George Harrison: Living in the Material World (2011)

Inter-cut with archive material, friends, family and associates of the musician tell the story of his life and how spirituality became such a major part of it.

Director:

Martin Scorsese

Stars:

George Harrison, Paul McCartney, John Lennon

Won 2 Primetime Emmys. Another 4 wins & 9 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
George Harrison	...	Himself
Paul McCartney	...	Himself
John Lennon	...	Himself
Ringo Starr	...	Himself
Louise Harrison	...	Herself
Harold Harrison	...	Himself
Harry Harrison	...	Himself
Peter Harrison	...	Himself
Olivia Harrison	...	Herself
Dhani Harrison	...	Himself
Eric Clapton	...	Himself
Pattie Boyd	...	Herself
Pete Best	...	Himself (archive footage)
Cynthia Lennon	...	Herself (archive footage) (as Cynthia Powell)
Julian Lennon	...	Himself (archive footage)

Storyline

George Harrison first became known to the world as "The Quiet Beatle" of the Fab Four, but there was far more to his life than simply being a part of The Beatles. This film explores the life and career of this seminal musician, philanthropist, film producer and amateur race car driver who grew to make his own mark on the world. Through his music, archival footage and the memories of friends and family, Harrison's deep spirituality and humanity are explored in his singular life as he took on artistic challenges and important causes as only he could.

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Plot Keywords:

friend | musician | spirituality | girl with glasses | fame | 

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Genres:

Documentary | Biography | Music

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site [jp]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 October 2011 (UK)

Also Known As:

George Harrison

Company Credits

Production Co:

Grove Street Pictures, Spitfire Pictures, Sikelia Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

208 min

Color:

Black and White (archive footage) Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Harrison's widow, Olivia, who collaborated on the film, has said: "I almost don't want people to see it. It's like showing everybody into your most private place."

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Connections

Features The Concert for Bangladesh (1972)

User Reviews

Affective Tribute.

It's a little hard to watch this if you've lived through the period when the Beatles were churning out one astonishingly well-done album after another because, after all, two of the four are dead now, and the remaining two are old. I expect it's difficult for younger fans of pop music to understand what a revolution the Beatles were part of. Only a few years after Lennon's death, I heard a youngster in a shop exclaim, "Oh, look, Paul McCartney was in a band BEFORE "Wings." Directed by Martin Scorsese, it's a four-hour long documentary with nothing more than talking heads (including McCartney and Star) and newsreel footage and video clips of the group itself. It's aimed at adults mainly, so there is no narration telling us in chronological detail of the rise and ultimate disintegration of the bad. Pete Best's name is mention, but only in passing, and only once, so you either know who he was or you skip it. The names of albums hardly crop up.

The central figure, of course, is George Harrison, the third in line, in almost all respects. He was quiet rather than outrageous, and not a goofy clown like Ringo. He was hired because he was a good man on the guitar, the best of the three, and could write songs too. ("Because", for instance.) Someone slipped him LSD as a joke and it appears to have turned Harrison eastward. He became spiritual in the broadest since, learned to play a modest sitar under Pandit Ravi Shankar, and introduced a strain of mysticism into some of the albums ("Within You and Without You").

It's not a gossipy fan-magazine story. You'll never find out here who was responsible for the jaw-dropping combing of the Beatles' long hair from backwards to forward. Instead, you'll get a feel for what it was like to perform for peanuts in the Kaiser Keller in Hamburg on the roughest street in town.

I didn't think I'd be able to watch it because I try not to think about the Beatles too much these days. It reminds me of happier times, when there was splendor in their costumes and fun in their irreverent wisecracks. It's painful to put any effort into researching time lost. But I was caught up in this. The interviewees include just about everyone who has anything of importance to say, and what they say isn't just interesting but deserves to be part of the historical record, the chronicle of a moment in the evolution of vernacular culture that we're going to have to wait a while before we see again.