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:

Stop Worrying! HELP! Is On The Way!

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Musical

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Certificate:

G

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

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the scene where TNT is placed underground, one of the boxes says "EQUAL TO EXACTLY ONE MILLIONTH OF ALL THE HIGH EXPLOSIVE EXPLODED IN ONE WEEK OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR."

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Goofs

The booklet to the 2007 DVD release lists Ludwig van Beethoven as the composer of the 1812 Overture, heard shortly after the conclusion of "The Night Before." The piece was written by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1880, more than fifty years after Beethoven's death.

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Quotes

[to an Indian man standing on his head]
John: Doesn't the blood rush to your head Sir?
[In the restaurant kitchen]
George: Doesn't the eastern flavor come rather expensive?
[Paul to belly dancer]
Paul: Doesn't the blood rush to your stomach?

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Crazy Credits

While the music is playing at the end (Overture from "Il bariere di Siviglia"), the Beatles are jokingly singing along with it and occasionally reading the credits.

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Alternate Versions

When released on video for the first time in 1989, the film remained in mono but the songs were remixed into stereo, dubbed over with the recordings from the stereo album.

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Connections

Spoofs Knife in the Water (1962)

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Soundtracks

You Can't Do That
(1964) (uncredited)
Written by John Lennon
An instrumental during the Austrian Alps sequence

User Reviews

Music video before there were music videos

This is an entertaining movie that serves its sole purpose very well---to showcase a bunch of terrific Beatles songs. Everyone knows the plot---a religious cult needs to retrieve a sacrificial ring which Ringo cannot get off his finger, consequently he has to be sacrificed. The lads go through various adventures in London, Switzerland and the Bahamas before it is all over.

It is easy to imagine this movie being an inspiration for Monty Python later on and it isn't surprising to learn that George Harrison in particlar became good friends with Michael Palin and Eric Idle of Python fame. Now imagine what a combined Beatles-Python movie would've been like!

One scene in "Help!" which I particularly remember is the Leo Mckern, the cult leader, dressed in his sari, drinking tea and collegially discussing his religious beliefs with an Anglican priest. Of the Beatles, John and Ringo have most of the funny lines and the movie exaggerates the idea of George being tight with his money---playing poker with Ringo at Buckingham Palace, pilfering rings from a jeweler, pretending he can't find his wallet thus forcing Ringo to pick up the tab at a pub. The caricature personas the Beatles adopted for this movie in particular became the way many fans viewed them which I think George found to be alternately ironic and irritating since he insisted he was nothing like the movie version of himself.