Movie DVD Store (UK) - Tommy - The Movie (The Who)
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List Price: £5.99
Our Price: £1.91
Availability: N/A
Manufacturer: Prism Leisure
Starring: Eric Clapton, Roger Daltry, Jack Nicholson, Oliver Reed, Robert Powell
Directed By: Pete Townshend
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Average Customer Rating:   
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Audience Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Binding: DVD
EAN: 5050824166852
Format: Dolby
Label: Prism Leisure
Manufacturer: Prism Leisure
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Prism Leisure
Region Code: 2
Release Date: 2007-05-21
Running Time: 107
Studio: Prism Leisure
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: an exercise in excess
Comment: The film version of "Tommy" is sheer audiovisual overload. It's probably impossible to sit all the way though this extravaganza without popping out the room to make a cuppa or putting the player on hold overnight It's probably unfashionable to admit to liking it, though calling it a Cult Classic goes someway to sparing one's blushes. But thanks to DVD, we can now treat Ken Russell's rendering of Pete Townsend's rock opera like a box of rich chocolates: dip into your favourite scenes, or digest the whole lot at one sitting. Everyone knows by now the rather slender storyline of how young Tommy becomes deaf, dumb and blind after witnessing his war-hero father (Robert Powell), supposedly long-lost, return, only to be killed by his wife's thuggish lover (the joys of having Oliver Reed to cast in those days). The mother (Ann-Margaret) and lover take Tommy around a bunch of "specialists" in the course of the film, looking for a cure, including visits to Tina Turner's Acid Queen, and Jack Nicholson's psychiatrist, but all to no avail. Tommy, played as an adult by the Who's singer Roger Daltrey, complete with famous bubble perm, goes onto become the Pinball Champion and a cult hero... and then on to become something much, much bigger.
The Devil is in the details, and what riches this film has for a fan of the 1970s! The music of the original late 60s rock opera is here revisted as a highly synthesized score; very prog in places. Its actually at ite most dazzling in the Overture, where we see Captain Walker and his young bride rock-climbing in the Lake District. For a film in which a mirror plays a significant and symbolic role, "Tommy" stands as an especially rich mirror of 70s infamous rock excess. Who can forget Ann-Margaret getting half-drowned in a torrent of baked beans, champagne and chocolate spewed out by the TV set? (Famously, she insisted on wearing her own jewellery on the shoot and lost a diamond earring in the melee: stagehands had to sort through all the choccy-beans mess on set to find it). Who can forget a seriously high Eric Clapton almost literally sleepwalking though his role as a cult leader in a white church filled with Marilyn Monroes? He looked so soporiphic on film that they had to get Arthur Brown in as his priest-cum-court jester to prance about and liven up the screen. There's Ollie Reed's Teddy Boy lover, all sideburns and brothel creepers: no singing voice whatsoever, but always a joy to see that famous mug on film. There's the creepy seediness of the late, great Keith Moon's Uncle Ernie, a paedophile on Ollie's side of the family ("down with the bedsheets/up with the nightshirt/fiddle about"), cracking a raw egg into his beer and gulping it down. And it would be a sin not to mention Elton John as the Pinball Wizard in probably Tommy's most famous song, towering over everyone on his enormous sequinned bovver boots. By the end of the film, the attention wanders a bit, and it all gets a bit anti-climatic: the best set-pieces are over and done with. But "Tommy" stands as a pretty entertaining mix of 70s Glam style and features some of the decade's biggest stars, from both sides of the Atlantic. "Tommy" actually looks a bit tame compared to some of the things Ken Russell went on to do (I'm thinking of the impaled nuns in "Lair of the White Worm" now). Ken's glory days may be behind him, but he is great fun to listen to, as his appearance on Celebrity Big Brother proved, and his audio commentary on the DVD is well worth checking out.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Back In Time
Comment: Tommy:- You either loved it or hated it. However, it has stood the test of time. Is it a Rock remake of the story of Christ or just a rambling set of images designed to make the best use of the music? You have to make up your own mind. I love the film and filming my wife hates it! The Who have just made a come back and it is about time you dug out the Tommy movie again
Customer Rating:
Summary: A must have - for the middle aged if no-one else!!
Comment: The music is brilliant, even if some of it makes no sense. Much of it is very cliched, and was when it came out. My teenage daughters described the film as "a bit trippy", which is an understatement. Ken Russell's direction is ideosyncratic as ever. But hey, what the heck? Pour yourself a glass or two of wine and have fun watching it. Just don't take it too seriously! Men - AnnMargret, and those beans... And for the women, obviously- Roger Daltrey, bare chested and absolutely gorgeous, running, swimming, turning cartwheels on the beach - that excerpt alone is worth the price and first class postage!
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