Tommy (1975)

Overview

Tommy is a surreal, audacious rock musical directed by the flamboyant British auteur Ken Russell, based on The Who’s 1969 concept album of the same name. The film is a psychedelic fever dream, built entirely around music and image rather than traditional dialogue or narrative structure. With its star-studded cast and genre-defying ambition, Tommy is both a product of its time and a lasting artifact of cinematic and musical experimentation.

At its core, the film is about trauma, spiritual awakening, and the dangerous allure of celebrity. But Tommy is less about plot than it is about experience — using sound, image, and performance to assault the senses.

Plot Summary

The story follows Tommy Walker (Roger Daltrey), a young boy who becomes "deaf, dumb, and blind" after witnessing the traumatic murder of his father. As Tommy grows up in a turbulent and abusive environment, he develops an almost supernatural talent for pinball, becoming a cult figure and messianic leader.

The film traces his journey from victimhood through fame to spiritual enlightenment — and eventual rejection of false idols, including himself.

Key plot points include:

His overprotective and unstable mother Nora (Ann-Margret) and stepfather Frank (Oliver Reed).

Scenes of abuse and twisted care at the hands of relatives like Cousin Kevin and Uncle Ernie.

Transformative musical encounters with characters like The Acid Queen (Tina Turner) and the Pinball Wizard (Elton John).

A climactic rise to godlike status before it all falls apart.

Cast and Performances

Roger Daltrey as Tommy

As both the lead singer of The Who and the film’s protagonist, Daltrey is the ideal centrepiece. He barely speaks a word through most of the film but conveys Tommy’s transformation with expressive physical acting. His screen presence is hypnotic, particularly in the final act when he regains his senses and embraces his prophetic role.

Ann-Margret as Nora Walker

A revelation. Her performance is both melodramatic and deeply committed. The infamous “Champagne” scene, where she writhes in baked beans and foam, earned her an Oscar nomination. She plays Nora as simultaneously glamorous, broken, and desperate.

Oliver Reed as Frank

Though not a singer by trade, Reed’s gruff, spoken-word delivery adds a gritty realism. His chemistry with Ann-Margret is strange but electric.

Tina Turner as The Acid Queen

In one of the film’s most iconic segments, Turner delivers a terrifying, electrifying performance. Her scene is hallucinatory, with intense costuming and psychedelic visuals, symbolizing both the trauma of experimentation and the allure of drugs as a false cure.

Elton John as The Pinball Wizard

A brief but unforgettable appearance. John towers in massive platform boots and oversized glasses, delivering one of The Who's most famous songs with rock opera flair.

Eric Clapton, Jack Nicholson, Paul Nicholas, and others

These cameos are wild and stylistically all over the place — exactly as Ken Russell intended. Nicholson's scene as a psychiatrist is awkwardly dubbed, while Clapton's religious revival moment is surreal and cynical.

Music and Sound

Tommy is fundamentally a rock opera, with nearly every line sung and every emotion expressed through music. Pete Townshend re-arranged The Who’s original album, adding orchestration, synthesizers, and contributions from guest stars.

Notable numbers:

“1951 / What About the Boy?” – A haunting opening about Tommy’s origin.

“Eyesight to the Blind” (Eric Clapton) – A twisted religious number set in a cult-like church.

“The Acid Queen” (Tina Turner) – Frenzied and theatrical.

“Pinball Wizard” (Elton John) – Pure rock spectacle.

“I’m Free” / “Sensation” – Mark Tommy’s transformation into a messianic figure.

“See Me, Feel Me / Listening to You” – An emotional crescendo and spiritual epiphany.

The soundtrack is raw, passionate, sometimes disjointed — but it’s unlike any other film of its era.

Direction and Visual Style

Ken Russell, known for his operatic excess, pushes the boundaries of what musical cinema can be. His style in Tommy is:

Boldly expressionist — heavy use of surreal imagery, religious symbolism, and allegory.

Kinetic and visceral — constantly moving cameras, quick cuts, bold colours.

Drenched in metaphor — milk, beans, mirrors, televisions, and religious icons abound.

While some critics consider Russell's style overblown, others praise it as genius. There's no denying that Tommy is a sensory overload, and often intentionally uncomfortable — blurring the line between spectacle and grotesque.

Themes and Interpretation

Trauma and Repression

Tommy's psychosomatic condition (blind, deaf, mute) is a metaphor for psychological repression. The film shows how trauma can isolate a person and how society often compounds that pain through neglect or exploitation.

Celebrity and Commodification

Tommy’s rise as a “pinball messiah” satirizes the way culture turns suffering into spectacle, then consumes it for profit. The cult around him becomes a reflection of religious fanaticism, capitalism, and the emptiness of idolatry.

Sex, Drugs, and Abuse

Russell doesn’t flinch from difficult content. Tommy is subjected to abuse, quack cures, and spiritual manipulation. The film challenges viewers to consider what constitutes "help" — and what we do to those we claim to heal.

Self-Discovery and Liberation

By the end, Tommy sheds his followers and false beliefs, telling people to look inward for salvation rather than to any messiah — even him. The film's final message is ambiguous, yet powerful: truth must be personal, not imposed.

Conclusion

Tommy is not a film for everyone, but it was never meant to be. It’s a provocative, hallucinatory journey through trauma, fame, and spiritual searching. Driven by The Who’s genre-defining music and Ken Russell’s unhinged vision, it stands as a monument to 1970s counterculture and rock’s cinematic potential.

If you’re open to unconventional storytelling, audacious visuals, and the raw emotional force of music as narrative, Tommy is a uniquely powerful experience. Part musical, part nightmare, part religious satire — it’s messy, magnificent, and unforgettable.

A daring, delirious musical odyssey that redefines what a rock film can be.