The Forgotten Rock Opera

By Steve Hart | February 7, 2012 at 5:00 am | No comments | Afternoons, Music

Anniversary of recording a classic song, delivers a forgotten rock opera.

 

Today marks the anniversary of the ‘Who” recording Pinball Wizard. A son originally written as an after thought, but went on to become a permanent fixture in the bands set list, and the highlight of the movie “Tommy”. I recall being dragged to the cinema by my elder cousin at a young influential age. And there I sat, watching what I originally thought to be a horror movie, but in fact turned out to be one that would define a rock band globally. Oddly, I haven’t seen it since, and all I remember are 2 scenes, one is the baked beans scene, where an entire room full of baked beans comes spilling out of the TV screen. What were these guys on? And the other scene with Elton John in 3 foot boots singing Pinball Wizard. Seriously.

 

Here’s a snap shot plot of the movie: (check the stars who appeared in it!)

Tommy is a 1975 British musical film based upon The Who‘s 1969 rock opera album musical Tommy.^[4] It was directed by Ken Russell and featured a star-studded cast, including the band members themselves (most notably, lead singer Roger Daltrey plays the title role). The other cast members include Ann-Margret, Oliver Reed, Eric Clapton, Tina Turner, Elton John, and Jack Nicholson.

Ann-Margret received a Golden Globe Award for her performance, and was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Pete Townshend was also nominated for an Oscar for his work in scoring and adapting the music for the film. The film was shown at the 1975 Cannes Film Festival, but was not entered into the main competition.^[5] In 1975 the film won the award for Rock Movie of the Year in the First Annual Rock Music Awards.^[6]

The film is sung-through, with occasional sporadic and surrealist elements. The plot begins as a sun lowers behind the horizon followed by several romantic experiences between Royal Air Force Group Captain Walker (Robert Powell) and his wife, Nora (Ann-Margret), among the intimacy of nature. He has been drafted in the military and leaves Nora to fight in the war as a bomber pilot. Sometime later, Nora receives the news that her husband is missing and believed to be dead. She soon thereafter gives birth to a baby boy, Tommy. She eventually meets Frank (Oliver Reed), known to Tommy as Uncle Frank, at a holiday camp and starts a relationship with him. Tommy, still only a boy now, hopes to one day own his own holiday camp.

After Tommy is kissed good night by Nora, Captain Walker returns home and wakes him up. Tommy follows him to the master bedroom where Walker sees Nora and Frank (now Tommy’s stepfather) in each other’s arms. Tommy then watches Frank kill Walker by smashing a lamp on his head (in the original album version and later musical, however, it is Captain Walker who kills his wife’s 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 uncle on various attempts to cure him, including a religious cult that worships Marilyn Monroe (with Eric Clapton as the preacher), and the Acid Queen (Tina Turner), a prostitute dealing in LSD who sends Tommy on a wild trip that ultimately, however, fails to awaken him.

Jumping to the conclusion: Tommy attains an even greater sense of self-awareness as he faces a rising sun and a new dawn.

Quite the story, with amazing music, and quite the movie. An experience you wont forget, age and gender irrelevant. My question, how long before we see a recreation of this movie, on screen and on stage? It’s coming.

Steve