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.