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Turbulent Brilliance - 019 - EXCEPTION - Tommy (70s Spectacular - 1975) (Patreon)

Published:
2024-05-18 07:00:04
Imported:
2026-06
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At long last, the Exception episode for May is here! (Welcome, newcomer Garys!) And it's also the 70s Spectacular moving right along to 1975 with Ken Russell's The Who's TOMMY! We talk about Ann-Margaret's wild Oscar nominated performance, our differing opinions on the film's ability to conjure an episodic concept-album vision, Russell's career, and the legendary all-killer-no-filler Best Picture lineup.

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Comments

Chas

Perfect timing as I’m seeing the Tommy musical this weekend! Can’t wait to listen

Matthew

Speaking of film that should have been nominated for the big 5, I’ll throw in Lost In Translation.

Frank Ritz

When you said the final name of the game, I literally put my hands to my face in pure shock. I hadn’t thought of it either! Insane ending!

Stephanie Radcliffe

I had one of my most disturbing theatre experiences watching the Tommy musical. An extra broke a glass on stage so the show had to pause to clean it up. The moment they chose to close the curtains? Midway through the "Fiddle About"!

Keegon

🗣️FRIJOLES🇫🇷

Robert Anton

I appreciate that this series is doing episodes on Ken Russell and Nicolas Roeg. I hope this can help get it into my thick skull that they’re in fact two different filmmakers (who just happen to have connections to 70’s British rock, avant garde editing, sexual frankness, and Theresa Russell)

Benji Black

Fanny Brice had a third husband (played by James Caan) that they base Funny Lady on, but the whole thing in that movie is that she is not over Omar Sharif so he returns as well. It is mostly unnecessary except that Kander and Ebb did a bunch of original songs that are great including How Lucky Can You Get and Isn't This Better.

Rob Watson

Loving this Amanda Donohoe deep dive.

Elliott Sainsbury

I HATE Tommy, but somehow I've seen it about three times? I'm glad it exists as a nightmarish cultural object but... oof. I've never made it through the whole movie but the Gypsy Acid Queen scene, TV beans, Fiddle About and the terrifying Pinball Wizard section sort of tick all my grand guignol trigger boxes. As a British person I hate baked beans too - they're fully disgusting. And as soon as Joe said Tenet I made the hand sign too!! Tenet queens just know.

Jessy Wheeler

The movie is so abstract that I had no idea Oliver Reed killed the husband until I was reading the IMDB trivia page later. Fun fact: the guy playing Tommy on Broadway right now is from my tiny hometown, and his mom went to school with my aunt.

John Ananias

A favorite teacher of mine in film school wrote CRIMES OF PASSION, and indeed it is quite a time. One of the things I loved about/around it is that, AGES before I saw it, I'd first heard of it by way of a "Plug Away with Harvey Fierstein" sketch from an SNL that Kathleen Turner hosted.

HelenB

Congrats to Chris on his filmographies win 🎊

Enrique Gomez

I was on a 3 hour road trip listening to this episode and towards the end I was screaming two titles in the car. One came up very late, the other was the piece de resistance to close. That was the most fun episode close you’ve ever had.

Rebecca

I think someone at TCM is a Gary. All of a sudden Tommy appeared on the schedule for this morning.

Sarah Lang

Is there where I share my La Jolla Playhouse original production of Tommy w/Alice Ripley stories? The Jeff Mays stories are also La Jolla Playhouse. It was a…time.

Jennifer (Madame) Webb

This is such nerd behavior, but I had to go back and compare Chris and Joe’s rankings of the best picture nominees to the Screen Drafts ranking Clay and Ryan did on Patreon. They ended up with Barry Lyndon at the bottom, followed by Jaws, Cuckoo’s Nest, Dog Day Afternoon, and Nashville at number 1.

Jennifer (Madame) Webb

This episode had so much. The Drag Race “it’s chocolate” sound. Joe saying “Cry, you slut.” The ending!

Beatriz Izumino

Joe, get a pothos! They'll survive anything, anywhere, anyone

Sean O'Neil

Thoughts: I saw The Hindenburg at the cinema. We went as a family. (The only films we saw as a family were disaster films; Poseidon, Inferno and this.) Gawd, it was BO-RING. I just remember George C. Scott somersaulting through the air when it exploded. Prior to that, I was mostly interested in the hospitality on board a zeppelin. Glad to hear a link between Poor Things and Ken Russell, even if it is just “baked beans performances.” I always thought Poor Things seemed influenced by the cinema of Ken Russell. Were it not for the drinking, Oliver Reed would be husband material. SPOILER ALERT: When we watched Oliver! at school in the 7th grade and he killed Nancy, I saw possibilities, I was like, “So he’s available now…? He’s back on the market?” Watch his 1st starring role in the British film The System (aka The Girl Getters) from 1964 on YouTube. Takes place at a seaside resort. He’s so good, just swaggers through the whole thing. (It’s a film about class and what the British did on holidays before low-cost airlines allowed them to terrorise Europe.) Oliver Reed was ex-military, before he became an actor. For someone with no acting training, he wasn’t shy. The Day of the Locust is worth seeing. Proof that it was a different time. Hard to know why some of these films were made in the ‘70s - it certainly wasn’t to make money. Pacing is a bit slow but a must for fans of Karen Black. Also, Karen Black and Oliver Reed in Burnt Offerings. Now that’s casting. Joe not rating the great Barbara Harris in Nashville is criminal, maybe more than a misdemeanour. Russell wanted Streisand to play SARAH Bernhardt. Theme from Mahogany was HUGE, even more so because I grew up in Detroit. But it didn’t fuel box office for the film which was a turkey, thought to be a complete bore. Diana Ross did sing it on the broadcast via satellite live from Amsterdam, strolling the canals, which was exciting. And Tommy was before MTV, before music videos, before any of that so it was groundbreaking and incredibly unique at the time. My mother wouldn’t let me see it but I had the soundtrack. (She was advised by an older cousin it wasn’t for children.) Also, Jesus Christ Superstar, Tommy, Saturday Night Fever and Grease were all produced by Robert Stigwood. But Tommy was very much something new, it stood apart; what you refer to as vignettes are arguably early music videos. Russell could almost be credited with inventing the form. I think the Best Actress nomination resulted in this eventually being seen as a further departure for Ann-Margret, a bit of a risk. Also, whatever narrative there is in the film is pretty much threaded through her character, more so than in the stage adaptation. There is a song for the baked beans sequence. It’s called Champagne and she sings, “Today it rained champagne…a son was born again…” Her grief and guilt over her son’s condition personalises Russell’s critique of capitalism and material wealth. When reviewing the nominees that year, they often showed her performance of Smash The Mirror. But it is definitely one of the strangest BA nominations ever, I think also an indication of how well-liked and admired she was and remains within the industry. In the ensuing years, she would go on to huge critical acclaim for her performance as Blanche DuBois in a television production of Streetcar opposite the aptly named Treat Williams and the HUGE ratings hit tv movie classic, Who Will Love My Children. Also, you guys have done an OUTSTANDING job with this mini-series. As one of your avid listeners, I truly feel spoiled this month listening to all this content. Thank you, as always, and well done. 😊

Jenny Maurer

Ftr my favorite who albums are The Who sell out and quadrophenia so

Adam Cook

Late to the conversation on this one, but my vote for worst voice in a musical movie is definitely Gerard Butler in Phantom.