I saw this film yesterday, one of a great number I am watching as I trudge through the Guardian's mammoth 1,000 Films To See Before You Die. The film is very well-regarded by critics - it is in the BFI top 100 - and is remembered today for playing a key part in the development of techniques now commonly used in music videos.
It also gives some insights into what life must have been like for the members of the band during the hectic days of Beatlemania.
But while there is great music and a terrific opening sequence, the narrative now seems thin and the acting very definitely wooden.
The film charts a two-day period in the life of the band as they journey from Liverpool to London by train for a TV show.
And on this basic premise, the entire film hangs.
Although there is a script, a lot of the banter seems off-the-cuff - but in a way that seems ill-planned and not very amusing.
There are a number of in-jokes that even at the time must have seemed perplexing, but now just seem tired.
Constant references to Steptoe and Son's dirty old man Wilfrid Brambell as a "clean" sort are about as funny as the screenplay gets. Indeed, his inclusion in the film as McCartney's grandfather seems contrived, as though a producer had insisted on him being there for light relief.
Which is odd, because despite not being able to act, the band members come across quite well. When the story escapes the paper-thin knockabout comedy it too often aims at, they seem like ordinary people who just happened to be in a group that was hugely, massively successful. And it would have been much more interesting to me if the film had been a documentary about them, instead of a rather weak comedy.
What did astound me was just how good their early music was. I had almost dismissed the albums before Rubber Soul as being juvenile bubblegum pop. But songs such as And I Love Her and All My Loving, which were unknown to me, are a revelation.
All in all, the film fails on most counts, but I suspect it persists in the common memory for its unique depiction of the Beatles at their height.
Had very similar ideas about pre-RS Beatles, Rob, so I hadn't realised how good the album of the same title is until I picked up the recent remaster - I think only the first six of the album's 13 songs feature in the film, but the whole thing is a lot of (well, just over 30 minutes of) fun.
ReplyDeleteCannot believe the film is rated at all - it's a shit sandwich. Are there any fictional, or fictionalised, rockumentaries that aren't (other than Spinal Tap)?
Even the word rockumentary leaves a bad taste in the mouth. A bit like a shit sandwich.
ReplyDeleteBut are there any good ones? Not that I know of, Andy, but then Head is supposed to be decent - seen that? It's rarely screened, but I'll catch it one of these days. I caught a bit of Woodstock last year - the sequence where Richie Havens seems to silence the entire festival crowd when he sings Freedom - and that seemed interesting. Scorsese also did something well-regarded with The Band, but I haven't seen that either.
Basically, I haven't seen that many rockumentaries - but they're all balls.