Im not going to rant about how stupid this movie was, as the title may suggest, but man, it was stupid. I saw it on flix a few weeks ago at a friends house, and man, it was so bad. We couldnt stop laughing at its immense stupidity and lack of anything that made actual sense. It was stupid but man was it funny. Unfortunately, we watched it a second time and the laughs went away. It went from stupid funny to just stupid. It was like "Dude wheres my car?" in the sense that it only works the first time around, and after that it just like "what?"
Too young? no way! Well, maybe I did miss the Tommy boat by like 31 years, but I like the who, and I like the song "pinball wizard", but not this movie for being so... Stupid. You gotta admit, by todays standards its completely nutball.
Apparently you must not be a very big fan if your favorite song by them is Pinball Wizard. My apologies if you actually DO know more of their songs than just that one, Baba O'Riley, and Won't Get Fooled Again...
My advice: When you watch a movie, don't think of it by "today's standards". Sure, the effects weren't great and even a little gimmicky, but it's THE WHO. Tommy was a largely metaphorical rock opera, and when it was made as a film a lot of the ambiguities had to be made into specifics. Yet Ken Russell still managed to make a lot of it symbolic and open to interpretation, and for that he is brilliant. Don't put it down just because it's different. If you're a true Who fan you would probably find the movie at least somewhat good. It's the music that moves it along--and when it's the music of the Who, it's going to rock.
You dont have to watch this by today's standards. I'm a person who enjoys movies from every era, and I like bad special effects over new good ones, and this is a dumb movie.
How can you compare this movie to "Dude wheres my car?" thats nonesence... Im sure that you dont know anything of opera, metaphores, or even the art of music, this is a really piece of art, talking about pop culture, not todays culture thats for sure, use a little criteria before posting...
Meaning? Sure. It's about the need for human contact (if you didn't get that from "See me. Feel me."). It's about coming to grips with a shocking tragedy and overcoming psychological trauma. It's also kind of an oblique potshot at organized religion and people's tendency to glean "spiritual truths" from unusual circumstances.
Sorry you feel that way about Dali and Picasso though, and apparently your art teacher was in art because they sure couldn't do math if they were into "120%."
Besides, if you do your research, you may find that "lemmings" is hardly an appropriate epithet.
Meaning? Sure. It's about the need for human contact (if you didn't get that from "See me. Feel me."). It's about coming to grips with a shocking tragedy and overcoming psychological trauma. It's also kind of an oblique potshot at organized religion and people's tendency to glean "spiritual truths" from unusual circumstances.
Sorry you feel that way about Dali and Picasso though by - w1ldcard on Thu May 24 2007 09:05:24 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yeah, there's Dali, Picasso and... Ken Russell? Oy vey - this movie sucks at least as much as your half-hearted effort to defend it.
Even by your own (goofy) terms, surely youve considered there are movies that acheive thoses things without being this obnoxious, excessive, tiresome, profoundly unsubtle and convoluted. There are twenty scenes in Tommy that should emabarass any viewer. Tommy hang-gliding? ugh! Pinball is redemptive? Tommy running in front of a *beep* rear screen projection?
lol lol lol I just saw this for the first time and it pissed me off sooooo much. The perspective required in order to think something like "Tommy" is good is the *beep* same thing that causes 'Dark Side of the Moon' to be the like, best selling album ever lol *beep* knuckleheads. Hippies and such who think lyrics have anything to do with music. They are just the good or bad icing on the cake.
Well, why not? Attaining spiritual enlightenment by playing pinball while wearing a blindfold, earplugs, and a cork in your mouth -- sounds like a typical California religious cult!
All the universe . . . or nothingness. Which shall it be, Passworthy? Which shall it be?
Example metaphor 1: "The Acid Queen." When Tina Turner becomes the iron maiden thing, it's probably a metaphorical version of sex.
Ex metaphor 2: Rising sun. Tommy, a physically imperfect human being, has the power to lift the sun.
Ex metaphor 3: TV overflow. Mother writhes around in products recently advertised on TV to escape her son's calls for help. A metaphor for the encroaching nature of commercialism. The scene evolves into a statement on purity when she discovers a white flower in the ruined, bean-stained room.
