cure his blindness) but you have to keep the time period and notoriously quirky director in mind. Try not to expect anything when going into the film, and please try not to overanalyze it or you'll miss the unique and brilliant nature of the performances and work as a whole. All involved (sans Nicholson's singing debut) do an amazing job. Daltrey does Tommy suprisingly well, he was perfect for the role, and his major songs in the film (I'm Free, See me/Feel me) are just amazing.
While I admit a blind love for anything Who-related, I still think this movie is another show of Townshend's ability to succesfully combine art and popular media. And most of all I think it's an enjoyable film.
If you aren't familiar with the brilliance of The Who, it's worth looking at just for the stellar musical performances of Turner, Clapton, and Elton John.
Movie Review: The Amazing Journey
Summary: 5 Stars
Beautifully filmed, unique conception, brilliant use of symbolism, and over the top performances. The only true downside to this is the certain slumps in the story that I feel the Broadway show improved on. Primarily, the fact that the ending in the movie differs from the play same as the "You didn't Hear it, You didn't see it scene." But I refuse to make comparisons. So. What I'll say is that Ann-Margret's voice fit this musical like a glove. Oliver Reed was purely sinister and just as scary as he was in "Oliver!" Tina Turner's "Acid Queen" Is truly a milestone and Elton John was hilarious as Pinball Wizard. Daltrey had an interesting touch with the Title role. And the orchestrations were great. I just bought this one a few days ago and I've watched it 6 times already. This is definitely a good buy. Don't believe me? Then watch strictly for the sake of watching AND listening to Jack Nicholson try to sing (It's just as funny as Marlon Brando flat singing voice in Guys and Dolls.) But if you're a devoted "Who" fan, or a musical lover I recommend this movie.Movie Review: What About Ann Margaret?
Summary: 5 Stars
Long a personal favourite of mine, from the minute my brother brought home the soundtrack back in 1975 I knew TOMMY was something new, different & very special. The film fulfilled every expectation .I always find it interesting to read what people think of films I hold close to my heart & in all the reviews on site I found the most important thing about this film only vaguely referred to. And that is of course regarding the star of the film. Ann Margaret's spellbinding Oscar-nominated performance as Tommy's long-suffering mother who sings her way from rags to riches viciously chewing the scenery all the way. Over the top? Most definitely! But her performance is only in keeping with the tone & style of this bizarre, cruel, spectacular rock odyssey. Roger Daltrey(singing & looking like an angel here)is adequate as a modern day prophet of sorts but thankfully Tina Turner & Elton John are on hand to help fill up the screen until Ann Margaret returns in Act 3 to blow everybody off the screen with the now infamous baked beans sequence. Louise Fletcher had nothing on this performance....BRAVO!!!!!Movie Review: A rock opera? Why not?
Summary: 5 Stars
The concept of a rock opera must have seemed experimental at best, and downright bad at worst, to people who dared think about it in the late Sixties and early Seventies (after all, some older folks felt sour enough that rock-and-roll existed at all), but happily, "Tommy" made it work.
Some of the props and imagery used in the film struck me as portmanteau versions of the sort of British psychedelia I saw when I watched "A Clockwork Orange": maybe it is and maybe it isn't. The movie opens with Tommy's father being called to serve as a fighter pilot in the RAF in WW2 and getting shot down, then later morphing (inside Tommy's mind) to a kind of savior figure, someone he never had a chance to meet but wishes he could.
Anyhow, as with most British psychedelic films of that era, "Tommy" impressed me enough that I understood why it broke such ground in its day... and the image of a lovely cabaret dancer running around wearing a white ballet skirt, and a gas mask on her face (remember, Tommy was born at the close of the War), will be forever stamped in my memory! :-D