By Melissa Antoinette Garza
Yesterday, as I was conversing with a friend about ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975), she discussed her time as Columbia in a shadow cast and then told me she had once been in a production of the THE WHO’S TOMMY. It got me thinking about how long it had been since I saw the film adaptation.
I don’t think I ever realized it was released the same year and only six months before RHPS. I don’t think we will ever again capture the vision, rawness, intellect and punk rock badassery that the 1970s gave us. Whether it was the dark and creepy insanity within the horror films of that decade, the pain and humanity within the dramas, the rebellion and energy within the comedies or the fire and brilliant tunes within the musicals, that decade is untouchable when it comes to film. The holds-no-barred personality and brazen sexuality of the time poured thru the movies beautifully and has left us with some of the greatest and most revered American classics of all time.
TOMMY (1975) is an under-appreciated and well-done musicals of all time. The film opens with Nora (Ann-Margret) and her husband Captain Walker (Robert Powell) are madly in love. They have a baby and all is well until Walker is called to fight in WWII.
He is believed to be dead and Nora, lonely and desperate to give young Tommy (Barry Winch) a father, finds solace with Frank (Oliver Reed). Frank is not a good guy. He pretends to be, but when Walker returns home unexpected, Frank kills him. Tommy sees the whole thing, and after being screamed at by Frank that he didn’t see anything, he becomes deaf, blind and mute. He doesn’t speak and no one knows if he can hear what is being said.
Nora feels terribly guilty and, for decades, tries anything to bring Tommy (Roger Daltrey) out of the state of mind, while Frank becomes angrier and more disgusted with the boy. The places Tommy is brought in effort to cure him are insane; and then the places he is left due to neglect are even worse.
For those who haven’t seen this, you must. Eric Clapton portrays a pastor who wheels around a statue of Marilyn Monroe that purportedly heals the sick and blind. If that’s not enough, we also have Tina Turner as the Acid Queen madam and Elton John as the mother-fucking Pinball Wizard. The film is filled with the quintessential 70’s rock-stars and they are belting out some of the greatest musical numbers of all time. Not to mention, Jack Nicholson sings in it and for once plays a character that is outside of the typical Nicholson role. He portrays a doctor, that Frank finds in effort to cure Tommy. He subsequently finds that it is psychosomatic and that only Tommy can fix himself.
As Tommy raises to fame and popularity by winning at pinball, Nora descends into selfishness, self-hate, madness and full-on neglect.
When Tommy finally comes out of his condition, he becomes a savior to many and people follow him. They listen to his inspirational tale and believe him to be the one to lead them to something greater.
Even Nora and Frank seem to turn around and try to accept this new development as a way to start over. The congregation stays with Tommy and his family. When the transformation isn’t as complete or whole as the followers want, they start to turn on their messiah.
Why does this have a 6.6 on IMDB? Who is voting? Whoever it is, stop it. You’re taste in films suck. This is a phenomenal movie that deserves far more recognition than it gets.
The cast of course is phenomenal. Daltrey does terrific in the lead. He captures the vulnerabilities of Tommy, thus making the abuses he endures, throughout the film, hit all the harder. His subsequent rise to stardom and the cure for his ailments
Has anyone ever said a bad word about Ann-Margret? Wait, don’t tell me. I hate enough people. She’s will forever be one of my girl-crushes. As a teenager, she was one of those rare women I both wanted to be and wanted to be with. She’s just sexy as hell, can dance, sing act and was uniquely tough. She was the rebellious nice girl and I loved it.
She rocks it in this role. By song and mannerisms alone, Ann-Margret is able to convey the evolution of Nora from pleasant to naive and then from sympathetic to despicable, and finally from greedy to insane, smoothly and without skipping a beat. Never did the actions, as reprehensible as some of them were, seem out of character. Her reactions are gold. She expresses the decay of Nora’s soul as the guilt destroys her so effectively, it is gut-wrenching, at times. Even at Nora’s worst, there is such a sadness that is shown, my heart still pangs for the character. I also still have a mad crush on Ann-Margret. I love her and adore her in this.
And then there’s Oliver Reed. He was one of the finest actors and sadly taken away from us at far too young of an age. I know some of my female readers will take exception to his behavior towards women and I get it. Consider it noted; but I still think he was absolutely sexy and brought such a dynamic element to his performances. The man had charm. Say what you want about him being sexist and boorish, when he wanted to turn it on, he could captivate with a wink.
I can’t recommend this one enough. I love rock operas and the 70s created the best.
Scared Stiff Rating: 8.5/10
