Tina Turner was on hand as the Acid Queen, with Jack Nicholson as the Specialist and Elton John as the Pinball Wizard.įriday evening, Lerner will be hosting the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 35th anniversary screening at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater, which features a new digital cinema presentation with the original Quintaphonic soundtrack. Russell favorite Oliver Reed played Tommy’s sleazy stepfather and Ann-Margret - in a performance that earned her a lead actress Oscar nomination - was Tommy’s troubled mother. All four members of the Who appeared in the film, including lead singer Roger Daltrey as Tommy, the “deaf, dumb and blind kid” who plays a mean pinball and becomes a religious icon. “I think I was the first one to film the whole of ‘Tommy’ at the Isle of Wight in 1970 for my feature ‘Listening to You: The Who at the Isle of Wight Festival.’”įive years later, iconoclastic British director Ken Russell, who was known for pushing the envelope with such controversial films as “Women in Love,” “The Music Lovers” and the X-rated “The Devils,” brought “Tommy” to the big screen. “In those days, we said ‘This is like a religious experience’ when you listened to it and saw it,” says Lerner. Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Murray Lerner (“From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China”) recalls that “Tommy” was a “mesmerizing” experience for those who saw it and felt it four decades ago. With an electrifying score by Pete Townshend including “Pinball Wizard,” “I’m Free” and “See Me, Feel Me” and transcendent performances, the Who’s seminal 1969 rock opera “Tommy” shook the foundations of the music industry.
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