Let It Be

Yes the film is poorly edited--the sound sometimes doesn't exactly sync...but hey its the Beatles. Finally playing themselves in a film designed to show off their musical roots and working toward an album stripped of the "hee, hee, hee" and "blowing bubbles through straws". I saw the film when it was released 37 years ago. I have a VHS copy. I watch it at least two times a year. I still to this day do not see a film about a group breaking up. Albeit--there were some tense moments...but what "family" doesn't have tense moments. I remember the scene between Harrison and McCartney over George's guitar playing for "I've Got A Feeling"/I remember the scene between Lennon and McCartney discussing George's reluctance to "going out on the road". Tense/Uptight--sure--but what shines the most is the music. The rooftop concert shows just how hot a band the Beatles actually were. I actually find the album to be a joy...they actually get a chance to rock out just like they did in the early days. And with a nod to Lennon, they actually had a bite to these new songs. To dismiss this film is a big mistake. If anything--it should be looked upon as a historical document. I am all in favor of the film coming out on DVD. It would be a blast to see the unused footage and more.

Oscar awarded documentary about Beatles final sessions. Great occasion to peep behind the big scene and see The Fab Four working in the studio. Amazing picture that must be seen not only by Beatles fans, but by all good movies lovers. An undeniably classic with lots of legendary tunes.

The Beatles were not only a group that challenged the recording industry, and of course, the world of entertainment. They acted also as avant-gardè multi-media artists.

Not only they helped improving the pop music marketing with their innovative LP packages and stuff but also created new kind of media that would become a mania in the XXI century: the reality show. Yes, almost 100% of the scenes shown on Let It Be are cine realitè - the bare truth captured by the lens of cameras directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg.

In fact, although the band was working on the edge of their break-up, almost 90% of the scenes are cheerful and enjoyable. The main bulk of the footage shows Paul McCartney trying to find ways of enhance the Beatles performing and figuring out what to do in the future. Although John Lennon seems to be distracted by his future wife presence, Yoko Ono, he also looks to be happy playing and having fun - even dancing around to the sound of I Me Mine, sung by George.

By the way, George Harrison the most "unhappy" character also appears on the film having a ball singing rock and roll tunes. The lowest point (or highest, depending on the way you look at it) seems to be a row he had with Paul, but it only consumes about 5 minutes of the whole picture.

At last but not the least, Ringo Starr is shown for the first time ever playing a song - Octopus's Garden - that would later take part of Abbey Road - the LP that marked the end of the Fab Four as a group, but the begining of the Beatles as an universal legend.

I believe this candid look inside the troubled world of the later Beatles is a good account of why the world's greatest musical force ultimately broke up. I wouldn't easily recommend it to a "casual" Beatles listener, and certainly not at all would I suggest it for clueless "non-fans". But for the serious fan such as myself, this is fascinating to watch. Paul McCartney was the only Beatle at this point who was interested in trying to keep the band together; George Harrison was too busy getting fed up with Paul for telling him how to play his own guitar; Ringo Starr was lethargic and resigned to being the solemn background drummer; and John Lennon was so in love with Yoko Ono that he couldn't care less what the other three were doing anyway. So, it's this grim reality creeping into the once magical world of the Beatles' recording sessions that is tense and uncomfortable to watch here. But there is no denying that it's all frank, in-your-face, and well captured.

But it's not all ugliness. When Billy Preston is invited in for an inspired jam session, for example, everything seems like fun and games again. And the impromptu rooftop concert at the end of the movie displays The Fab Four at their best, playing great music together and having a lot of fun one last time as a unit, almost in spite of themselves. Of course, even with all its warts, there's always the music. Classic songs like "Two of Us," "I've Got a Feeling," "Don't Let Me Down," The Long and Winding Road," "Get Back," and the appropriate title tune itself are always there to make us feel good again. *** out of ****

Another watched in-flight movie on my IPod, "Let it Be" for my money now stands as an honest and convincing testimony to the talent and stature of The Beatles, even as one can sense the ties that bind loosening them individually in front of you.

Of course there's a sadness and elegiac sensation for fans in watching this "posthumous" film and it's also fair to say the music isn't always top-drawer Beatles - only McCartney brings his best work to the party, although John and especially George would recover their chops in time for "Abbey Road". Sure, too the playing's a bit sloppy at times but there's never a moment when there isn't fascination at something going on on-screen. And for-by much is made of Paul and George's spat (with John acting as unlikely peace-maker) and the at times tired and dishevelled appearance of the guys themselves, there are many other revealing and rewarding vignettes, even before director Michael Lindsay-Hogg, corrals the band for three assured in-studio video performances (all, significantly, of Macca tracks) and then the great idea (since aped by the Stones and U2) of playing their new stuff live on Apple's roof, on a biting cold Jamuary day. It was also inspired of Lindsay-Hogg to intersperse the general public's comments before the group brings the "audition" to a close.

The photography is great, the four stepping into life from their iconic White Album photos and I enjoyed the honest but fair editing applied to what was by all accounts a massively over-recorded exercise. Favourite moments for me include Paul and Ringo's boogie-woogie piano run-through, George assisting Ringo with the writing of "Octopus's Garden" and of course that final run-through of "Get Back" on the roof, with Paul surprisingly getting in some improvised anti-Establishment digs before the police pulled the plug.

Of all the concerts that ever have been or ever will be, that 20 minute Apple gig is the one I wish I could have been at. And surely even if slightly Pyrrhically, the great music they produce over the last thirty minutes or so of the film justifies the raison-d'etre of the film, working up the songs from in-progress to issuable level.