Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978)

Small town band hits it big, but they must battle a nefarious plot in the music industry.

Director:

Michael Schultz

Writers:

Henry Edwards, Tom O'Horgan (play)

Stars:

Peter Frampton, Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Peter Frampton	...	Billy Shears
Barry Gibb	...	Mark Henderson
Robin Gibb	...	Dave Henderson
Maurice Gibb	...	Bob Henderson
Frankie Howerd	...	Mr. Mustard
Paul Nicholas	...	Dougie Shears
Donald Pleasence	...	B.D. Hoffler
Sandy Farina	...	Strawberry Fields
Dianne Steinberg	...	Lucy
Steve Martin	...	Dr. Maxwell Edison
Aerosmith	...	Future Villain Band (FVB)
Alice Cooper	...	Marvin Sunk (the 'Sun King')
Earth Wind & Fire	...	Earth, Wind & Fire
Billy Preston	...	Sergeant Pepper
Stargard	...	The Diamonds

Storyline

Ever since they were sent into World War I battle in 1918, Sergeant Pepper and his Lonely Hearts Club Band of Heartland, USA have been spreading the message of joy and love to the world, which has made them and Heartland famous. Upon Sergeant Pepper's death in 1958, the band's instruments have been housed on display at Heartland City Hall as symbols of that love and joy. Before his death, Sergeant Pepper asked his adolescent grandson Billy Shears to take on the reins of forming his own band to continue to spread the message of joy and love. With Billy's brother Dougie Shears as their Manager, Billy, now an adult, and his three best friends, brothers Mark, Dave, and Bob Henderson, embark on their lives as a new Lonely Hearts Club Band. They quickly come to the attention of Hollywood music producer B.D. Hoffler Of B.D. (Big Deal) Records. With the boys off to Hollywood to spread the words of joy and love to the world, enter into Heartland the evil and demented Mr. Mustard, an ex-real ...

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Plot Keywords:

small town | the beatles | the beatles song | weathervane | scanimate | 

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Taglines:

Only their music could conquer the forces of evil

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Fantasy | Musical

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 July 1978 (USA)

Also Known As:

Banda de los corazones

Filming Locations:

Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$18,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$12,900,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

NF Geria II Filmgesellschaft m.b.H.,Robert Stigwood Organization (RSO)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

113 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Stereo (35 mm prints) 70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The creation of the soundtrack was marked with tension from the beginning, with Peter Frampton and The Bee Gees both feeling wary of the other artist as well as being unsure as to how their music would work together on the same album.

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Goofs

Donald Pleasence's character is called B.D. Hoffler. In the credits, his character is called B.D. Brockhurst.

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Connections

Featured in The Cinema Snob: Brazilian Planet of the Apes (2014)

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Soundtracks

Here Comes The Sun
Written by George Harrison
Performed by Sandy Farina
Produced by George Martin
By Arrangement with Ganga Publishing B.V.

User Reviews

did the Beatles have a song about guilty pleasures?

I stumbled across an unlicensed videocassette of the film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, starring Peter Frampton and the Bee Gees. Being a pop-culture junkie I had to have it. It ranks up there with the worst movies of all time - absolutely everything about it was poorly thought out. The basic premise is that they took all these Beatle's songs and strung them together to make a story, so the characters had to come from names or words from Beatle's songs: for instance, Frampton's character (the lead singer for the Lonely Hearts Club Band) is Billy Shears (if you'll recall Billy Shears is introduced by the Beatles at the beginning of Sgt. Pepper as the singer of 'get by with a little help from my friends... etc.). His girlfriend is named Strawberry Fields (any guesses where that came from?) Later he is tempted by Lucy, from the female rock band Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds (I'm really not kidding), and happiness is threatened by Mean Mr. Mustard, who abducts Strawberry, and also Dr. Maxwell Edison (majoring in medicine with silver hammers). Although they sing 'Nowhere Man' and 'Polythene Pam' these names do not appear as characters somehow. There are about 20 Beatles songs in the movie not sung by the Beatles, and the lead characters never speak - all the narration is done by Mr. Kite ('a benefit for Mr. Kite' and yes there is such a benefit) played by George Burns who even dons a guitar to sing 'fixing a hole'. There are almost no words to describe how awful this film is. Everything about it was a complete disaster, although the Beatles' songs are all familiar and delightful, they are delivered in a context that simply doesn't work (for instance there are a couple of melancholy songs sung - 'long and winding road' etc. after Strawberry is killed in a fight with Aerosmith). One of the sublime moments was when Strawberry Fields sings 'Strawberry Fields Forever'. She's singing to herself about herself. Forever. Fantastic.

Production values were high - they spent a lot of money on this fantasy. It lost all of its investment and Peter Frampton, who's performance has to be seen to be believed (the cast of 'Punky Brewster' seems almost Shakespearean in comparison) was so embarrassed that he bought almost all of the prints back to have them destroyed for posterity's sake. But some got away, and I got my cassette. What a treasure.