The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years (2016)

A compilation of found footage featuring music, interviews, and stories of The Beatles' 250 concerts from 1963 to 1966.

Director:

Ron Howard

Writers:

Mark Monroe, P.G. Morgan (story consultant)

Stars:

The Beatles, John Lennon, George Harrison

Won 2 Primetime Emmys. Another 3 wins & 14 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
The Beatles	...	Themselves (archive footage)
John Lennon	...	Himself (archive footage)
George Harrison	...	Himself (archive footage)
Paul McCartney	...	Himself
Ringo Starr	...	Himself
Richard Curtis	...	Himself - Writer, Director
Frank Phillips	...	Himself - BBC Radio Newsreader (voice) (archive footage)
Leonard Parkin	...	Himself - BBC Radio Newsreader (voice) (archive footage)
Carroll James	...	Himself - WWDC Disc Jockey (voice) (archive footage)
Marsha Albert	...	Herself (voice) (archive footage)
Eddie Izzard	...	Himself
Ed Sullivan	...	Himself (archive footage)
Whoopi Goldberg	...	Herself
Neil Aspinall	...	Himself - Beatles touring manager 1962-1970
Brian Epstein	...	Himself - Beatles Manager (archive footage)

Storyline

In the 1960s, the Beatles exploded on to the public scene, seemingly out of nowhere as the band's formative years of constant performing at home and in Hamburg, and Brian Epstein's grooming, finally paid off beyond their wildest dreams. Accompanying new interviews of the remaining Beatles, their associates and fans as well as archival interviews of the late ones, this film features footage of the heady concert years of 1963 to 66 when the band became a worldwide cultural phenomena topping them all. Furthermore, it also follows how the Fab Four began to change and grow while the excitement of Beatlemania began to sour their lives into an intolerable slog they needed to escape from to become more than what their fans wanted.

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Plot Keywords:

the beatles | beatlemania | rock band | reference to muhammad ali | cheering crowd | 

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Taglines:

The band you know. The story you don't.

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Genres:

Documentary | Music

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site

Country:

USA UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 September 2016 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Beatles Live

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$785,336, 18 September 2016

Gross USA:

$2,930,414

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$12,283,800

Company Credits

Production Co:

Apple Corps, Apple Corps, Diamond Docs

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min 206 min (2016 DELUXE DVD)

Color:

Color Black and White (archive footage) Color (digitally colored)

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and Yoko Ono attended the premiere in London, along with Liam Gallagher and Noel Gallagher.

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Goofs

In the theatre special concert from Shea Stadium, George very visibly switches to his 12-string Rickenbacker guitar for "A Hard Day's Night", but during the song, there are a few shots of him suddenly playing his Gretsch instead.

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Quotes

Reporter: What place do you think this story of The Beatles is going to have on Western Culture?
Paul McCartney: You must be kidding me with that question. Culture? It's not culture.
Reporter: What is it then?
Paul McCartney: A good laugh.

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Connections

Features The Ed Sullivan Show (1948)

User Reviews

A good time for any Beatles fan

I don't usually watch documentaries, but when I heard about this one I was unusually excited. I personally love and idolise The Beatles and particularly John Lennon so much, and the thought of seeing them on the big screen just made me happy.

The documentary is very entertaining and shows us a lot of new Beatles footage that was of course fantastic to see. It had some great contributions from famous people such as Whoopi Goldberg and the surviving Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, which were nice too see but I think a little more variety of celebrities would have been nice.

The film shows a side of The Beatles that nobody usually sees. It shows them as just kids who were out of their depth, which was great because it really brings them down to our level. It was very interesting to see that in a way the fans killed The Beatles and that they thought the music was getting lost in the hysteria.

It only touches on the controversy surrounding them a little, which is a shame because it was very interesting to learn about.

You come out with a new view of them as people and not as a brand. It does a good job at humanising them, which I applaud it for doing as it will inspire others to peruse their dreams.

There's something magical about seeing these people together even on film because the chemistry they have is so strong and the music is phenomenal. Hearing the music again was great. Especially when it's remastered.

There's also a really cool bit involving Sigourney Weaver. It really shows how big The Beatles were.

They reused some of the footage a bit too often and it can get a bit irritating over time.

I would definitely recommend it to a fan of The Beatles, it's good to learn about them. If you aren't a fan then you won't like it. It's well crafted with only a little problem here and there. Overall, it's good and I would recommend it to a Beatles fan.