Those are just a few examples. This is one of my all-time favorite movies, but in actuality the metaphors were better in the original album (my favorite album). This film is a representative of the "Hair" era, and as such, it can't be easily explained in today's marketplace, but the metaphors do have explanations. It's a movie that requires you to think, not just to sit there and stare.
Sickness will surely take the mime where mimes can't usually go.
you keep saying its stupid but you dont defend your opinion...you are the stupid one.....and i can most certainly say why: you obviously didnt like this film, because its not your taste and you dont crap about movies, since the only other movie you could think of was Dude, wheres my car? says alot about you...and how was tommy stupid, in any way, and i dont see what you found funny about it.
"Gort! Klaatu! Barada! Nikto!"--The Day the Earth Stood Still
I first saw the movie when I was like 8, even I got it then. I've seen it about a dozen times since because it's just a damn great movie. Open your mind.
Right, I saw the film in the 70s, and bought the VHS and DVD, seen it dozens of times and each time catch more of the art that's thrown out there to dazzle us. The first time I was puzzled by the chorus girls in gas masks in London during the blitz - but eventually I got it. They were performing when the air raid sounded. No symbols there, just odd scenes during wartime. Anybody that wasn't amused by facially scarred Sally's marriage to a rock musician from California is brain dead.
The symbolism is laid on thick and beautifully the same way Van Gogh laid paints on canvas. Ken Russell was a genius, an artist in film making.
I first saw this movie in 1975 when I was 5 years old and was forced into repeated exposure by my 'Who fanatical' babysitters. I pulled significant meaning out of the film and it had a profound affect on my very young mind. It is a classic and brilliant piece of creative art interpreting the world around us through different mediums. Even at 5 years old I understood this! I clearly remember how I felt the intense feelings and disconnection... the trauma and confusing adult world imposing itself on Tommy...who was, after all, just a child when everything was shut out! Open your mind...have the eyes of an innocent child...and FEEL!!!!!!
I was also about 8 years old when I first saw this movie on the old school black Showtime Cable box. I got the whole thing, And loved it. I have seen this movie over and over again and it never gets dull. I just watched it 2 weeks ago again. This is a musical you will never forget. Recommend to all who love The Who and love musicals
Yes you are too young to really get this flick...No insult intended, there are movies, that I am to young, or too old to get also...You would have had to have been there to REALLY get it....It was so filled with great stars, and music...It was my movie....I saw it when it came out, and waited in line to see it again..God it was SO AWESOME, it was like my generations movie.....Man, I went out and got the soundtrack right away.....I was the biggest freaking Who fan ever......This movie taught lessons that I have carried with me to this day....The part where his father is shot down was incredible, and the part with England celebrating the end of the war was right on...The whole movie was just so over the top............
Im not going to rant about how stupid this movie was, as the title may suggest, but man, it was stupid. I saw it on flix a few weeks ago at a friends house, and man, it was so bad. We couldnt stop laughing at its immense stupidity and lack of anything that made actual sense. It was stupid but man was it funny. Unfortunately, we watched it a second time and the laughs went away. It went from stupid funny to just stupid. It was like "Dude wheres my car?" in the sense that it only works the first time around, and after that it just like "what?"
You just don't get it - fine, don't watch it again.
Better to regret something you did, than something you didn't do!
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Okay, so it IS off-beat, but thats half the fun. I enjoy The Who's music. Love most of their hits like My Generation, Magic Bus, Mamma's Got A Squeaze Box, You Better You Bet, Who Are You? and the entire Who's Next album...Wouldnt call myself a massive fan of the band, but this movie has such a driving soundtrack and brilliant visuals and a story that can be easily interpreted to make out of it what you wish.
in a way this movie is psychadelic (look at the time this movie came out and where the band was and the era in general), and if you pay attention to the lyrics while the movie is going, alot of it does make sense, and is very metaphoric. the whole album tells the story just like it's suppose to...aka a rock "opera". you say you like their music then it shouldn't be that hard to understand what's going on ;)
I was not such a fan of this movie either. And don't throw the "You are not the right age" argument at me, I loved this album. In fact, I thought that was the problem. The movie takes several extra absurdisms more than the album did, for no particular meaning (seriously, a hang glider?) If you want a good Who movie, Id go to Quadrophenia, not this.
