The Who Double Feature: QUADROPHENIA / TOMMY

QUADROPHENIA, 1979, 115 min. Inspired by The Who’s landmark concept album and featuring some of composer Pete Townsend’s most ambitious music, director Franc Roddam’s QUADROPHENIA is set against the backdrop of early 1960s England, where scooter-driving Mods and leather-clad Rockers clash for control of the beaches and juke joints. Phil Daniels stars as the rude boy struggling against Britain’s ultra-rigid class and education system, with support from Mark Wingett and Sting (in his acting debut).

TOMMY, 1975, Sony Repertory, 111 min. Dir. Ken Russell. Having already brought an outlandish, hellzapoppin’ quality to such films as THE DEVILS, director Ken Russell was the perfect choice to helm The Who’s landmark rock opera TOMMY, transforming it into a stream-of-consciousness catalog of wild performances from Roger Daltrey, Ann-Margret, Oliver Reed, Tina Turner, Elton John, Keith Moon, Jack Nicholson and others.