Tommy

PG

Now Playing

1h 51m

Musical

List

71%

35 Reviews

Tomatometer

71%

25,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

After seeing his stepfather murder his father during an argument over his mother, young Tommy goes into shock, suddenly becoming psychosomatically deaf, dumb and blind. As a teenager, Tommy stumbles upon a pinball machine and discovers he is a natural prodigy at the game. Fame and fortune follow for Tommy, as he becomes a pinball champion and later the messiah of a religious cult, which views his pinball skills as a miraculous sign of divine intervention.

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Critics Consensus

Tommy is as erratic and propulsive as a game of pinball, incorporating The Who's songs into an irreverent odyssey with the visual imagination that only director Ken Russell can conjure.

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nick s

The acting was very stagey so I wasn't drawn into the magic for a moment. Also the camera work was rather lifeless for the trippy musical they were trying to present. But it was a huge effort for a rock group. Remarkable set pieces. Kudos for trying something so ambitious.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/19/24

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Catherine L

Pure 70s extravaganza, eccentric, crazy with a great cast and a rollercoaster of a scenario. It's an experience, let yourself roll with it.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/05/24

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Shioka O

It's an important piece of work in the rock history. Also a cult. Maybe look dated for now, but definitely enjoyable because it has lots of iconic figures and the music is unarguably great made by The Who. Though I personally prefer their original album than the soundtrack.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

12/19/22

Full Review

Taylor L

Hey, you. Yeah, you! Wanna see Ann-Margret bathing in a river of beans pouring out of a broken television? Tommy is strange as a concept - a star-studded ensemble filmization of The Who's 1969 rock opera album, it has many of the problems people associate with film adaptations of novels (adding an explicit interpretation to a more subjective art form). All of those different understandings of the mock operetta are all of a sudden given a very literal visual form. It's all a bit quirky with every bit of satirical dialogue rendered as lyrics and boasting a few trippy sequences, but not as insane as you might think; Tommy is more like a softcore predecessor to The Rocky Horror Picture Show and the musical stylings of Queen. The film starts off high-energy, with some great early sequences featuring Tina Turner as a dominatrix with a psychedelic Iron Maiden and Elton John's climactic pinball duel (his cover of The Who's original 'Pinball Wizard' might be the most influential part of the film). Unfortunately, once Tommy gets his senses back the movie's mostly on dull autopilot apart from a greasy Keith Moon riding a massive organ/cash register. The structure is messy and the production value isn't great, but some of the silly excess is entertaining, especially when there's a recognizable face around every corner. And I'll watch literally anything with Oliver Reed in it, so... (3/5)

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

12/10/22

Full Review

Christine I

I saw Tommy on the big screen when I was only 12. I proceeded to see it over a dozen times and wore the soundtrack out as well. I was hooked from the get go, and still love it today. It is a visual feast, a total mind-fuck, a brain blowing piece of cinematic and rock genius, of which there will never be another like it. Roger Daltrey was sublime, Anne Margaret totally beautiful, Tina Turner was a real trip and Elton John...well, what else can I say but FABULOUS. So many others made this movie great, but too many to name. Pete Townshend was, and is, a genius. He should be immortalized in the Hall of Fame if he isn't already. If this movie was re-released on the big screen, I might just drag my arthritic body out to see it for old times sake. And Auld Lang Syne. Absolutely brilliant!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

09/30/22

Full Review

dave s

Leave it to director Ken Russell to take The Who's wonderful rock opera Tommy and turn it into a bombastic, muddled, teeth-grinding mess of a movie, the only saving grace being the fact that it was marginally better than his Lisztomania from the same year. Never one to dwell on things like subtlety or finesse, Russell bombards the audience with annoying camerawork, ridiculous editing, countless nonsensical segments, and more prolonged absurdities than any viewer should be exposed to. Tommy was bad when it was released in 1975 and, almost fifty years later, time has not helped it at all. Save yourself some time and aggravation, skip the horror of Russell's film, and just listen to the album.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

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Ken Russell

Director

Roger Daltrey

Tommy Walker

Ann-Margret

Nora Walker Hobbs

Oliver Reed

Frank Hobbs

Elton John

Pinball Wizard

Eric Clapton

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Peter Bradshaw

Guardian

What's really interesting about Tommy is that it is about how the generation who led the pop revolution of the 60s had vivid but undisclosed memories of their wartime childhoods.

Rated: 4/5

Nov 22, 2019

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Ben Flanagan

Little White Lies

Can't get it out of my head, for better and worse.

Rated: 4/5

Nov 20, 2019

Full Review

TIME Magazine

One thing is sure: there has never been a movie musical quite like Tommy, a weird, crazy, wonderfully excessive version of The Who's rock opera.

May 6, 2013

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Steve Warren

The Barb (Atlanta)

An all-star cast of actors and rock musicians.

May 5, 2023

Full Review

Tim Brayton

Alternate Ending

An erratic, garish mess. It would be an indescribable shame if that weren't the case.

Rated: 4/5

Jun 1, 2022

Full Review

John Simon

Esquire Magazine

The most stupid, arrogant, and tasteless movie since Russell's Mahler. To debate such a film seems impossible: anyone who can find merit in this deluge of noise and nausea has nothing to say to me, nor I to him.

Aug 4, 2020

Full Review

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Synopsis

After seeing his stepfather murder his father during an argument over his mother, young Tommy goes into shock, suddenly becoming psychosomatically deaf, dumb and blind. As a teenager, Tommy stumbles upon a pinball machine and discovers he is a natural prodigy at the game. Fame and fortune follow for Tommy, as he becomes a pinball champion and later the messiah of a religious cult, which views his pinball skills as a miraculous sign of divine intervention.

Director: Ken Russell
Producer: Christopher Stamp
Screenwriter: Ken Russell
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Production Co: Hemdale Film Corporation [us]
Rating: PG
Genre: Musical
Original Language: English (United Kingdom)
Release Date (Theaters): Mar 19, 1975, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 16, 2012
Runtime: 1h 51m
Sound Mix: Surround

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