I love this movie! It's got a great campy feel to it that really captured the times it was made in. I can see though how it would be a movie where if you don't 'get it', then you never will.
it might be stupid, story and effects wise, but for me, the movie wasn't about the story and effects, it was about the music, and man did they hit it with the music. Amazing singers and guitarists in almost every scene, that is what makes Tommy a great movie. Not its 1970's effects, not its nutball story, but its music.
it might be stupid, story and effects wise, but for me, the movie wasn't about the story and effects, it was about the music, and man did they hit it with the music.
Good point, it really shouldn't be viewed as a mere movie but a music experience. The music was phenomenal. The story aspect was more of a by-product to me. It still resonates within me...that music.
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The lack of dialogue, and even the lack of more explanation through lyrics, frankly confused the hell out of me.
I think it was meant to be that way, kind of more like a 'trip' than anything you could make a whole lot of sense out of. I mean, look at just the 'story' itself, a kid robbed of all five senses becoming a pinball hero. That alone tells you this isn't going to be a story with any semblance of reality intact but that's the key to finding enjoyment in this movie, you have to really let your mind let go of any expectations or rigid ideas. I don't mean this rudely, I know what your post meant exactly, it would be bewildering to see it the first time!
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You start out by saying "Don't say I was too young to "get" it, because I got it"...then you off about how it didn't make sense to you, you didn't understand what was happening, and you didn't even FINISH it.
For those of you who don't really think the movie had a logical flow to it, I grabbed this off of wiki since it much more concisely explains it thank I could.
Spoiler's below!
Story - in chronological order
* "Overture"/"It's a Boy" - British Army Captain Walker is reported missing in action during World War I, and is not expected ever to be seen again. Shortly after his wife, Mrs. Walker, receives this news, she gives birth to their son, Tommy. * "1921" - Seven years later, Captain Walker returns home and discovers that his wife has found a new lover. An enraged Captain Walker confronts his wife and kills her new lover. To cover up the crime, Tommy's mother and father tell him he didn't see it, didn't hear it, and he will never say "nothing to no one ever in your life". A traumatized Tommy takes this literally, becoming deaf, dumb, and blind. * "Amazing Journey"/"Sparks" - Tommy's subconscious reveals itself to him as a tall stranger dressed in silvery robes with a golden floor-length beard, and the vision sets him on an internal spiritual journey upon which he learns to interpret all physical sensations as music. * "Eyesight to the Blind (The Hawker)" - Tommy's parents take him to a the church of a cult religion to try and cure him. "Eyesight..." is the cult leader's song. * "Christmas" - Tommy's parents worry that his soul is at risk of damnation, since he is unaware of Jesus or prayer. * "Cousin Kevin" - Tommy's parents become complacent and leave him in the care of a babysitter, his cousin Kevin. Kevin takes the opportunity to bully and torture Tommy without fear of anyone finding out. He ultimately gets bored with Tommy's limited reactions. * "Acid Queen"/"Underture" - Tommy's parents once again try to cure him, this time by placing him in the care of a woman who tries to coax Tommy into full consciousness with hallucinogenic drugs. "Underture" is an extensive instrumental representing Tommy's experience on acid. * "Do You Think it's Alright?"/"Fiddle About" - Tommy is left in the care of his uncle Ernie, an alcoholic sexual deviant who takes the opportunity to abuse Tommy without fear of anyone finding out. * "Pinball Wizard" - Tommy is discovered to have a talent for pinball, and quickly defeats the game's tournament champion. This propels Tommy to international celebrity status. "Pinball Wizard" is the reigning champion's song. * "There's a Doctor"/"Go to the Mirror!" - Tommy's parents find a medical specialist to once more try to understand and cure his symptoms. After numerous tests, they are told that there is nothing medically wrong with him, and that his problems are psychosomatic. However, as they are trying to reach him, Tommy's subconscious is also trying to reach out to them. * "Tommy Can You Hear Me?"/"Smash the Mirror" - Tommy's mother continues to try to reach him, and becomes frustrated that he completely ignores her whilst staring directly at a mirror. Out of this frustration she smashes the mirror. * "Sensation"/"Miracle Cure" - The smashing of the mirror snaps Tommy out of his unreceptive state. Tommy's cure becomes a public sensation and he attains guru-like status. Thereafter he assumes a quasi-messianic mantle and tries to lead his fans to an enlightenment similar to his own. * "Sally Simpson" - One of Tommy's 'disciples', Sally is a young reverend's daughter who sneaks out of her home to attend one of Tommy's sermons. She ultimately attempts to touch him, only to be thrown from the stage by security and receive a gash on her face. * "I'm Free" - Tommy attempts to spiritually enlighten those that are listening to his sermons. * "Welcome"/"Tommy's Holiday Camp" - Tommy opens his own home to anyone willing to join him, and urges them to bring as many people with them as they can. His house is quickly filled though, so he builds a holiday camp to try to accommodate everybody. * "We're Not Gonna Take It" - Tommy demands that his followers blind, deafen and mute themselves in order to truly reach their spiritual height, but the heavy-handedness of his cult and the exploitation of its followers by his family and associates cause his followers to revolt against him. Abandoned by his followers and worshipers, Tommy gains a new enlightenment.
