Help! (1965)

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. Ringo, drummer of The Beatles band 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, Paul, and George 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?

---

Plot Keywords:

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

---

Taglines:

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

---

Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Musical

---

Certificate:

G

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 August 1965 (USA)

Also Known As:

¡Socorro!

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

Did You Know?

Trivia

Peter Sellers turned down a role because he didn't want to play second fiddle to The Beatles.

---

Goofs

When the boys are out in the field protected by security, you can see through the whole first song, that Ringo does not have the ring on his finger, but during the next song before the ground explodes, he does have it on.

---

Quotes

Ringo: There's more here than meets the eye!
George: Ho ho.
John: Ho.
George: Ho ho.
John: Ho.
George: Ho ho ho
John: Ho ho!
George: Ho ho.
John: Huh ho.

---

Crazy Credits

"I Need You" by George Harrison is the only song title credited in the end credits. As this is shown you can hear George say '"I Need You" by George Harrison'.

---

Alternate Versions

Paul Rutan, Jr. single-handedly restored this movie within four years. The master negative had over 15 tears, imbedded dirt, and faded color. This restored version also features over-dubbed music for musical sequences because of the age of the existing soundtracks. The restored version of Help! (1965) premiered on American Movie Classics in 1995 and is the current version availible on video and DVD.

---

Connections

Referenced in Hollywood Rocks the Movies: The 1970s (2002)

---

Soundtracks

I'm Happy Just to Dance with You
(1964) (uncredited)
Written by John Lennon
Played by a band during the bike-riding scene

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.