The Who's Tommy: the Amazing Journey

Boy, it's hard to take good notes when you're busy playing air guitar and screaming--to the general displeasure of the rest of the family--"Tommy, can you hear me!" It took me 15 minutes to get a major 70s flashback out of my system, but then I was ready to examine this paean to The Who's classic rock opera "Tommy"--now a Broadway Opera--with the cold, critical eye of objective journalism. And what I saw was reasonably enjoyable for a profile film that basically serves as hype for the stage production. The surviving members of The Who (Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend, and John Entwhistle) recall the genesis of "Tommy," a concept album which follows the story of a traumatized boy who becomes a pinball champion and media magnet, while viewers are regaled with generous clips of the supergroup in concert, and scenes from the lavish Broadway staging. And, while Townshend's ballsy sneering 70s persona has given way to the inevitable rewriting of personal history that comes with age (his speculations about the deeper meaning of "Tommy" seem a bit much), the whole ride is still admittedly fun for the baby boomer crowd. I especially liked the clips from Ken Russell's film Tommy; what struck me 20 years ago as cheap symbolic claptrap edited with a chainsaw, I now realize presaged the future of MTV. Recommended. (R. Pitman)