Tommy (Superbit, 1975)
Review by HTQ4
Film:
DVD:

Written and Directed by Ken Russell, based on the rock opera by Pete Townshend
Starring Ann-Margret, Oliver Reed, Roger Daltrey, Elton John, Eric Clapton, John Entwhistle, Keith Moon, Paul Nicholas, Jack Nicholson, Robert Powell, Pete Townshend and Tina Turner

Released by: Columbia-Tristar
Rating: PG
Region: 1
Anamorphic: Yes.

My Advice: Own it.

Tommy Walker (Daltrey) has lead a pretty mixed up life. For starters, he thought his father (Powell) was killed in the war, but he wasn't. When his father finally returned home, he found Tommy's mother (Ann-Margret) in bed with her new husband (Reed). The fight ensued, and Tommy watched the whole affair of his stepfather killing his father. His mother and stepfather panic and tell the young Tommy that he didn't see or hear anything and that nothing ever happend. The poor traumatized Tommy is striken deaf, dumb, and blind by the repressions forced on him by his parents. His parents try everything in the world they can to cure him of his ails, but nothing works...until Tommy discovers the wonders of the pinball machine.

This is an amazingly visual telling of The Who's rock opera, which seems to be a dead artform. If you try to count the Broadway musical Rent as a rock opera, you should be slapped. Why is it that rock bands don't try to make rock operas anymore? Ah well.

The cast is wonderful. Reed is the perfect slimy bastard of a stepfather to Daltrey's Tommy. Ann-Margret pours out just enough of the grief stricken widow to pull off the fact that she would jump from war hero to slimy bastard in her choice of husband. And the supporting cast, including all the rock stars, are just as perfectly placed. I mean, who can argue with watching Tina Turner have a go at pumping Daltrey full of halucinogens as the Acid Queen? There are few performers that are quite her caliber anymore.

This is a Superbit release, which means you can't give it too much in the way of a tweak on the nose for having no features--for a lot of these discs, that's Broken As Designed. What you get in place of that content is audio and video transferred at a high bit rate so that it benefits the owners of uber-home theatre systems. So for what the disc is designed for, it works: the video is as crisp and clear as you could hope for, and the audio--especially since this is, as mentioned, a rock opera--is pretty stunning.

They do have some Superbit Deluxe releases out there, that basically consist of a Superbit first disc and a second disc that comprises the normal bonus features you would get on a regular special edition's second disc--but that would presume that you had a second disc for this release to pull from. Unfortunately, you don't. Which is a shame, since the relatively recent death of John Entwhistle really made me yearn for a commentary track, or at least some interviews, with The Who and/or some of the cast members. Any kind of bonus material would have been fantastic.

Look, it's Tommy, so you kinda have to own it, right? Not having it in your collection is like not having The Wall in your collection. And that's just inexcusable.