Tommy
A psychosomatically deaf, dumb and blind boy becomes a master pinball player and the object of a religious cult because of that.
- Director:Ken Russell
- Genre:Drama | Fantasy | Musical
- Runtime:111 minutes
Cast
Oliver Reed : Frank Hobbs
Ann-Margret : Nora Walker
Roger Daltrey : Tommy Walker
Elton John : Local Lad
Eric Clapton : The Preacher
Tommy’s father, Royal Air Force Group Captain Walker (Robert Powell), is away fighting in World War II. His airplane is shot down before Tommy is born. His mother, Nora Walker, receives the news while at work in a munitions factory filling bombs with ball bearings. Mrs. Walker then gives birth to a baby boy, Tommy. She believes her husband is dead for nearly six years. She meets Frank Hobbs at a holiday camp and starts a relationship with him.
However, Walker had survived the crash and returns home one night. Tommy follows him to the bedroom where Walker sees Mrs. Walker and Hobbs in each other’s arms. He then sees Hobbs kill Walker by smashing a lamp on his head. (In the original album version, however, Walker confronts his wife and kills the lover.) Tommy is then told that he “didn’t hear it, didn’t see it” and “won’t say nothing to no-one”. As a result, Tommy goes into shock and ultimately becomes non-responsive, leading people to believe that he is deaf, dumb, and blind.
The film jumps ahead ten years, and Tommy, now a young man, is being taken by his mother and stepfather on various attempts to cure him, including a religious cult (centered on Marilyn Monroe from The Seven Year Itch) and the Acid Queen (Tina Turner), a prostitute dealing in LSD who sends Tommy on a wild trip that ultimately fails to awaken him. Meanwhile, his parents are somewhat negligent of Tommy, and leave him in the hands of his sadistic cousin Kevin (Paul Nicholas), who beats him, and his uncle Ernie (Keith Moon), who molests him.
Tommy’s only stimulus seems to come from a long mirror that he stands and stares into. Led alone into a junkyard at night by a vision of himself, Tommy comes into contact with a device that will change his life forever. A pinball machine among the scattered scrap metal junk yard allows Tommy to rise to national prominence and fame. Tommy’s pinball prowess and defeat of the local champ (Elton John) transforms him into a folk hero. Read more
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