The Rutles - All you need is Cash

This is not for the younger crowd (unless you are a big Beatle Fan) a very,VERY funny but affectionate spoof of Beatlemania insanity, it's not an actual spoof of the Beatles in fact it pays homage to their enormous talent, just the sleazy side of the music biz.

The video and a lot of the jokes are a bit dated but although the costumes and re-creations of the original merchandise are really good the best thing about this parody is the AMAZING music, Neil Innes sounds just like John Lennon and their original songs sound exactly like the Beatles. The lyrics are hysterically funny and I think Lennon gets the worst of the ribbing especially on songs like "Cheese & Onions". George Harrison fully backed the project & makes a few small appearances and put up a lot of his own money to back the project.

I used to play Rutles tracks at parties and night clubs and people thought they were bootleg or unreleased songs, I mean they really liked them.

If you're a fan of the Beatles or of Monty Python's Flying Circus (and I happen to be both), it's hard to dislike this classic take-off of the Beatles phenomenon masterminded by Python's Eric Idle and composer Neil Innes that lampoons the Fab Four so precisely that the attention to detail for Beatlemaniacs will be even more impressive than the wit.

Some of the gags are priceless ("Their first album took twenty minutes to record. Their second took even longer."), but that's nothing compared to Idle's spoofing of familiar Beatles set pieces: the John & Yoko chaacters press conference for peace held in a shower, the Rutles looking "shocked and stunned" in their reaction when told of their manager's demise, and the playful banter with the media (Q: Do you feel better after seeing the queen? Rutle: No. You feel better after seeing the doctor. Rutle: Not my doctor, you don't.) And, in the traditional Python style, it's a documentary that spoofs documentaries. In one scene, narrator Idle finds himself chasing after a tracking shot that goes speeding away without him.

But the thing about it is that really satisfies on the level of the obsessed Beatle fan who knows absolutely everything there is about the Beatles' story. The Kaiserkeller is referenced as the Rat Kellar, an old hotspot crawling with rats, the Beatles' detested music publisher Dick James gets a dig ("a music publisher of no fixed ability"), the thievery going on at Apple, Ringo's fascination with the I Ching, and even Allen Klein appears (John Belushi, wearing Klein's trademark turtleneck sweater). Amidst all that, the true highlight (as was the case with the Beatles' movies themselves) is the music. Neil Innes' parodies of Beatle songs are dead-on in style and substance without ridiculing or plagiarizing them ("A Girl Like You" is close to "If I Fell", but not quite). He also gives a more-than-credible performance playing the John Lennon character. On the negative side, I thought Idle kind of glossed over the disintegration of the band- a period ripe for comic parody, and the bit about Idle in New Orleans interviewing old blues singers who supposedly inspired the band is a total throwaway. Besides, weren't the Beatles inspired by R & R pioneers like Chuck Berry and Little Richard rather than Muddy Waters? I think that's Idle's one slip-up to Beatle history.

This movie will be compared, perhaps unfavorably, to This Is Spinal Tap. I think they're about even. But for the definite word on Beatles (or Rutles) commentary, this is it. And the songs are even better than the jokes.

Somehow my brother and I got hold of the soundtrack album before we actually saw the TV special. The funny thing is that while the comedy bits are really funny (most of them) the songs are actually much better and stick in my mind to this day.

The songs from the early period, like "Ouch!" and "Hold My Hand" are okay, but they really can't capture the excitement and energy of the Beatlemania period. But as the story continues, the darker, sadder, more pessimistic songs are actually better than what the Beatles were doing at that stage in their careers.

Case in point: "Living In Hope," a late-period Ringo song, of the type you might hear on the White Album. "I grew up in the country/beside a chicken shack/then I left for the city/and I didn't look back." Really gets Ringo trying to write a country song and sounding silly, yet somehow knowing he's silly and having the time of his life! "Got no woman/or a steady job/feeling like a cowboy/and looking like a slob!/But I'm living in hope . . ." This was such a great song I had it on tape for years.

Then again there was "Love Life," which totally captures the silly side of the "All You Need Is Love" type of statement. The fade of the song is just "Love is the meaning of life/Life is the meaning of love/Love is the meaning of life/Life is the meaning of love." Fall over laughing as they repeat about 100 times!

Even the sad songs, like "Cheese and Onions" really capture the fall of the Beatles, as you hear the weariness and disgust creeping in. "I have always thought in the back of my mind/cheese and onions/I have always thought that the world was unkind/cheese and onions." Totally captures John Lennon at his most bitter and cynical, but still with the odd touch of humor. "Man and machine/Keep yourself clean/Or be a has-been/Like the dinosaurs."

The music was so great it didn't even seem like a parody, but more a meditation on the genius of the Beatles.

Although parodies never actually rise to the level of their victim they may be lethally funny at least. Some days ago when I was watching the Beatles Anthology, I suddenly started to remember scenes from this movie and I noticed that was laughing to myself. This only indicates how 'The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash' works other way around too.

Although the Rutles is a very funny comedy itself it does require that you know both Beatles and Monty Python relatively well. Otherwise you might lose something very essential. On the other hand 'The Rutles' can be watched many times again and again without losing a bit of its fascination and there aren't quite many films that can compete with that quality - and even less comedies! For a comedy there is a noteworthy section of famous persons presented as the supporting cast. When making 'The Rutles' Eric Idle was at the top of his fame and he received really good support for this film which is one of those ultra rare examples on how to create Pythonesque comedy and do it even better than the Monties.

An excellent movie for Eric Idle and Beatle fans alike. The soundtrack is absolutely brilliant. Beatles fans will appreciate the movie more, because of many small in-jokes. Many familiar faces from Saturday Night Live appear, as well as a surprise appearance by George Harrison!

It follows the careers of the Pre-Fab Four, Barry, Stig, Dirk, and Nasty. See their beginnings in the Cavern, the tea drinking days of Sgt. Rutter's Only Darts Club Band, and their eventual breakup after the release of Let It Rot. Learn more about the Rutles than you ever wished to know!