TOMMY should have had all of the actors lip-synching to The Who's original album. Some of the best songs are simply ruined - what key is Nicholson even singing in? It's so flat he can barely sing it in key! The "added verses" are NOT an improvement to one single song. Why did Russell ruin a great album of great music?
Elton ruined Pinball Wizard, and anyone who really loves the song will admit that. I'd be breaking up instruments too, if I were Townshend!
Ann-Margaret's dancing was embarrassing throughout. Academy nomination for her, but they never awarded an Oscar to Hitchcock for Best Director, even once? So much for the value of that coveted award. Hitchcock changed film, forever.
You seriously think this film deserves a higher rating? Would anyone other than Russell have chosen a "teenaged Frankenstein" to represent Sally Simpson's future husband? It's almost as if Russell was aiming to piss-off the rabid Who fans, THE FILM'S AUDIENCE (I might add) with all of these silly touches.
Bad sets, cheap looking sets. Only the Acid Queen iron maiden really becomes a new, and interesting prop. The rest is beyond parody, especially the "Tommy crosses" with silver pinballs stuck on top. Notice how many of the later sets look like a bad high school play? They couldn't even get the giant "T's" aligned symmetrically, on the wall! How much money went into this?
Bad. Bad. Bad. Bad. Bad. Then it gets even worse with Margaret getting off on a giant phallic pillow covered in glop. Metaphor. More like the s**t she was metaphorically swimming in.
At least The Wall had Gerald Scarfe's brilliant animation sequences. TOMMY could have used some high art...and got none.
Maybe Russell learned something from the whole debacle, because Altered States really does have some great sequences that TOMMY really deserved.
A true embarrassment of 70s cinema. I'll always wonder what Lucas could have done that would have been much better, even with Star Wars - era technology. It's almost as if Russell felt he could create a better film than A Clockwork Orange was, for shocking, innovative visuals.
He couldn't.
The Kubrick film IS far superior, in every way.
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sgcim
11 years ago
Although it was my favorite album when I was a kid, and I got to see the Who perform it live for the first time in the US at the Fillmore East right after it came out, I have to go on record that Ken Russell really made a mess out of this.
I truly believe that when you die, and they decide if you're going to get into heaven, they will want some record of where you stood on this film...; - )
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