The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash (1978)

Charts the adventures of the prefab four, possibly the most famous band of all time.

Directors:

Eric Idle, Gary Weis

Writer:

Eric Idle (conceived and written by)

Stars:

Eric Idle, John Halsey, Ricky Fataar

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Eric Idle	...	Dirk McQuickly / The Narrator / S.J. Krammerhead
John Halsey	...	Barry Wom
Ricky Fataar	...	Stig O'Hara (as Rikki Fataar)
Neil Innes	...	Ron Nasty
Michael Palin	...	Eric Manchester
George Harrison	...	The Interviewer
Bianca Jagger	...	Martini
John Belushi	...	Ron Decline
Dan Aykroyd	...	Brian Thigh
Gilda Radner	...	Mrs. Emily Pules
Bill Murray	...	Bill Murray the K.
Gwen Taylor	...	Mrs. Iris Mountbatten / Chastity
Ronnie Wood	...	A Hells Angel (as Ron Wood)
Terence Bayler	...	Leggy Mountbatten
Henry Woolf	...	Arthur Sultan

Storyline

Rutland Weekend Television takes a look at the Pre-fab Four: Dirk, Barry, Stig and Nasty; better known as the Rutles. This documentary follows their career from their early days in Liverpool and Hamburg's infamous Rat-Keller, to their amazing worldwide success. A parody of Beatlemania and the many serious documentaries made about the Beatles.

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Plot Keywords:

parody | mockumentary | imaginary band | spoof | the beatles | 

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Taglines:

Eric Idle's classic spoof of The Beatles

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Genres:

Comedy | Music

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

The Official Rutles Home Page The Rutles

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 March 1978 (USA)

Also Known As:

All You Need Is Cash

Filming Locations:

Abbey Road Studios, Abbey Road, St. John's Wood, London, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$200,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Above Average Production,Broadway Video,Rutle

Technical Specs

Runtime:

76 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The prime-time showing on NBC came in dead last - 65th place - in the A.C. Nielsen ratings for the week of March 20-26, 1978.

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Goofs

When the Rutles toast with their cups of tea and drink, it becomes obvious that Stig's cup is actually empty.

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Quotes

Dirk McQuickly: What Ron and I will do is probably to write some songs y'know, and sell them to people... uh... we tried to write some for the uh, The Rolling Stones, and they're probably gonna buy them.
Mick Jagger: The one for that was Dirk really, he was the real huckster for the songs, I think. Y'know, always wantin' to sell us songs, y'know. They came down... they came down and we were trying to rehearse, and they said "you wanna song?, said "yeah" cause we were really open for songs, cause we didn't write our own. ...

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Connections

Spoofs The Beatles at Shea Stadium (1966)

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Soundtracks

Good Times Roll
(uncredited)
Written and Produced by Neil Innes
Performed by Neil Innes, Ollie Halsall, Ricky Fataar and John Halsey

User Reviews

A rel gem!

I remember watching the NBC broadcast debut of "The Rutles: All You Need is Cash," during the spring of 1978. Even though it was highly promoted that week, and featured cameos by Lorne Michaels and nearly every member of the red-hot Not Ready for Prime Time Players, ratings for the special were abysmal, possibly even the very bottom of the Nielsen list. People I talked to had absolutely no idea what to make of it at all. Go figure. This wonderful piece, which grows better with further perspective on the 60's (and Beatlemania), paved the way for fake documentary genre pioneers, "Zelig," and "Spinal Tap," and fortunately found an audience through home video. Even though "The Rutles" is very much an Eric Idle project, it is often overlooked that this film was largely directed by Gary Weis, who was responsible for the wonderful, ground-breaking short films that appeared on the early episodes of "Saturday Night Live." Hats off to Neil Innes, whose songs and arrangements were absolutely dead-on, not just musically, but technically correct in every detail as they evolved through the Beatles chronology.