Phantom Of The Paradise (1974)/Tommy (1975)

Sometime in the late 60s (1969 to be exact) Pete Townshend created a genre called “rock opera.” Now, some think that this was generally a mistake. And maybe they’re right. After all, it seems that Pete was about the only one who could really make it work and even he has a problem with it now. But up until 1980 the genre thrived. It wasn’t until 1973 that it flew over to the screen with Jesus Christ Superstar, a show that, depending on the amount of taste you have, is either one of the greatest musicals ever or one of the most pretentious pieces of crap ever made. Personally, I have no taste, so I kinda like it.

But the next year was when things really got started. Brian DePalma brought us his vision of what the rock opera really should be. He took the basic story of The Phantom Of The Opera and twisted it to fit the times. Now the Phantom is a pop song writer named Winslow Leach (William Finley from a bunch of DePalma’s early films) who was disfigured and imprisoned by uber-producer Swan (Paul Williams who is short in stature, but long in annoyance). Swan, you see, will do anything for a hit and he stole Leach’s rock opera and is using it to make his own stars.

Now Leach has to use his anger and the girl he loves Phoenix (Jessica Harper from Suspiria and My Favorite Year) to get his revenge on Swan and somehow make Phoenix love him again. Not easy since Phoenix has become an “I’ll do anything” variety of fame-seekers.

Round the cast off with an evil henchman who is just doing his job (George Memmoli from Mean Streets and New York, New York), an enthusiastic and very gay Alice Cooper-like lead singer named Beef (Gerrit Graham from The Man With One Red Shoe and “The Critic”) and a Faustian subplot involving Swan and Leach and you get the idea of what this movie is like. Over the top and very strange. By today’s standards it’s pretty cheesy (Phoenix does a lot of dancing during her audition for a pissed off girl) and the music is actually pretty damn bad, but blame Paul Williams for that. The only good thing he ever did was write the music for The Muppet Movie and Muppet Christmas Carol. (Surprisingly, the music from this flick was nominated for an Oscar. Must have been a pretty slow year.)

But, if you can put yourself in 1974 (or even see it as the cheesy fun that it is) it’s a pretty damn funny movie. Kind of horrific at times, too.

If you’re a fan of the genre or of DePalma’s it’s definitely worth seeking out. Good time capsule of a time when groups with names like The Juicy Fruits were actually seen as a threat to pop sensibilities.

(Of course with groups like N’Stync and The Backdoor Boys topping the charts these days it looks like the Swans of the world are winning.)

Watch for a few times when you can actually see what Swan’s Death Records was originally called. They superimposed a lot of the logos over the old ones so that Led Zeppelin wouldn’t sue them for using the Swan Song label. (I like Swan Song better than Death. As obvious as it is, it’s at least a little bit clever.)

The next year the world was finally treated to a movie version of the opera that started it all. Ken Russell released his version of Tommy.

Now, the album is one of the greatest rock albums of all time. (Although The Who were able to top themselves the next year with Who’s Next, but that’s a different story.) It tells the story of young Tommy Walker, a boy who witnessed his mother and father murder the mother’s lover. After telling him that he didn’t see or hear anything and wouldn’t tell anyone about it, he closed up inside himself and couldn’t see, hear or speak for years. His parents try everything to get him to open up, but nothing works. He just keeps looking at himself in the mirror and playing pinball. When he finally is released he sees himself as a new messiah and tries to start helping everyone see what he sees. His family, of course, sees it as a way to make money.

The music is full of loneliness, pain, innocence and loss of innocence. As personal as the Tommy’s journey seems to be (I’m fairly certain that most people have never seen their parents kill someone and been pinball wizards) the story is also universal. It’s basically the ride that everyone takes while they’re growing up. We’re awkward and don’t want to talk to anyone because we’re afraid that we’re going to make fools of ourselves. Then we start thinking that we’re free to do anything we want and we indestructible. Then, just as suddenly, we realize that we suck just like everyone else and that maybe we should be a little more careful. It’s something that all teenagers can relate to. Tommy’s cries of “See me. Feel me. Touch me. Heal me.” have been said by all of us at some point or another in many different ways. It’s one of the most heartfelt moments in rock history. That’s why Tommy is still popular today and why Pete Townshend can always find new ways to exploit it.

Not only that, but it’s a pretty scathing commentary on false leaders. Tommy’s parents try everything to get him out of his shell including drugs, religion and real doctors. Nothing works until they finally figure out that it’s them who are doing it to him. Then he becomes just like they are.

Then there’s the movie. Russell has his own vision of the story and for the most part it’s the same, but he’s taken a lot of the feeling out of it. He’s also changed the inciting incident to the mother (Ann-Margaret) and lover (Oliver Reed from Gladiator and Oliver!) killing the father (Robert Powell from Russell’s earlier Mahler). This changes things a bit because now Tommy is always having visions of his father who is trying to help him get out of the shell and keep him on the straight and narrow.

This isn’t to say that the movie isn’t good. No, it’s certainly a very interesting movie and good in its own weird, Ken Russell way. The sets are pretty amazing as are some of the situations that he paints his lead characters into. If you’ve ever wanted to see Ann-Margaret in her hey-day being dowsed in soap suds (and who hasn’t?), chocolate sauce (hmmm.) and beans (umm.) and then writhe on a long, cylindrical pillow then this is the movie for you.

And the cast is full of some of the biggest names in rock at the time (and, mostly, even now). Eric Clapton does a pretty killer version of Sonny Boy Williamson’s Eyesight To The Blind amongst a bunch of Marilyn Monroes. (Although, much as I love Eric, he’s one of the worst actors in rock. He couldn’t even act like he was playing guitar. For even more evidence see Blues Brothers 2000. He has one line and he screws it.) Elton John plays the Pinball Wizard and, of course, does a GREAT job with a role that he talked Rod Stewart out of taking. Good for you, Elton. (But Rod did end up doing a version of the song and didn’t do to badly on it.) Tina Turner was perfect, if a bit over the top, as the Acid Queen. (The original choice was apparently David Bowie. Love ya, Dave, but Tina’s much better looking…and more female.)

But the center of the movie is, of course, the music. And it’s still great, even when it’s performed by other people. (Well, except for Jack Nicholson, but he doesn’t count.) And Roger Daltry has to be one of the best actors of the rock world. He actually conveys emotion! Now, if we could only get him, Jon Bon Jovi, Mick Jagger and David Bowie in the same movie together we might have a rock movie with some decent acting.

So, while this isn’t really a very good movie, it is extremely interesting and worth seeing a couple of times. In fact, it probably gets better with each viewing.

And, as much as I love the album, this is probably the best movie that COULD be made of it because it not only conveys the story, but the time that it came from, too.