The One Man Beatles

In the 1960s, as a teenager in a popular local Southern California band (The Paper Fortress), I was able to meet and get to know Emitt Rhodes professionally and personally. He was not an easy person to know, though he had an "easy going" persona.

Albeit posthumously, his story is finally being told, aesthetically recognized in this graceful documentary. And ironically, the film is superbly directed and written not by an American (who would likely be more familiar with Rhode's considerable work) but rather, by Italian Cosimo Messeri, who took an interest in this quirky and often misunderstood musician.

Rhodes began his musical career in 1964 at age 14 as the drummer for the Hullabaloo Club house band, "The Palace Guard," in Hollywood, California. He was occasionally "allowed" to leave the drums and perform a few solos such as "Michelle" on his guitar. He left "The Palace Guard" in 1966 to create his own group, "The Merry-Go-Round." The band had a few local hits ("Live" and "Lovely Woman") but with a meager recording contract with A&M Records, the group finally disbanded in 1969.

Rhodes subsequently went out on his own, building a recording studio in his parents' garage. He recorded his own material, and using multitrack technology, painstakingly performed and recorded, track by track, all of the instruments and vocals. A year later Paul McCartney would do the same with his first post-Beatle solo album, "McCartney," released in 1970.

Rhode's first album with the Dunhill record label was a critical success, with Billboard heralding him as "one of the finest artists on the music scene today." The album reached number 29 on the Billboard charts, but Rhodes would never again record or release anything as successful.

Rhodes's contract with Dunhill required him to release an astonishingly unrealistic six albums over a three year period! This was a brutal schedule, which he was unable to meet, mainly because he was doing all of the writing and recording by himself. Dunhill sued Rhodes for $300,000 and withheld all of his future royalties. Rhodes was devastated.

Essentially, his music career abruptly ended in 1973 as a result of his trial with Dunhill. He was remarkably silent for the next 43 years, remaining obscure and relatively underground until the release of his last album, "Rainbow Ends," in 2016.

This documentary beautifully introduces the viewer to the life of the man, Emitt Rhodes, a brilliant yet shamefully forgotten artist. He passed away July 19, 2020. He was 70.

This documentary is solid, occasionally moving and well shot. And gives honor to a musician who deserves that. The film is simple and essential, without useless sentimentalism nor any big ideas excluding the subject itself, but does its work in an interesting and linear way. It could hopefully recreates attention about Rhodes who is still a potential cult hit maker, so let's wait for the second chapter. The director is young and shows a mastery which lacks in many more experienced directors. It's not easy to see good quality documentaries from Italian directors. Really cool film for everybody, it's a story about a human being, but unmissable for pop-rock fans.

I have seen The One Man Beatles four times. The first time I saw it , it was in Italian with English sub titles! Each time I view this documentary it gets better!!! The documentary is about Emitt Rhodes, of whom I was a fan of in my early teen years and still today!!! This film is a delightful story of a very successful musician who just mysteriously dropped out of the public's eye for over 35 years!! This documentary is very enjoyable and I highly recommend it to anyone who loves music and life!!Bravo to all who took part in this masterpiece!!!The story starts out when a young man in Italy finds an old Emitt Rhodes record in a record shop and falls in love with the music and can't understand why the artist hasn't got any other records since the early seventies!!!The frustrated Italian fan proceeds to America with his friends to try to locate Emitt Rhodes!!The Italian fan tries to find people on the street to see if anyone knows of or has heard of Emitt!!! Finally, the Italian fan meets some Radio personalities, Tony and Janis who eventually find Emitt and start to tell his life story.The film has Emitt growing up from a small child to present day where he lives and still creates lovely music!! Please see this film you will love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks, A big Emitt Rhodes Fan

Very well done...This is an exceptionally sad story of what the greedy music industry did to a young man who was on his way to becoming a very big star... Because of their treachery, the world never got to hear all the wonderful music this young man would have made... And that's not even considering how this destroyed his personal life...Failed marriages, children without their father, depression and an overall miserable existance. I wish I could say or do something for Emitt that would help him in some way, because I genuinely feel bad for him... But I do want to thank him for all of the wonderful music he made that I still Love and listen to often...

Cosimo Messeri has directed an amazing look at pop genius and cult figure Emitt Rhodes. The director, who is far too young to have known Rhodes' music when it was first released, looks at a man who could have had it all in the music business if not for bad contracts, ridiculous deadlines, and perhaps personal demons. Through interviews with those who knew and worked with Rhodes, Messeri weaves a tale of musical genius and lost opportunity. We see Rhodes in old home movies, laughing and enjoying life, which appear in stark contrast to the Rhodes of today. The music is still there, but the drive and desire seem to have dissolved with the will to fight for what was taken away years ago by record company executives. In the studio again after 30 some years, Rhodes is making wonderful pop music, his voice as pure as ever. The question posed by the director - is it too late? I say never.