Post by Pulpmariachi on Sept 14, 2005 11:56:11 GMT -5
thThe Beatles were a force to be reckoned with. Basically they are the musical God of the rock world. Yeah, remember in School of Rock when they pray to the God of Rock? Yeah, that should be The Beatles. No other band has had their influence or power or inspiration. Even when the band was at each others throats, they still put out some of the greatest music ever.
But rewind a few years before their breakup in the '70s to 1964. They had put out two albums and were a sensation in Britian, and though they'd been in America, Beatlemania hadn't exactly hit yet. But the British fans were eating them up. Seeing an opportunity for some quick cash, studio execs rushed into production a Beatles-movie. It was rushed mainly because the heads thought that the Beatles would fade away and they wanted to capitalize right away. If they realized that The Beatles were going to be the biggest group ever they might have given them a larger budget and shot the movie in color. But they had no idea. The movie was shot for something like 560,000 dollars and in stark black-and-white and would be directed by Richard Lester.
Writer Alun Owen followed them for two days and wrote a script about a day in the life of The Beatles as they prepared for a big show. He wrote about six words per line because the boys were still young and they didn't think they could handle anything longer. Meaning, there's enough cutting to keep your interest but it's not distracting.
What Lester and co turned in is quite possibly the greatest rock movie of all time. It's fun and doesn't try to be anything it's not. We're just going to watch The Beatles for 88 minutes and have a blast. They are sarcastic to the press, George Harrison accidently gets called in to a PR session and blows them down, Ringo Starr goes out for a parade, Paul McCartney must take care of his Granddad (a very clean old man), and John Lennon is causing trouble with their manager.
And there are great lines in the movie, like: "What do you call that haircut?" "Arthur." "Do you think these haircuts are here to stay?" "Well, I think so, this one is on nice and proper." "How do you find America?" "Turn left at Greenland."
The title itself came from one of the Ringo sayings. The Beatles kept rejecting titles until Ringo stated one day, after a long day of working and not realzing it was night: "It's been a hard day...'s night."
Then, as an added bonus we're treated to about 13 Beatles songs, all Lennon/McCartney originals (with Lennon singing lead on most of them). It's one of those movies that everyone needs to see regardless of what style of music you like. The film might seem cliche today because it's been copied so much (and God knows, Lester performed every filming technique at the time: handheld, cranes, helicopters...the shakiness makes it seem more fun), but it's still a movie that needs and demands to be seen.
I haven't been able to get my hands on Help! or Let it Be yet, but the other Beatles films and those ones are rumored to not even be able to come close to the mastery of this one.
"Oh, that this too, too solid flesh would melt... Zap!"
****/****
But rewind a few years before their breakup in the '70s to 1964. They had put out two albums and were a sensation in Britian, and though they'd been in America, Beatlemania hadn't exactly hit yet. But the British fans were eating them up. Seeing an opportunity for some quick cash, studio execs rushed into production a Beatles-movie. It was rushed mainly because the heads thought that the Beatles would fade away and they wanted to capitalize right away. If they realized that The Beatles were going to be the biggest group ever they might have given them a larger budget and shot the movie in color. But they had no idea. The movie was shot for something like 560,000 dollars and in stark black-and-white and would be directed by Richard Lester.
Writer Alun Owen followed them for two days and wrote a script about a day in the life of The Beatles as they prepared for a big show. He wrote about six words per line because the boys were still young and they didn't think they could handle anything longer. Meaning, there's enough cutting to keep your interest but it's not distracting.
What Lester and co turned in is quite possibly the greatest rock movie of all time. It's fun and doesn't try to be anything it's not. We're just going to watch The Beatles for 88 minutes and have a blast. They are sarcastic to the press, George Harrison accidently gets called in to a PR session and blows them down, Ringo Starr goes out for a parade, Paul McCartney must take care of his Granddad (a very clean old man), and John Lennon is causing trouble with their manager.
And there are great lines in the movie, like: "What do you call that haircut?" "Arthur." "Do you think these haircuts are here to stay?" "Well, I think so, this one is on nice and proper." "How do you find America?" "Turn left at Greenland."
The title itself came from one of the Ringo sayings. The Beatles kept rejecting titles until Ringo stated one day, after a long day of working and not realzing it was night: "It's been a hard day...'s night."
Then, as an added bonus we're treated to about 13 Beatles songs, all Lennon/McCartney originals (with Lennon singing lead on most of them). It's one of those movies that everyone needs to see regardless of what style of music you like. The film might seem cliche today because it's been copied so much (and God knows, Lester performed every filming technique at the time: handheld, cranes, helicopters...the shakiness makes it seem more fun), but it's still a movie that needs and demands to be seen.
I haven't been able to get my hands on Help! or Let it Be yet, but the other Beatles films and those ones are rumored to not even be able to come close to the mastery of this one.
"Oh, that this too, too solid flesh would melt... Zap!"
****/****
