Beatles '64

A better title for this latest Beatles-featured movie would really have been "Beatles in America '64" when you consider that in that same year they elsewhere recorded two albums, an EP, and three singles, one of which which contained a non-album A and B-side. Then of course they made the "A Hard Day's Night" movie, toured the UK, Australia and Europe and made various promotional television appearances besides. Most acts today would struggle to do all that in five years I dare say.

The movie makes extensive use of the vérité footage shot by the Maysles Brothers at the time, interspersed with news bulletins and interview inserts with all four Beatles, naturally of the archive variety with John and George accompanying present-day pieces by Paul and Ringo.

Being the dyed-in-the-wool fan that I am I naturally enjoyed every minute of it, but I wouldn't say I saw anything here which really surprised me or didn't seem familiar in some way. The Beatles all come over strongly as individuals but what is clear is the tight collective unit they had already become, an inner circle if you will, which only a precious few got to really invade, people I suppose like Brian Epstein, Mal Evans, Neil Aspinall and George Martin of course, as well as the wives and girlfriends, although apart from a few fleeting glimpses of Cynthia Lennon, none of these people make much of an appearance, if at all.

There are also a predictable number of "talking head" interviews with contemporary artists, reminiscing and philosophising as is their wont, most strangely including the current incarnation of the artist once known as Terence Trent D'arby plus Leonard Bernstein's daughter and future Lennon producer Jack Douglas who at least has an interesting Beatles-related story of his own to tell.

The music is of course vintage moptop magic as you see and hear them perform their superb early repertoire on TV and live in concert, their playing and singing sharp and on point, before the screamers and jellybean throwers spoiled it for them.

It was nice to see now and then interviews with their predominantly young female fanbase which are contrasted at one point with some input from a bunch of cool, young on-the-street black dudes into Miles and Coltrane who respectfully resist any temptation to diss the new white kids on the block.

There were lots of nice moments but like I said not much fresh insight into the whole Beatlemania phenomenon which I guess may have been the point of the movie. The usual readacross is plied that timing was everything, given the band's arrival Stateside in the immediate aftermath of the Kennedy assassination. The comment that most caught my ear however was from the young McCartney who, when asked by a prescient interviewer if he thought that there was a wider cultural impact the Beatles were having on society, simply smiles and mocks the question, disarmingly stating that all they were doing was just having a laugh.

How wrong he was.

It wasn't a bad documentary, but I didn't walk away feeling like I learned all that much. I was really looking for something that dove deep into the concert by concert of the 1964 tour. I was hoping to see a little bit of footage from each show and behind the scenes in each location. However, a lot of the focus was on New York and Washington with little to no focus on any other places that the Beatles traveled to. I would've loved to see their time in Seattle, San Francisco, Las Vegas, LA, Canada, the list goes on! It would've been interesting to learn more about the issues with segregation in Jacksonville, Florida, meeting Bob Dylan, and the 1.5 million dollars offered to them to perform an extra show in Kansas City. Instead the documentary is mostly about New York and Washington, featuring full length clips of a woman's fantasies with the Beatles, a man crying about the emotional connection to She Loves You, and a full length clip of Smokey Robinson's band performing a sssslllllooooowwww version of Yesterday. Why do I need to see this? I came here to watch something about the Beatles, and while it's OK to have guest speakers talk, they need to be short and RELEVANT. Martin Scorsese is a weird guy, which is probably why he made this weird documentary with some actually boring clips of the Beatles. There was far too much focus on Beatlemania (including the gory details of people's love affair of the boys), which is something that has been covered, like a million times. I don't think this whole thing is bad, I just wanted a focused and interesting watch, but there's not a ton here that I haven't already heard or seen. What is new is actually a little boring.

And that's coming from someone who loved: Get Back (10/10), Rooftop Concert (10/10), A Hard Days Night, and Help.

In the wake of Peter Jackson's excellent GET BACK we seem to be getting a lot more films dealing with The Beatles; as a fan of the Fab Four that's no bad thing for me and the four new biopics currently in production sound pretty interesting too. BEATLES '64 is, by comparison, fairly straightforward, an ordinary clip compilation of footage assembled from the breakout year for the performers. Obviously with Martin Scorsese producting a lot of this is American-centric, but it all works very nicely and there's plenty of music too which helps. Nice to see Paul and Ringo making appearances too! A reasonable effort.

Paul and Ringo were listed on the long list of producers to this documentary, and being the last of the Fab Four, provided some modern commentary. They certainly do not need the money, so its puzzling as to what they thought this added to The Beatles history. And that's what it is, just one year, all be it a milestone one in which they 'conquered America'.

Its a bit of a hotch potch of footage and interviews, both of the times and contemporary. Some of the live music performances were effectively used, the sound was good, and they provided short intervals of interest.

One for die hard Beatles fans only.

Greetings again from the darkness. It's been 60 years since 'Beatlemania' hit the United States. As impressive as Taylor Swift's ascendance has been, it pales in comparison to the cultural impact of the Fab Four those many years ago. Documentarian David Tedeschi, working with raw footage shot by brothers and renowned documentary collaborators, Albert Maysles and David Maysles, takes us back to those frenzied 14 days of The Beatles' first U. S. trip, including the infamous appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show".

The footage is fascinating not just because it includes the band performing live on Sullivan, at the Washington Coliseum, and at Carnegie Hall, but rather because it puts us in the Plaza Hotel room where they stayed, and in the backseat of the cars as they are transported. We hear interviews and conversations, and gain some perspective on what these young men went through physically and emotionally and musically on their first trip across the pond. Girls were hyped for this group of four lads who certainly didn't fit the mold of traditional masculinity, while parents were caught off-guard.

What I found most thought-provoking of all was Tedeschi's presentation as history intertwined with one of the most impactful moments in U. S. history. President John F Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963. The plane carrying The Beatles touched down on February 7, 1964. In plain language, Beatlemania struck as a nation mourned. You may view these as unrelated, but music is known to heal. Perhaps the frenzied young fan reactions to "I Want to Hold Your Hand" that caused the rift with parents and older Americans was just the diversion needed to help a country move forward. That first appearance on the Sullivan show took place on February 9.

Tedeschi supplements the video with a multitude of interviews. We hear from fans, other musicians, and the band members themselves ... even Marshal McLuhan. Surviving members Paul and Ringo were involved in the film's production, as were the estates of John and George. Archival interviews are included here - George from his own lawn, and John on a couple of TV talk shows. Paul is shown at the museum that featured Beatles photography. Yet, the interview that packs the biggest punch is likely that of Ronald Isley of The Isley Brothers. He acknowledges the impact of sales when The Beatles recorded "Twist and Shout", and he punctuates this with the fact that it did not lead to an invitation for The Isley Brothers to perform on the Sullivan show.

It's clear how much respect these four young lads had for black musicians and how much their music influenced The Beatles. They were excited to meet with and learn more about the key black musicians such as Little Richard or the Ronettes. Ronnie Spector is interviewed here and offers her recollection of the band, the music, and the times. Tedeschi's (and the Maysles') work offers an inside glance at what was happening at the time, and when we hear the wisecracking and see the raw energy of the boys, it helps to know that George (the youngest) would not turn 21 until the band returned to England. We get the feeling they believed this happened to them, not that they caused it. Perhaps they were at least partially right ... as the times, they were achangin'.

Streaming exclusively on Disney+ beginning November 29, 2024.