It was based on the Who's 1969 album of the same name, a rock opera about a "psychosomatically deaf, mute, and blind" boy who becomes a pinball champion and religious leader.

[5] The film featured a star-studded ensemble cast, including the band members themselves (most notably, lead singer Roger Daltrey, who plays the title role), Oliver Reed, Ann-Margret, Elton John, Eric Clapton, Jack Nicholson, Robert Powell and Tina Turner.

Back in England, Nora goes into labour and gives birth to a son, Tommy, on V-E Day ("Captain Walker/It's a Boy").

Over 16 years, Nora and Frank make several fruitless attempts to bring the now older Tommy out of his state, taking him to a faith healer ("Eyesight to the Blind") and a drug dealer ("The Acid Queen").

They become increasingly lethargic at the lack of effect, place him with some questionable babysitters ("Cousin Kevin" / "Fiddle About") and eventually leave Tommy standing at the mirror one night, allowing him to wander off.

Nora watches her son's televised victory and celebrates his (and her) success and luxury, but finds she can't fully enjoy it because of Tommy's extreme condition ("Champagne").

Tommy goes on lecture tours that resemble glam-rock gospel shows and spreads a message of enlightenment by hang glider, gaining friends and followers everywhere he goes ("Sally Simpson" / "Sensation").

Various rumours spread over who would play other characters with names such as David Bowie, Elton John, Barbra Streisand and Mick Jagger being mentioned.

[20] Jack Nicholson agreed to play a small role because "Russell's films intrigue me, some I like very much, some I don't like at all, and I want to find out what makes them tick.

However, producer Robert Stigwood held out until John agreed to take the part, reportedly on condition that he could keep the gigantic Dr. Martens boots he wore in the scene.

In his commentary for the 2004 DVD release of the film, Ken Russell stated that the opening and closing outdoor scenes were shot in the Borrowdale valley of the English Lake District, near his own home, the same area that he had used to double for rural Austria and Bohemia in his earlier film Mahler, in which Robert Powell had starred.

The Bernie's Holiday Camp ballroom sequence was shot inside the Gaiety Theatre on South Parade Pier.

The exterior intro sequence to the scene, however, shows Sally Simpson buying a badge and entering South Parade Pier.

Russell also used a brief exterior shot of the building fully ablaze during the scenes of the destruction of Tommy's Holiday Camp by his disillusioned followers.

The famous scene in which Ann-Margret's character hallucinates that she is cavorting in detergent foam, baked beans, and chocolate reportedly took three days to shoot.

Russell also recalled that Ann-Margret's husband, Roger Smith, strongly objected to the scene in which she slithers around in melted chocolate.

During the filming, Ann-Margret accidentally struck her hand on the broken glass of the TV screen, causing a severe laceration, and Russell had to take her to hospital to have the wound stitched, although she was back on set the next day.

[24] The film also includes a scene in which Mrs. Walker watches a parodic TV advertisement for the fictional product "Rex Baked Beans"; the costumes in this segment were originally made for the lavish masked ball sequence in Richard Lester's version of The Three Musketeers, and the dress worn by the Queen in the Rex ad is that worn by Geraldine Chaplin in the earlier film.

The critical consensus reads: "Tommy is as erratic and propulsive as a game of pinball, incorporating the Who's songs into an irreverent odyssey with the visual imagination that only director Ken Russell can conjure.

The production is magnificent, the multitrack sound (tradenamed Quintaphonic) terrific, the casting and acting great, and the name cameos most showmanly.

"[36] Roger Ebert gave the film three stars out of four, commenting that its message is muddled and hypocritical, but that its focus is on well-executed, grandiose spectacles rather than any pretense at meaning.

He called the pinball tournament sequence "the movie's best single scene: a pulsating, orgiastic turn-on edited with the precision of a machine gun burst.

"[37] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune awarded Tommy two-and-a-half stars out of four, calling the film "a disappointing, slap-dash pictorialization of the fine music of the Who [with] no cinematic flow.

"[38] Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times called the film "an overwhelming, thunderous, almost continuously astonishing achievement, coherent and consistent from first frames to last.

"[39] Gary Arnold of The Washington Post wrote that the music of the original album: "...had a certain obscure dignity and integrity, and these qualities don't withstand the Russell treatment.

"[40] Jonathan Rosenbaum of The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote that "even at its most lacklustre and tasteless junctures, Tommy is never boring, and always full of energy; and given the very loose framework and imprecise plot that Russell has to work with, this is no small achievement.

Thus, in addition to installing the extra electronics and rear speakers, John Mosely and his team had to repair and align the basic magnetic playback equipment.