Tommy the film 1975

Tommy the film 1975
I know this isn’t a gig, but hey I’ve got a programme for it (pictured) and its The Who, so I just couldn’t let it pass without writing something about it.
In 1975 The Who featured in 1975 musical film based upon their 1969 rock opera album “Tommy”. The movie was directed by Ken Russell and featured a star-studded cast, including members of the Who themselves (Roger Daltrey plays the title role). Other cast members include Ann-Margret, Oliver Reed, Eric Clapton, Tina Turner, Elton John, Arthur Brown and Jack Nicholson. We all trooped off to the cinema to see the film, and pretty good fun it was too. It also held particular local interest in the north east as it features The Black Angels, the local hells angels chapter, who play a group of hell angels in the movie. It is very OTT, silly, and outrageous; but then what else could you expect when you consider that this was Ken Russell, The Who and “Tommy”. 🙂
“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. Ken Russell is a film maker (Women in Love, The Devils) who glories in the kind of heightened visual absurdity that Tommy both invites and requires.” (Time magazine).
Townshend, speaking to Rolling Stone on the Tommy concept in 1969: “Tommy’s real self represents the aim – God – and the illusory self is the teacher; life, the way, the path and all this. The coming together of these are what make him aware. They make him see and hear and speak so he becomes a saint who everybody flocks to. The boy’s life starts to represent the whole nature of humanity – we all have this self-imposed deaf, dumb and blindness – but this isn’t something I’m over heavy on”