The filmed account of The Beatles' attempt to recapture their old group spirit by making a back-to-basics album, which instead drove them further apart.The filmed account of The Beatles' attempt to recapture their old group spirit by making a back-to-basics album, which instead drove them further apart.The filmed account of The Beatles' attempt to recapture their old group spirit by making a back-to-basics album, which instead drove them further apart.
- Won 1 Oscar
- 2 wins total
John Lennon
- Self (The Beatles)
- (uncredited)
Paul McCartney
- Self (The Beatles)
- (uncredited)
George Harrison
- Self (The Beatles)
- (uncredited)
Ringo Starr
- Self (The Beatles)
- (uncredited)
Sue Ahearne
- Self - 'Apple Scruff'
- (uncredited)
The Beatles
- Themselves
- (uncredited)
Peter Brown
- Self
- (uncredited)
Geoff Emerick
- Self
- (uncredited)
Kevin Harrington
- Self
- (uncredited)
Eileen Kensley
- Self - 'Apple Scruff'
- (uncredited)
Michael Lindsay-Hogg
- Self
- (uncredited)
George Martin
- Self
- (uncredited)
Heather McCartney
- Self
- (uncredited)
Linda McCartney
- Self
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaFollowing the argument with Sir Paul McCartney seen in the movie, George Harrison went home and wrote the song "Wah-Wah", which he recorded for his first solo album two years later. Three days after the argument with McCartney, Harrison temporarily quit the Beatles after a row with John Lennon. Harrison was coaxed back a week later, after McCartney promised that they would start recording in the band's new Apple Studios, instead of Twickenham Studios.
- GoofsDue to the two-camera technique used to film most of the scenes, during much of the performances the audio does not match up with the performers. One such example is during the Suzy Parker segment, and again during I Got a Feeling, though this scene was filmed using five cameras.
- Quotes
John Lennon: I'd like to say thank you on behalf of the group and ourselves, and I hope we passed the audition.
- Alternate versionsThe first cut, which was supervised by Michael Lindsay-Hogg and The Beatles themselves, ran for 210 minutes. It was screened in a private screening room on 20th July, 1969. After the screening, three of The Beatles wanted further cuts to be made. According to Mark Lewisohn's "The Complete Beatles Chronicle", a second version was edited in the absence of John Lennon and Yoko Ono. This new cut (with a considerable amount of "John and Yoko" footage cut out) became the 81-minute release that made the cinemas. In an interview on the "I Am The Eggpod" podcast, Lindsay-Hogg confirmed that the footage deleted from the theatrical release contained a large amount of material featuring Lennon and Ono sitting alone away from the group and "whispering to each other". Lindsay-Hogg claims that about "one reel of film" was removed.
- ConnectionsEdited from The Beatles: Don't Let Me Down (1969)
- SoundtracksPaul's Piano Intro
Performed by The Beatles
Written by Paul McCartney
Published by Apple Records
Courtesy of Apple Records
Featured review
As a life-long Beatles fan don't expect objectivity here - I first saw this in the early 70's and found it riveting
and got the same feeling tonight. This was an early ordinary rockumentary about 4 ordinary yet very talented blokes in their late 20's at the peak of their creative powers, in the process of readjustment to being mere hairy bickering mortals again after experiencing a few years of quasi-godhood. "Mr. Epstein" was long dead although Paul was trying to fill his shoes, and their Apple Empire was shrinking. The Beatles almost on their own created intelligent pop/rock music, which imho has not moved on since 1969 where they left it. There have been many excellent innovative and intelligent rock bands that have come and gone since, many borrowing and adapting from the Beatles back catalogue however I don't count the many cash-in rip-off bands such as Oasis. Has anyone since not ripped them off at some point? I've lost count of the number of times over the decades I've heard a "new" piece of music and said to myself "I've heard that before somewhere ah yes, such and such by the Beatles". Apart from the quantum leaps in sound technology since then nothing of any lasting musical value has been added there has been no progression. Led Zeppelin filled stadia but did they fill billions of hearts? Queen was popular but did they rule the world? Pop and rock music may have always been ephemeral, but along with Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, Lata Mangeshkar, Frank Sinatra and Jimi Hendrix the Beatles weren't. Never mind about their timeless music, they even managed to look timeless while everyone else around them in here looked dated by the early '70's. God works in mysterious ways.
