In terms of music, and his influence on it, Ike Turner was a great great man wiht a huge amount to be proud of. Not many people have a legitimate case for being dubbed the 'founder of rock and roll' but Ike is one of them. In addition to that he takes a lot of credit for his attitude toward race segregation. However on the flip side he could be an extremely violent human being (the extent to which he disputes although doesn't deny) and quite frankly nothing more than a bully.
Unfortunately anybody who doesn't really know much about him is always going to think of him purely along the line lines of the character in the Tina Turner film and although there is no escaping that that was a side to him which I personally find repellent in a human being I also recognise that opinoions should not be clouded by the poetic license you see in films. I am not for a second trying to deny that he was violent toward Tina, I am just not prepared to entirely accept the film as a 100% accurate reflection of the truth.
it is strange though that a man like Ike Turner will often be remembered unfavourably for his violent behaviour whilst his musical contribution fades yet we, as a society, still put many other musicians at the top of the iindustry with equally unpleasant characteristics (in fact not just the music industry, throughout arts, sport etc - hell Paul Gascoigne is still considered by many as a great sporting legend who merits great sympathy for his mental problems and fragility, and rarely as the man who beat his wife black and blue)