Starring John, Paul, George & Ringo (obviously)
Directed by Ron Howard
Arguably more has been written, recorded and filmed about the Beatles than any other musical act in history. As the unwieldy title suggests, the film primarily focuses on the formative years of the group (1963 -1966) through to the time when they permanently retreated to the studio to create their groundbreaking experimental albums such as "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"; the latter period is acknowledged in the final few minutes, but the bulk of the footage deals with the mid 60s period onwards, in which they became the biggest and best pop band the world had ever seen - at one point simultaneously holding all five spots in the US Billboard chart, an incredible feat. It really brings home how utterly huge they were and how mental the whole "Beatlemania" phenomenon was, and it's frankly dizzying. Just looking at the reception they received on things like the Ed Sullivan Show, or landing at airports, boggles the mind. Although there's nothing in the film to surprise die hard Beatlemaniacs, it's a fascinating insight for fans both new and old alike.
First and foremost this is about the songs. There are so many classics - She Loves You, I Want to Hold Your Hand, A Hard Day's Night, Help!, the title track, and so on - which speak for themselves, and the sound remastering, by producer Giles Martin (son of George) is absolutely amazing. I am more familiar with and therefore prefer their later "studio" stuff; everything from and after Revolver, which is where this film ends. So it was good to hear some of that earlier stuff belted out with unending resolves of enthusiasm. It's pointed out, not least by Lennon himself, that they were no overnight success. After the Quarrymen morphed into the Beatles in 1960 they played the circuit, and played it hard. They went to Hamburg for a spell, where they would play for many hours a day, and spent the nights crammed into a single hotel room with no toilet. Their touring was extensive, both in the UK and Europe by bus - hardly the most comfortable means of travel - and overseas by air, which was not nearly the same as it is today. At one point they played a limited dates tour of America, returned to the UK for another tour, before returning to the US for yet more shows. Hard work pays off.
They were indeed so busy and such a phenomenon that Record Executives worried they would be finished by the end of 1964, if not the end of that summer. Thus production of their first feature film, A Hard Day's Night, was somewhat rushed. Even then the Execs had very little faith in the film, wishing mainly to get distribution rights to the soundtrack. In the end the production cost was around $560,000 and the eventual theatrical gross was close to $1.6m. A good investment, but it's easy to see why the suits were wary. It's a vaguely surreal day-in-life caper in which the band travel from Liverpool to London to perform on a television broadcast. It features the often imitated (not least by Austin Powers) scene of the Fab Four running down the street to get away from an adoring mob, the attempt to look after Paul's wayward Grandfather (Wilfrid Brambell), Ringo's attempt to get away from it all only to end up in jail for loitering, and other general madcap lunacy. It's fun seeing popstars playing themselves and seemingly having tremendous fun (this is a long way from Spice World) and retains a certain timeless charm. The following year they did it all over again, this time in colour, in Help! Amusingly, Eight Days A Week tells that the production went to the Bahamas at one point because of some advice received about taxes (!) It's more polished, no less madcap than its predecessor, with a convoluted - and frankly irrelevant - plot involving a magical Indian ring, cult sacrifice, mad scientists, Salisbury Plain and Scotland Yard. Again directed by Richard Lester, who would go on to make Superman III and the wonderful Royal Flash; behind the Goon Show-inspired slapstick antics the music shines through again, with the single Ticket To Ride and the title track by Lennon - widely considered to be autobiographical due to the pressure he felt at the time - among the standouts. The band spent much of the filming stoned, allegedly having been introduced to the wonders of marijuana by Bob Dylan, and it shows. It was another critical and financial success, comfortably outgrossing its bigger budget of $1.5m. It is said to have set the tone for many music videos to come down the years.
This isn't Ron Howard's first foray into documentary film making, following Made in America from 2013, but it seems like a strange choice. Howard is a bit of an enigma as a director, capable of producing such near masterpieces as Apollo 13, Frost / Nixon and Rush, a crop of decidedly solid but unremarkable fare such as Backdraft or A Beautiful Mind, alongside some absolute dogs - The Dilemma, The Robert Langdon trilogy (what Tom Hanks was thinking I have no idea; I suppose everyone has to pay the mortgage). Most recently he successfully performed rescue surgery on Solo: A Star Wars story following the departure of original directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller. (*) Eight Days a Week is a relatively safe, unfussy portrait, covering the basics, including a few controversial moments, such as Lennon's "bigger than Jesus" comment and his subsequent explanation / apology, and the groups small contribution to the Civil Rights movement, when they refused to play before a segregated audience in Jacksonville, Florida, on their 1964 US tour, and their future insistence that their contacts contained a clause stating that they would not do so. The former was a storm in a teacup, despite the mass record burnings in the US. The latter was a truly pioneering moment for which they are probably not really credited or even particularly well known. Certain more famous clips, such as Lennon's "Just rattle your jewelry" comment at the 1963 Royal Variety Performance, are omitted. It's peppered with the odd celebrity interview, with likes of Whoopi Goldberg, Sigourney Weaver et al talking about the influence the band had on them. It reinforces what a true cultural and artistic phenomenon The Beatles were, and still are.
The documentary shows the stress and scrutiny they were under, the closeness and friendship they had - John Lennon and Paul McCartney agreed that whichever of them actually wrote a song, it would be credited to both of them, although George and Ringo received their own credits for the likes of Taxman and Octopus's Garden. It shows how utterly utterly mental Beatlemania was, and provides context about the turbulent times in which they emerged - they broke through in 1963 at almost the exact time John F Kennedy was assassinated and went on to conquer the world. The songs speak for themselves and sound absolutely superb on a great soundsystem. For cinemagoers, as a bonus after the film finishes there is a presentation of 30 minutes of The Beatles groundbreaking Shea Stadium concert. Whether a fan or not - but particularly if you are - this is a great, unmissable experience.
Interesting, or maybe not, tidbit, the Semaphore spelled out by the boys on the cover of Help! doesn't actually spell Help. It spells NUJV, which was apparently an easier pose.
(*) I firmly perceive that the apparent "failure" of that film at the box office was down to the sheer awfulness of the preceding Star Wars film The Worst Last Jedi.
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