Tommy

Fans of the Who beware. Ken Russell applies his rococo outpourings to Pete Townshend's rock opera and botches not only the visuals but the fine score. With its beginnings as a 1969 album by the Who, one of rock music's most beloved and respected bands, TOMMY went on to become a stage smash in England. Then Russell, with his taste for the flamboyant and meaningless, added Ann-Margret and Oliver Reed, cast lead singer Roger Daltrey in the title role, and wasted a number of talents in useless cameos. The story, told entirely in song, centers on Tommy, a "deaf, dumb, and blind kid" who shuns the rest of the world after the death of his father. His mother, Ann-Margret, ...