Part of Restoration Roundup and Music City Mondays
Based on The Who’s rock opera of the same name, Ken Russell — who could handily commandeer his own standalone Music City Mondays series (…hmm) — directs this tale of a deaf, dumb and blind pinball wizard (Roger Daltrey) who becomes the object of a religious cult. Featuring the rest of the band in various roles, TOMMY also casts the likes of Tina Turner, Ann-Margret, Eric Clapton, Elton John and Jack Nicholson to round out this star-studded adaptation of The Who’s groundbreaking double album.
New 4K DCP restoration courtesy of Sony Pictures.
“Russell correctly doesn't give a damn about the material he started with, greatest art work of the century or not, and he just goes ahead and gives us one glorious excess after another.” —Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times (Jan 1, 1975) “Ken Russell’s filmization of ‘Tommy’ is spectacular in nearly every way. The enormous appeal of the original 1969 record album by The Who has been complemented in a superbly added visual dimension.” —Variety (Dec 31, 1974) “Russell has created what is surely the loudest, most assaultive movie musical ever made and stretched the genre into a new realm — the phantasmagorical nightmare.” —Charles Michener, Newsweek (Mar 24, 1975)
