The Beatles: Eight Days a Week

If, like me, you've been an obsessed Beatle fan all of your life, watching Ron Howard's Eight Days A Week may be a slightly strange experience.

For the casual fan it should, for the most part, be a fun 2 1/4 hours packed with lots of interesting footage and interviews. But for myself, who has virtually every bit of video footage and audio tape that fans can get their hands on, there isn't much that's new and you may be left wondering why Howard would take the brave step of releasing nostalgic stuff like this on the big screen. "Ah, let's see, we can watch Jason Bourne or Suicide Squad...I know, let's watch old footage of the Beatles!" But I cannot deny that the audience that shared my viewing was reasonably large in numbers, and they seemed to appreciate the experience, so I guess its a case of "well done, Ron Howard".

If I had to complain about a few things, it would be the cropped footage converting 4:3 to 16:9, or having BW turned to colour in a lot of cases. I prefer historical things to not be messed with. Having said that, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the full concert they show at the end of the film was uncropped, and the picture quality was excellent!

So was it worth this very experienced Beatle fan's while to see Eight Days A Week in the cinema and not just wait for the Blu-ray? Yes, it was worthwhile, and I think my lasting memories will be the rest of the audience snickering every time the footage jumped to another hysterical fan screaming out for one of the four. It made the viewing more fun.

After more than 50 years, there's not much new that can be said about the birth and rise of the "Beatlemania" phenomenon, so don't expect any great surprises or revelations in Ron Howard's documentary of the Beatles touring period. The footage is great as are the interviews (even the 'celebrity' interviews such as Whoopi Goldberg add something to the story). No reason to suggest Beatle's fans watch this new addition to Beatle-nostalgia (they will), but the movie's worth viewing by anyone who remembers the era or likes the music (or, of course, both). I still find it sad to watch images of John Lennon, knowing how pointless and untimely his death was.

"Eight Days A Week - The Touring Years" (2016 release; 137 min. including bonus feature) is a documentary about the Beatles' touring days from late 1963 to August 1966. As the movie opens, we find the boys singing "She Loves You" in Manchester, November, 1963, and in glorious full color mode, no less. A bit later we get "Twist & Shout" from that same evening. To see it on the big screen is utter and pure delight. Along the way, we hear the Fab Four add their personal perspective on these times. "We were not an overnight sensation", reminds Paul, and we then get a very brief glimpse of their touring days in Liverpool and Hamburg. The movie spends, rightfully, more on 1964 than all the rest combined and it is a true treasure trove of rare and unseen footage, alongside the more familiar footage. Sigourney Weaver tells about attending the first Hollywood Bowl show, and later Whoopi Goldberg talks about being at the Shea Stadium show.

Couple of comments: this documentary is directed by none other than Ron Howard, with the full cooperation of Paul, Ringo and the Lennon and Harrison estates. Howard and his team must have roamed the earth to come up with all of the fantastic footage, and make some pointed comments along the way (the Beatles had a contractual provision prohibiting segregated shows in the South, a remarkable stand considering the circumstances). The sound quality has been painstakingly remastered as best as possible. As a lifelong Beatles fan who was too young to have seen them in person or fully appreciate what all took place half a century ago, this movie is sheer delight from start to finish. The theater version came with a 30 min. bonus feature immediately after the end titles, namely "The Beatles At Shea Stadium", their entire set from August 15, 1965. It absolutely blows the mind what happened there. And to think that as the headliner, the Beatles played for all of 25 minutes! Watching the crowd is as much fun as it is watching the guys. Here again, the old footage has been restored and remastered.

"Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years" opened this weekend on a single screen for all of Greater Cincinnati, at my local art-house theater. I couldn't wait to see it. The Saturday matinée screening where I saw this at was PACKED to the rafters, to my surprise and delight. On my way out of the theater, there was already a long line waiting for the next screening. It seems this movie is hitting a nerve, and this has the looks to be a solid success on the art-house theater circuit. If you love the Beatles, you do not want to miss this. "Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years" is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

I don't usually watch documentaries, but when I heard about this one I was unusually excited. I personally love and idolise The Beatles and particularly John Lennon so much, and the thought of seeing them on the big screen just made me happy.

The documentary is very entertaining and shows us a lot of new Beatles footage that was of course fantastic to see. It had some great contributions from famous people such as Whoopi Goldberg and the surviving Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, which were nice too see but I think a little more variety of celebrities would have been nice.

The film shows a side of The Beatles that nobody usually sees. It shows them as just kids who were out of their depth, which was great because it really brings them down to our level. It was very interesting to see that in a way the fans killed The Beatles and that they thought the music was getting lost in the hysteria.

It only touches on the controversy surrounding them a little, which is a shame because it was very interesting to learn about.

You come out with a new view of them as people and not as a brand. It does a good job at humanising them, which I applaud it for doing as it will inspire others to peruse their dreams.

There's something magical about seeing these people together even on film because the chemistry they have is so strong and the music is phenomenal. Hearing the music again was great. Especially when it's remastered.

There's also a really cool bit involving Sigourney Weaver. It really shows how big The Beatles were.

They reused some of the footage a bit too often and it can get a bit irritating over time.

I would definitely recommend it to a fan of The Beatles, it's good to learn about them. If you aren't a fan then you won't like it. It's well crafted with only a little problem here and there. Overall, it's good and I would recommend it to a Beatles fan.

If like me, you were (or are) a fan of the Beatles, this film should be an inspiration. I was growing up at the time of their touring days, yet I was too young to have attended any of those shows. But, by the time the White album came out, I was hooked, and their music was quite iformative, inspiring, and powerful to me at the time. Watching this movie brought back some of that power and charm, and the sense of what an amazing point in history the 1960's were.

The film was a bit sketchy in that it did not reveal much about the men. Could have delved into the characters and craziness of the touring a bit more. But, I sense that Howard was bringing a sense of reverence to the project, and did not feel the need for the sordid details. He have certainly seen enough of that in various other documentaries about rock stars over the years.

I have to say, I found this film uplifting, and very, very enjoyable to watch. Witnessing the evolution of their music (I never really payed much attention to them until Rubber Soul) was great. What a band. What a bunch of great guys. Gentlemen, spokesmen, sincere, brilliant, and creative as they come. Wow.