Tommy (1975 film)
1975 film by Ken Russell
Tommy is a 1975 British musical fantasy drama film written, co-produced, and directed by Ken Russell, based on the Who's 1969 rock opera album about a psychosomatically deaf, mute, and blind boy who becomes a pinball champion and religious leader. The film featured an ensemble cast, including the members of the Who themselves (most notably, its lead singer, Roger Daltrey, who plays the title role), Oliver Reed, Ann-Margret, Elton John, Eric Clapton, Jack Nicholson, Robert Powell, and Tina Turner.
An independent production by Russell and Robert Stigwood, Tommy was released in the United States on 19 March 1975 by Columbia Pictures and in the United Kingdom on 26 March 1975 by Hemdale Film Corporation. The film was shown at the 1975 Cannes Film Festival, but was not entered into the main competition.
Ann-Margret received a Golden Globe Award for her performance and was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Pete Townshend was also nominated for an Oscar for his work in scoring and adapting the music for the film. In 1975, the film won the award for Rock Movie of the Year in the First Annual Rock Music Awards.
Plot
In the prologue, set in 1945, a montage displays the honeymoon of Group Captain Walker and his wife, Nora ("Prologue - 1945"). After his leave ends, Walker goes off to fight in World War II as a bomber pilot, but is shot down during a mission. "Captain Walker" is listed as missing in action and is presumed dead, although—unknown to his family—the badly burned Walker is still alive.
The public source identifies “Tommy (1975 film)” as 1975 film by Ken Russell. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Tommy, film and Russell.
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Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1419797. The first chronological checks are 1975, 1969 and 1945.
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This entry incorporates text from “Tommy (1975 film)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.