by Annette Basile
Worth: $14.50
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Tommy Tycho, Vicky Tycho, Ray Martin, Barry Crocker, Julie Anthony
Intro:
An extraordinary talent and a remarkable life, there is plenty of great music in this very watchable and well-presented documentary.
Tommy Tycho is a familiar name to anyone who was around in the 1960s and ‘70s, during the era of Australian TV variety shows. The Hungarian-Australian bandleader and composer was a Channel 7 fixture, working 20-hour days as their Musical Director, chain-smoking behind the scenes.
This documentary begins with a series of talking heads singing Tycho’s praises (Ray Martin, Julie Anthony, Simon Tedeschi, James Morrison, Rhonda Burchmore). But this film is much more than a simple tribute – the late Tycho led a fascinating life that saw him play for the Shah of Iran and hang out with his buddy Sammy Davis Jr. A profoundly talented musician, who was also a gifted visual artist (his artworks help illustrate the doco), he arrived in Australia in 1951, and his talents were recognised fairly soon after.
He was the ‘go-to’ man for anything musical – Olivia Newton-John and Peter Allen utilised his talents to orchestrate their music, and he worked with numerous international stars, including Judy Garland and Mel Tormé. He was “music royalty”, says Ray Martin.
But there was profound tragedy in his early life that never left him. Archival interviews with the man himself tell of growing up Jewish in Nazi-occupied Budapest during World War II. He went through hell – he was sent to a work camp, he buried bodies that piled up in the ghetto on a daily basis, and he heard the shot that killed his uncle.
At age nine he lost his father and his opera singer mother struggled during the war, but they received help from an unexpected source … One day in 1944, he was late getting home. There was a 5pm curfew, and he was still out on the streets. He ran straight into an SS officer who could have shot him on the spot, but when he showed the officer his ID, the Nazi saw his name and realised they were distantly related – the Nazi didn’t know there was a Jewish branch of the Tycho clan. The SS man protected the family, but at a price – paid by Tycho’s mother.
His mother Ilona was an opera singer and the musical genes carry through the generations, with Tycho’s daughter Vicky – interviewed, and producing, here – seen briefly playing some extraordinary piano with her dad.
Tommy Tycho’s career extended far beyond television, with Royal Command Performances and the like, but many will remember him as a creature of the small screen. He was loved by fellow musicians and audiences – the critics, however, were less kind, unfairly seeing him as a lightweight. This documentary should make them rethink.
An extraordinary talent and a remarkable life, there is plenty of great music in this very watchable and well-presented documentary.
