Keith Moon's comic timing made him useful casting for unruly supporting parts. His acting is worth seeking out in Tommy, where the humour makes an unpleasant character harder to dismiss, though the film career is too slight for grand claims.
Fi1m perspective
As Uncle Ernie in Tommy (1975), Keith Moon makes grotesque comedy uncomfortable. The humour does not soften the character's menace, and Ken Russell gives this exaggerated performance a setting in which it belongs. We found him unsettling precisely because being funny does not make Ernie any less repellent. Moon is effective here, though his small acting career needs judging on the scale of its supporting parts.
The early parts stay close to a musician's world, even when the costume does not. Frank Zappa's 200 Motels (1971) uses him for a cameo as the Hot Nun. In That'll Be the Day (1973) and Stardust (1974), he plays drummer J.D. Clover, drawing on work he already knew as The Who's drummer. Those musician roles benefit from an unforced presence, which makes a useful change from the comic grotesques.
Russell makes fuller use of his comic instincts in Tommy than the mere novelty of casting a rock drummer would require. Uncle Ernie's song, Fiddle About, gives Moon something more specific to do than make a brief, disruptive appearance. The part needs comic menace, and his exaggerated approach serves that need rather than simply drawing attention to the performer. The film around him remains forceful and uneven, with an insistence on overstatement that can become wearing even when the individual performers are worth watching. Its performances justify much of the noise, though a liking for Moon will not remove that qualification.
The reservation is that Moon's comic behaviour can leave little room for a character to develop. Some of these appearances rely heavily on the pleasure of seeing a familiar musician misbehave. Uncle Ernie gives those instincts a specific, disturbing purpose; not every cameo can do the same. Start with Tommy, provided that a taste for Moon's humour comes with a reasonable tolerance for Russell's overstatement.
Biography
Keith Moon (23 August 1946 – 7 September 1978) was an English musician and actor. He appeared in the concert film Woodstock (1970) as Self – The Who.
Moon is also credited in Monterey Pop (1968) as Self – The Who, 200 Motels (1971) as Hot Nun, Tommy (1975) as Uncle Ernie, and The Who: The Kids Are Alright (1979) as Self.
