“ザ・フー”の傑作ロック・オペラの映画化で、舞台での上演を想定して製作したレコードが大元。先の大戦で空軍パイロットの夫に先立たれ、ノーラは息子トミーと訪ねた夏のキャンプのガイド、フランクと再婚。が、ある夜、顔にひどい火傷を負い突如帰還した前夫に錯乱したフランクは彼を殴り倒し、それをトミーに見られてしまう……。
製作費: $5,000,000 (8億円)
興行収入: $34,300,000 (51億円)
推定収支: $29,300,000 (44億円)
※製作費・興行収入はTMDBのデータを参照しています。収支は(興行収入 - 製作費)で算出したFindKey独自の推定値であり、広告宣伝費や諸経費は含まれません (1ドル=150円換算)。
監督: Ken Russell
脚本: Ken Russell / ピート・タウンゼント / キース・ムーン
音楽: ピート・タウンゼント
制作: Christopher Stamp / Robert Stigwood / Ken Russell
撮影監督: Dick Bush / Ronnie Taylor
制作会社: Robert Stigwood Organization / Hemdale
"Tommy" (Barry Winch) is a young lad who lives an almost zombified existence with his mother "Nora" (Ann-Margret) and her second husband "Frank" (Oliver Reed). Flashback tells us that her first husband (Robert Powell) was a gallant flier during the second world war who didn't make it through, and so born on VE Day, the young baby might have been forgiven for thinking that all the flags and fanfare was for him! The kid wasn't born like this, but a trauma somewhere along the line appears to have short-circuited his brain, and so now he doesn't see, speak or hear. Despite their best efforts - and those of a few rather curious family "friends" he remains steadfastly in his own world until a pinball game. He's an ace at the thing and soon the fortunes of his family see his mother rolling around in diamonds on a white carpet or attending gala night at the opera. "Nora" gets a bit frustrated one evening with her now grown up son (Roger Daltrey) and an altercation ensues that brings him, once more, to life - and a life in which he recalls the drama that sent him silent in the first place. Mirrors are quite central to the plot here, and it's one of them that convinces "Tommy" he has an almost Messianic role in life - and so the family start to enjoy an evangelical life that would put "Elmer Gantry" to shame. Wealth, fame, acclaim - but "Tommy" still needs one more thing - fulfilment! Fat chance, here, but what Ken Russell does do is offer us a roller-coaster of a ride as the characters that touch his life range from benign to perverse. Tina Turner is great as the slightly deranged "Acid Queen" and Elton John's "Pinball Wizard" is probably the highlight of this whole rock opera that leaves no aspects of this man's life untouched. Along the way, we also takes great swipes at the sentimentality and venality of life - and Reed takes up that cudgel with a natural aplomb. The star? Well that's got to be Ann-Margret who quite literally throws herself in to part, holding a note and a dance with the best of them. I didn't love the last twenty minutes, but I suppose however this ended was never going to be entirely satisfactory and I never really appreciated Daltrey as a sex-symbol before, but as this gathers pace and he loses his shirt, it's not hard to see why he shone here - physically and metaphorically. It's eclectic, a little hedonistic and meandering at times, but none the worse for that. Turn it up and let it loose.
