Rating: 
Summary: TINA KEEPS THIS MOVIE AFLOAT.
Review: I love this movie about a blind, deaf, and mute boy who goes to a variety of people to help him get his sight, hearing, and voice back. Great performances by Elton John and Ann Margert, but the best performance of them all is Tina Turners show stopping performance of Acid Queen.
Rating: 
Summary: That deaf, dumb and blind kid sure plays a mean pinball !!
Review: Being a big WHO fan I was eagerely awaiting the release of TOMMY on DVD. I can honestly say it has been well worth the wait. The sound quality is superb,the picture sharp and the subtitles add to the viewing experience. So break out your air guitars, kick out the cat, crank up the volume and get ready to rock. This one is a must for everyone especially WHO fans new and old !!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: It's about time too!
Review: What a visiual treat this movie is. Everything is done to excess. Tommy is garish, loud and very well acted. The Baked bean scene does it for me every time.......good on ya Ann-Margret for having the balls to do it!
Rating:
Summary: Bring on the special collectors edition!
Review: The five star rating is purely for the content of this marvelous and sometimes misunderstood masterpiece from director Ken Russell. But in the U.K. right now (June 2004) they are being treated to an amazing 2 disc collectors edition DVD! The Superbit DVD with DTS sound is fantastic but we want extras!!! Please, Columbia Home Video! Let us Americans have it too!
Rating: 
Summary: Very few saving graces...
Review: The original double LP of "Tommy" by The Who blew me away! It was the first real rock album I'd ever listened to and it changed my life! When the film came out, I was one of the first in line to see it - boy, what a disappointment!! I agree, a film version of a rock and roll opera needs to be outrageous - but at what price? The music was absolutely butchered for this movie! Oliver Reed and Jack Nicholson singing? Please - pass me the earplugs! Tina Turner and Elton John stand out as the two saving graces of this movie - their performances and singing electrify! And I must credit Ann Margret for her nerve in rolling around in baked beans and chocolate (that scene is endlessly watchable). But director Ken Russell really should have preserved the integrity of the story by putting the music first - get some actors who can sing! There are a handful of scenes that work ("Cousin Kevin", "Acid Queen", "Sally Simpson", "Pinball Wizard"), but the rest should be dumped in the garbage! Anyone who has only seen this film version of 'Tommy' should buy the original rock opera to find out what an 'amazing journey' it was meant to be!
Rating:
Summary: COUSIN KEVIN IS DA BOMB!!!
Review: Why doesn't anyone mention him? This DVD is worth the price just to see that scene!!! I love everything else too but I like to watch the Cousin Kevin scene over and over again. The movie version is WAYYYY better than the dull, slow version on the album!!! Same thing goes for many of the songs. All in all, this is one of the most entertaining and enjoyable musicals of all time!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Unique, but as senseless as Tommy
Review: When I first read of Tommy, I found the premise intruiging. A "rock opera" based on music by The Who... starring Roger Daltrey? I knew that the term "cult classic" would be applicable here. And being a fan of rock music, and 60's rock/pop in particular, I knew that I had to see this film. One mediocre review in a newspaper didn't put me off: I felt the combination of The Who and 70's cinema would make for great entertainment. How wrong I was. With the opening sequences of "It's a boy", an embarrasing and awkward singing performance by a nurse, I was left with my jaw hanging open that this material was not destroyed by a later Government order. Songs often collapse into repetitiveness (I'm Free) just as they border on the great. Potential is repeatedly wasted - and at times, you can almost feel how good Tommy's music COULD have been - but alas, each song, without exception, feels both overblown and underwritten at the same time. It's a shame. Not that the movie is devoid of artistic talent - it isn't. There are visually stunning sequences everywhere. Set peices become gradually more and more impressive (the Marilyn Monroe idols, Tommy's religious land) and special effects, crude as they are, are used to music video effect - an impressive precursor to MTV. But the plot is loose, very loose - and scattered. Tommy's plight, his childhood trauma, and the theme of religious exploit all earn marks for originality, and maturity. But there really is very little continuity going on - and though the theme of Tommy's degredation becomes quite dark, his exploitation becomes repetitive. And tiresome. That said, the film's most energetic peak, "Pinball Wizard", is a colourful, memorable and bizzare game of pinball featuring Tommy and Elton John playing head to head before a theatre audience. Even the music shows flashes of inspiration. Without a doubt a proud climax for any film. But at the end of it all, Tommy cannot be saved by a single scene, and with a plot so light and music so abominably poor (sorry, but it is), the film is rightly one of the smaller cult classics. The imagrey is good, but in the end, it all seems rather pretentious. Perhaps it needs to be, to fill the huge, gaping holes in the story. Yes, I "get" the film, and no, this is not the first musical or rock movie I have seen. Tommy displays both maturity and style at times - but neither are ever subtle, and that is the film's downfall. Only through the rose-tinted view of a fanatic could Ann Margret wallowing in baked beans ever be worth watching. Yes, I know that this is slander, and 0 of 37 people will find this review helpful as a result, but I can't help my honest opinion. It has Elton John. In 10ft platforms. But this alone is Tommy's entry into rock history.
Rating:
Summary: A splendid copy of a so-so movie
Review: Musician-for-musician, I think the Who was the greatest band in the history of rock and roll. I can't think of a better guitar player/writer than Pete Townshend, Roger Daltry is unbeatable as a lead singer, John Entwhistle was absolutely without peer as a bass player and Keith Moon's wacko explosive drumming style made everyone else sound uptight.
That said, I never much cared for Tommy.
God knows, I tried. I saw it in a high-end theater when it came out in 1975, but I walked out feeling less than enthusiastic. Why? The story is just a stone downer, even if Tommy does achieve transcendence in the end.
Granted, it has its moments: Ann-Margret in her skin-tight white jumpsuit writhing in a soup of baked beans and chocolate syrup; Tina Turner at the height of her voluptuousness; Jack Nicholson being, well, Jack Nicholson.
But Cousin Kevin and Uncle Ernie and the smarmy greasiness of Oliver Reed (who drank himself to death in 1999) still make me want to turn away.
The movie is eye candy of the highest order, the music is classic Who, but the story is just plain ugly.
From a technical standpoint, however, the video and audio on the new Superbit special edition are fabulous. The wonks at Sony have given us a surround sound experience far superior to what we geezers got in the best of theaters 30 years ago.
If you have a home theater/surround sound setup and like Tommy, this DVD is a must-have. It'll blow your mind.
As far as I'm concerned, I'd much rather have a similarly tweaked Superbit version of Quadrophenia.
Rating:
Summary: Good movie - Great soundtrack
Review: One of the few movies that I watch over and over again without even for a moment feeling bored. What the movie lacks in cinematics it more than makes up for it in the soundtrack. Excellent renditions of Acid Queen by Tina Turner and Pinnball Wizard by Elton John (the first time I have actually liked any music from him). Jack Nicholson doesnt do too badly on There's a Doctor either.
Rating:
Summary: What The...?
Review: Okay, a kid witnesses his step father kill his father and goes "deaf, dumb and blind", makes his family rich by playing pinball, wakes up and tries to enlighten the world by telling everyone to play pinball "deaf, dumb and blind", at which point they revolte and kill his family and he goes and climbs a mountain. Huh???
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