The Long and Winding Road: The 5 Greatest Beatles-Related Films Ever
A young John Lennon hits theaters this weekend with the release of Nowhere Boy. The film title, a play on The Beatles' "Nowhere Man" from the Rubber Soul album, is about as close as you will get to hearing an actual Beatles song in Nowhere Boy (rights to the Beatles library is expensive, folks.) In honor of Nowhere Boy and the 70th birthday of John Lennon (okay, this is more in honor of John Lennon's 70th birthday) let's take a look at the five best Beatles related films to ever be released.
1. A Hard Days Night
For people not in the know (or people who may dismiss it as something as trivial as an episode of The Monkees), A Hard Days Night is quintessential viewing for any fan of music or cinema. Back before The Beatles became too infatuated with drugs -- which led to great music (see: "I am the Walrus") and some bad movies (see: Help!) -- they were a relatively focused foursome that put something pretty wonderful together. Of note, Ringo Starr is particularly excellent. (Insert your "only time that phrase has been written" joke here), and it's no surprise the film is good, considering that the director, Richard Lester, would later work on the fantastic Superman II.
2. ) Help!
Yeah, as mentioned earlier, The Beatles were, admittedly, quite stoned throughout the production of Help!; the phrase "haze of marijuana" has been used by surviving Beatles in recent years to describe the shoot. It could easily be labeled a giggle-fueled mess -- which is no surprise considering that the director, Richard Lester, is the man who would bring us another mess called Superman III. Why is it still on this list? Because it's The Beatles in a giggle-fueled mess! And there are actual Beatles songs -- off the terrific Help! album -- played during the film. With, as we see with Nowhere Boy, is quite rare.
3.) Across the Universe
If you can force yourself to disconnect from reality, just for a little bit, this movie can be pretty fun. Plus, as with the two films that actually feature The Beatles, this gets a big lift for having the rights to at least use new versions of Beatles songs. Basically, a bunch of characters are created from the lyrics of Beatles songs; they all interact while singing Beatles songs. It's fun. Bonus points for featuring "I've Just Seen a Face," a personal favorite (Yes, I'm aware it's Lennon's birthday and "I've Just Seen a Face" is a "Paul" song).
4.) Yellow Submarine
"Yellow Submarine" was, at one point, just an odd little song on the Revolver album. You know, the "Hey, Paul, what do you say we let Ringo sing a song?" type of track. Somehow, it turned into an entire animated feature. The Beatles themselves didn't have much to do with it (that's not even their voices), but the imagery is...well, let's just say suitable for another mindset. (See: Help!)
5.) Backbeat
Backbeat almost makes the list by default because everything else that's out there about The Beatles is so terrible (I dare anyone to sit through Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band starring The Bee Gees). Not to say that Backbeat isn't good -- it actually is pretty decent. Sure, as Paul McCartney has complained, it isn't the most historically accurate film ever presented, but it does capture a spirit. Of course, don't expect to hear any Beatles songs during Backbeat.
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Comments
I'd rather watch my old roommate warble through Beatles Rock Band for four hours than sit through Across The Universe again.
That movie made me want to punch my television for letting it be shown.
Yellow Submarine was a hit single that everyone was singing along with back then - at no point was it just an odd little song off that wonderful album.
I love Help. The story makes no damn sense. But it's like a bunch of little videos. The Another Girl scene alone is worth the price of admission with John playing the drums, George playing the bass, Ringo playing the guitar, and Paul strumming a girl. ... And the snow scene for Ticket to Ride when the Beatles go skiing.
Knowing they were high throughout the filming is just icing on the cake.
A Hard Days Night is a perfect 1960's Brit film. Love the black & white, love the editing. Lester created a new concept of hip cheek chic.
The Robert Zemeckis film, "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" should be number three. And it has Beatles songs!
Across the Universe? Ugh... I have a lot of respect for Julie Taymor, but unleashing the American Idol treatment on such classic music was an unforgivable misstep.
Across the Universe? Ugh... I have a lot of respect for Julie Taymor, but unleashing the American Idol treatment on such classic music was an unforgivable misstep.
Indeed; don't know where Mike plucked that from, considering it was the highest selling single of '66 in the UK.
Fair enough. But my point wasn't the popularity of the song (to add to your argument, I think it was the only single released from Revolver), it was the context of that song to the rest of the album. It is an odd little ditty when compared to stuff like "Tomorrow Never Knows."
huh, Two of Us is way better than Backbeat :/ And all the time while I was watching Across the Universe I kept wondering what the fuck I was doing watching it. Same with Backbeat.
His Bithday was the 9th if you did not know if you did okay.