MOVIE · 1975

Tommy

DramaFantasyMusical111 min

After a traumatic childhood shock in postwar Britain leaves him psychosomatically deaf, mute, and blind, Tommy grows from a withdrawn boy into a pinball prodigy and the center of a swelling religious cult. Roger Daltrey is Tommy, while Ann-Margret's mother and Oliver Reed's volatile partner loom over the damage that shapes his life. Around him, Ken Russell fills the screen with strange healing rituals and pop spectacle, with detours through Tina Turner's Acid Queen, Elton John's Pinball Wizard, and Jack Nicholson's Specialist. Told through songs by The Who, the film folds family trauma, celebrity, and spiritual frenzy into a surreal rock-opera fever dream.