The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash

This affectionate spoof of The Beatles rise to fame and fortunes after their split was a collaboration between a couple of Pythons, some of the SNL cast, and Neil Innes of the Bonzo Dog Band. It's an interesting combination, which grew from bits in the Rutland Weekend Television show.

With a soundtrack featuring the likes of 'Ouch!' (instead of Help!); 'Get Up And Go' (instead of Get Back), and an animated 'Cheese and Onions', you just know this is going to be silly. The thing is that the songs by Innes are just brilliant, as memorable as anything the Fab Four did.

But The Rutles are The Prefab Four, so let's concentrate on their story. Eric Idle has the most roles to play as well as being the Rutles' version of Macca, and narrates the thing throughout. Neil Innes is the Lennon equivalent, complete with cute Scouse accent, while John Halsey (as Barrington Womble, forever known as Barry Wom) is the Rutles' Ringo, and Rikki Fataar is the George equivalent, Stig. Their story basically equates to the Beatles' - except that their manager Leggy Mountbatten goes to Australia, where they have to resort to contacting him through the Ouija board (and by letters); they form a company to produce other acts - which fails - and end up playing their last gig on a London rooftop. There's even a spoof of the broadcast which featured 'All You Need Is Love'.

The SNL guys - Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, and John Belushi - fit in just fine. Alongside them are Mick Jagger and Paul Simon playing themselves talking about the Rutles ... as well as a sneaky appearance from Python friend and financier George Harrison as a reporter.

If you're a Beatles fan or a fan of anyone connected with this, you'll love it.

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.

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!

Rags to riches story of Dirk (Eric Idle), Barry (John Halsey), Stig (Rikki Fataar) and Nasty (Neil Innes): The Rutles. We follow their journey from humble Merseyside beginnings in Liverpool's Cavern Club to global superstardom under the secure (if somewhat shaky) hand of their manager, 'Leggy' Mountbatten. This intriguing and revelatory voyage to the highest echelons of the pop world and subsequent (and almost obligatory) mass litigation features several contributions from celebrity fans of the pre-fab four; ready to reveal to the waiting world exactly 'how it was'!!!

Brilliant mock-umentary stands as a glowing beacon to the Beatles (including a self-deprecating cameo from producer Harrison) with an astute collection of marvellous mickey-takes of the fab's more pivotal moments performed by four actors clearly having the time of their lives. (Idle and Innes are inspired). All this interweaved with Innes' uncannilly excellent soundtrack (inc. the sublime 'Let's Be Natural') makes for a must see film for true devotees of Beatles and comedy alike.

I remember watching the NBC broadcast debut of "The Rutles: All You Need is Cash," during the spring of 1978. Even though it was highly promoted that week, and featured cameos by Lorne Michaels and nearly every member of the red-hot Not Ready for Prime Time Players, ratings for the special were abysmal, possibly even the very bottom of the Nielsen list. People I talked to had absolutely no idea what to make of it at all. Go figure. This wonderful piece, which grows better with further perspective on the 60's (and Beatlemania), paved the way for fake documentary genre pioneers, "Zelig," and "Spinal Tap," and fortunately found an audience through home video. Even though "The Rutles" is very much an Eric Idle project, it is often overlooked that this film was largely directed by Gary Weis, who was responsible for the wonderful, ground-breaking short films that appeared on the early episodes of "Saturday Night Live." Hats off to Neil Innes, whose songs and arrangements were absolutely dead-on, not just musically, but technically correct in every detail as they evolved through the Beatles chronology.