John, Paul, George and Ringo got together first in Twickenham Studios then in the Apple basement in January 1969 to rehearse some new songs with the assistance of almost-5th Beatle Billy Preston (and occasionally actual-5th Beatle George Martin) and with the hope of playing live again sometime soon. Yoko (definitely not 5th Beatle) would have probably been on stage with them. As it turned out on they only made it to the Apple roof on 30th January, disturbing the peace of the police on the streets of London below. The Rolling Stone review of the film from 9th July 1970 that I remember so well was typically over-reverential but had some telling points the first being how deliberately grainy the photography was which still can take some getting used to and that there was over 800 hours of footage from 4 cameras to edit down to the brief 80 minutes we got. How on Earth can it ever be properly remastered and will more ever be officially available in our lifetimes? Maybe we should also bear in mind that the film was to be called Get Back as a return to simplicity for the band, and that McCartney originally penned racist lyrics for this sublime song which thankfully weren't incorporated into any of the final versions. There's a lot of classic pop music in here from their own then new stuff to rock'n'roll standards from the '50's, which the Beatles were in an ideal and unchallengeable position to translate for listeners both of the Old World of pop and the New World of rock that they left behind them.
Highlights: A splendid cod version of Bessame Mucho from McCartney; a loving version of You Really Got A Hold On Me from Lennon; the videos for Two Of Us, Let It Be, Long And Winding Road; and Get Back, Don't Let Me Down up on the freezing roof; so many others. Overall: to a fan, a beautiful and sad account of a unique group of individuals struggling and failing against disintegration; this should also be essential viewing to fans of intelligent pop/rock music who might have sometimes wondered where U2, Bon Jovi, Kings Of Leon et al came from so far though, this was the artistic pinnacle.
John, Paul, George and Ringo got together first in Twickenham Studios then in the Apple basement in January 1969 to rehearse some new songs with the assistance of almost-5th Beatle Billy Preston (and occasionally actual-5th Beatle George Martin) and with the hope of playing live again sometime soon. Yoko (definitely not 5th Beatle) would have probably been on stage with them. As it turned out on they only made it to the Apple roof on 30th January, disturbing the peace of the police on the streets of London below. The Rolling Stone review of the film from 9th July 1970 that I remember so well was typically over-reverential but had some telling points the first being how deliberately grainy the photography was which still can take some getting used to and that there was over 800 hours of footage from 4 cameras to edit down to the brief 80 minutes we got. How on Earth can it ever be properly remastered and will more ever be officially available in our lifetimes? Maybe we should also bear in mind that the film was to be called Get Back as a return to simplicity for the band, and that McCartney originally penned racist lyrics for this sublime song which thankfully weren't incorporated into any of the final versions. There's a lot of classic pop music in here from their own then new stuff to rock'n'roll standards from the '50's, which the Beatles were in an ideal and unchallengeable position to translate for listeners both of the Old World of pop and the New World of rock that they left behind them.
Highlights: A splendid cod version of Bessame Mucho from McCartney; a loving version of You Really Got A Hold On Me from Lennon; the videos for Two Of Us, Let It Be, Long And Winding Road; and Get Back, Don't Let Me Down up on the freezing roof; so many others. Overall: to a fan, a beautiful and sad account of a unique group of individuals struggling and failing against disintegration; this should also be essential viewing to fans of intelligent pop/rock music who might have sometimes wondered where U2, Bon Jovi, Kings Of Leon et al came from so far though, this was the artistic pinnacle.
- Spondonman
- Feb 21, 2009
- Permalink
- How long is Let It Be?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Beatles at Work
- Filming locations
- Apple Corps, 3 Savile Row, Mayfair, London, England, UK(13-24 January 1969)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $1,061,569
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content