NO DAMMIT, IT'S NOT......
..... all right to leave the boy with Uncle Ernie.
shareOr Cousin Kevin.
shareOr murder his dad..what were they thinking!
shareI still don't know why Russell changed the story from Captain Walker killing his wife's lover when he returned home and caught them in bed together to the wife and lover killing the Captain as in the original story.
shareWilljohn: he said it made more sense to have Tommy be traumatized seeing his father killed instead of some stranger he barely knew. It works better from a cinematic perspective.
share here is where your opinion falls flat...Tommy DID NOT KNOW HIS FATHER!
first lines from the album...
Captain Walker
Did'nt come home
His unborn child
Will never know him!
My opinion is not flat in the least on this issue...this was a concept surrounding the movie that Ken Russell confirmed himself. Those lines were meant to trick the audience into thinking Walker was dead so it would be a surprise when we see him alive again. Tommy had photos of his father in his bedroom and knew exactly who he was. He worshipped him. Seeing him murdered was more traumatic because he saw him just before he was killed. Russell made the story stronger for making this change.
shareYou're both missing the metaphor Russell intended with Tommy as Jesus, Capt. Walker as God. This metaphor is so obviously played I'm surprised there's not one reference to it in this thread.
The war is not meant to be won... it is meant to be continuous.
This is also why Tommy says about Uncle Frank: "When he's got his green coat on, I love him even more." It reminds him of his father in uniform.
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Keep in mind that the whole 'concept' is The Who's - specifically Pete's. It's hard to see Captain Walker as a 'holy man', because what did he DO that was so holy? What sort of 'holy powers' did he have? Tommy as Jesus makes more sense, but even that has it's flaws - the fact that Tommy doesn't die, for example.
shareTommy may have never MET his father up to the point of his being murdered, but he grew up with his father's picture right next to his bed, so he knew what he looked like, and recognized him when he walked into the house. That's why Tommy followed him through the house in the first place.
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