Help! (1965)

Sir Ringo Starr finds himself the human sacrifice target of a cult, and his fellow members of The Beatles must try to protect him from it.

Director:

Richard Lester

Writers:

Marc Behm (screenplay), Charles Wood (screenplay)

Stars:

John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison

Nominated for 2 BAFTA Film Awards. Another 3 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
The Beatles	...	The Beatles
Leo McKern	...	Clang
Eleanor Bron	...	Ahme
Victor Spinetti	...	Foot
Roy Kinnear	...	Algernon
John Bluthal	...	Bhuta
Patrick Cargill	...	Superintendent
Alfie Bass	...	Doorman
Warren Mitchell	...	Abdul
Peter Copley	...	Jeweller
Bruce Lacey	...	Lawnmower

Storyline

An Eastern cult discovers that the sacrificial ring is missing. Sir Ringo Starr, drummer of The Beatles has it; sent by the girl (who's to be sacrificed) as a gift. Clang, Ahme, Bhuta, and several cult members leave for London to retrieve the ring. After several failed attempts to steal the ring, they confront him in an Indian restaurant. Ringo learns that if he does not return the ring soon, he will become the next sacrifice. Ringo then discovers that the ring is stuck on his finger. Its a race against time; John Lennon, Sir Paul McCartney, and George Harrison try to protect their friend while they're all being chased not only by Clang and his minions, but also by two mad scientists and the Chief Inspector of Scotland yard. Will Ringo be saved, or will he be sacrificed?

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Plot Keywords:

ring | mad scientist | human sacrifice | the beatles | drummer | 

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Taglines:

The colorful adventures of the Beatles are more colorful than ever...in color! (Poster).

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Musical

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Certificate:

G

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to Sir Paul McCartney, the script was designed around their requests that the story involve them going to places like the Austrian Alps and the Bahamas because they had never been there before. (The Bahamas were also chosen because they were British territory, and allowed them a tax shelter.)

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Goofs

The Semaphore Flags held by The Beatles on the poster (and album cover) don't spell HELP, but NUJV. This was done deliberately because the photographer of the cover, Robert Freeman, thought that it doesn't look good, therefore the flag postures were improvised, therefore it's not an actual error.

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Quotes

Algernon: [fumbling with wires and plugs] I'm better with animals than plugs and transistors they trust me! I should've gone into vivisection.

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Crazy Credits

During the opening credits, the sacrificial high priest and his followers are throwing darts at the Beatles on the projection screen. Each dart begins a new credit.

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Alternate Versions

The TMC version of Help! Is missing many of the sub titles and there is no announcer's voice at the intermission.

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Connections

Spoofed in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)

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Soundtracks

Overture from the Barber of Seville
(1816) (uncredited)
Written by Gioachino Rossini
Played over the end credits

User Reviews

A brief glimpse into the end of an era of "innocence"

Of all the various Beatles transformations out there, I have to admit that I liked them best from late 1964 to mid-1966. During this era, they morphed from the "innocent" fab four into the pre-mystical Beatles that came about in late 1965 with the advent of their wonderful "Rubber Soul" lp.

Yes, I loved these guys from this era of time. If you're old enough to have experienced the British Invasion, then you can show an appreciation of how the music once was: short and sweet. To put it simply, most pop music that came out of this era was short (around 2 minutes and 30 seconds) and sweet enough to reveal a new type of rock n' roll that never existed before the advent of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Yardbirds, Chad and Jeremy, the Dave Clark 5, etc, etc, etc.

It's too bad that this era didn't last long enough for us to enjoy. Before you knew it, it was gone like a morning mist. Even the American versions of garage rock, like Gary Lewis & the Playboys and the Turtles disappeared as discontent with the establishment and Vietnam sapped all of the collective innocence out of us.

It was an era of music that was, in essence, non-political; Beatles music, as well as other bands, were geared toward boy-girl love relationships and that was all. Barry McGuire then blew us out of the water with his "Eve of Destruction" around September, 1965. This, of course, caught the Beatles by surprise and they quickly changed their music from the typical "love songs" and became more creative in their talents by releasing "Day Tripper" with "We Can Work It Out" as a flip side.

"Help!" is a remnant of the final days of "innocence", when Vietnam was just entering the nightly news night after night after night and when the domestic disturbances on college campuses and ghettos was coming to a head.

This is what "Help!" represents to those who study this era. It was still a time when we could still help to avoid the problems that were beginning to plague American culture, society and politics. It still showed the Beatles as innocent and fun-loving mop tops that many people still prefer over their re-emergence as mystical, drug-experimenting replacements two years hence. I know that I still prefer them as innocent mop tops, but reality has shown that they were far from innocent even during their early days in Hamburg.

All that aside, this is still my favorite era of Beatledom.

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 August 1965 (USA)

Also Known As:

Help!

Filming Locations:

Ailsa Avenue, Twickenham, Middlesex, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$1,500,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Walter Shenson Films, Subafilms

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Sound Mix:

Mono Dolby Digital (re-release)

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1