OR
* "We're Not Gonna Take It" could be a metaphoric representation of people "not taking" such rigid, religious and capitalistic, views that society forces upon us. The people agree with Tommy's philosophy that we should put in our ear plugs and put on our nightshades when society attempts to train us in such ways. We should thus, ultimately, follow our own insight, as Tommy did/does throughout this story. Therefore, the people see that "looking at you" (looking at Tommy) they see the "music" (they see/understand the beauty of it all). They see that enlightenment stems from within yourself, and often not from what you have been taught is true.
That synopsis taken from wiki is NOT in chronological order, nor does it have accurate information. It says Captain Walker killed the mother's new lover for pities sake!!! and...
* "Amazing Journey"/"Sparks" - Tommy's subconscious reveals itself to him as a tall stranger dressed in silvery robes with a golden floor-length beard, and the vision sets him on an internal spiritual journey upon which he learns to interpret all physical sensations as music.
"floor-length beard"??? are you sure? really? plus, this segment (Sparks) was after Fiddle About! Worst chronological order I've ever seen!
I would put it to you that the quoted entry from wiki is concerned with the original concept album, not the film.
The following quote is also from wiki, this time from an entry about the actual movie.
In the album, Captain Walker returns to find his wife with a new lover and proceeds to murder the lover. In the film it is flipped around; the lover kills Captain Walker. This is perhaps (though not necessarily) the cause for a different treatment of the title character. In the film, Tommy's fame as pinball champion is exploited by his mother and Hobbs, who use it to give themselves a much more lavish lifestyle. Unlike other films of rock operas (such as Pink Floyd's The Wall) the album is never dubbed over the film; the different actors sing the songs instead of The Who. Because of this, all the songs are rerecorded and some shuffled around. A large number of songs have new lyrics and instrumentation. Notably: "The Amazing Journey" has almost completely different lyrics, and the "guide" from the album is shown as being Tommy's murdered father. Pinball Wizard has a few extra lyrics. References to pinball are removed from "Christmas". Several new songs were written, including "Prologue 1945", "Bernie's Holiday Camp", "Champagne", "Mother and Son", and "T.V. Studio"* "Underture" is not present; Only a few brief segments of "Overture" can be heard.
========== Unlike other films of rock operas (such as Pink Floyd's The Wall) the album is never dubbed over the film; the different actors sing the songs instead of The Who. ==========
I beg to differ... I'm going to guess "Ma'am" by your Screen name (don't be offended if I'm wrong :)) but Sally Simpson is dubbed over the action.. except when Tommy is on stage that is.
BTW.. I love Tommy.. for whatever reasons.. but in any serious evaluation, the wall destroys this film and leaves it as a smoking ember on the altar of 70's wierdness. But that's just my considered opinion.
Yeah, I have to agree. I grew up listening to the Tommy original album...it was great. The movie is clearly one that you can only be on acid to enjoy. I haven't seen the stage play, but I heard it was pretty good....
You are aware that there is more than one word for "stupid," yes? Clearly, you've no taste in real art. Russell is a genius. If you can't appreciate that, please refrain from spewing your own share of 'stupidity' with those who have a greater attention span.
I think that Anita might have put it best when she said this quote in Almost Famous
"Listen to Tommy with a candle burning and you will see your entire future..."
I honestly think that the whole thing goes way beyond the movie. For me to understand it I had to look inside myself and I still did not fully understand it and more than likely never will. The same way I know I will never fully understand life.