The Beatles: Eight Days a Week

Even though I regard The Beatles as the greatest musical act of all time, I haven't really delved into the minutiae of their history. So, as someone who has watched the odd documentary about them and listened to stories about them on the radio, I have to say that Ron Howard's documentary here was very good in that it covers much of the band's history and covers some of the landmark incidents that the band is famous (or infamous) for.

That being said, the revelations in this documentary are rather anodyne, compared with the startling revelations of the ABC TV (Australia) documentary "When The Beatles drove us wild", especially with regards to what band members got up to sexually during their tour of Australia in 1964, when the promoter lucked onto signing them for a bargain-basement price (just before they became a worldwide phenomenon). There are no stories of their sexual exploits in Howard's film and you wonder how the band could have survived if their debauchery in Australia (and elsewhere, no doubt), had been covered by the media. The ABC documentary suggested – from memory – that there was a kind of "understanding" between the band and the media in Australia not to cover those kinds of sexual activities.

What you do get in Howard's documentary is lots of photos and film of the band, including their time in previous bands, like The Quarrymen (which featured John Lennon, later joined by Paul McCartney and later still, George Harrison). There are also photos and film of The Beatles' early days in Hamburg and The Cavern. All the band members feature in current interviews or old interviews with those members who have died before the making of this documentary. The significant figures involved with the band are also featured (briefly) in interviews, people like their manager Brian Epstein and record producer George Martin ("The fifth Beatle").

Throughout the film, there are quite a few songs by the band which get played. Most of the time you don't hear the entire song, but it's long enough to be enjoyable. You also get to hear demo versions of songs or rehearsals or out-takes from recording sessions.

If you're obsessive about The Beatles, there might not be too much that is novel for you in this film but for the uninitiated there are lots of topics which get raised which the studious types can further research at their leisure. Personally speaking, some of the topics raised here I was already familiar with but may have forgotten about, meaning that I enjoyed being reminded about it. For instance, I was vaguely aware of some incident involving Imelda Marcos, the First Lady of the Philippines when The Beatles toured there. Other topics were new to me, like the protests arising from the band being booked to play at the Budokan stadium in Japan. Sometimes what I thought I knew was challenged. For instance, I thought that The Beatles' concert at Shea Stadium marked the end of their touring career because the crowd noise was so excessive that the band never wanted to have to deal with that again (the bonus feature at the end has reasonable sound quality for that concert). In the documentary, however, it's mentioned that their concert at Candlestick Park in the US was their last ever proper concert.

The landmark controversies do feature in this documentary, including the band's infamous "butcher cover" artwork for their single release "Yesterday and today" as well as John Lennon's notorious "bigger than Jesus" utterance which seemed capable of derailing their success...well, at least in their biggest market, the US.

An interesting aspect to this documentary is the focus on the many firsts that the band achieved, including being the first band to play stadiums (Shea Stadium), John Lennon accidentally inventing the use of backward played tape on albums, The Beatles being the first act to have the top 5 selling songs in the US singles chart and most noteworthy of all (and a surprise to me) was that The Beatles collectively overturned America's apartheid policy in the South to have non-segregated seating for their concerts there.

Lastly (as far as the documentary proper goes), it was interesting to hear that the band weren't always confident that they would be successful...they had their doubts, and John would go through a motivational chant to lift their spirits. Also, maybe it seems obvious, but I wasn't aware how autobiographical (and literal) Lennon's song "Help!" was. No other songs are discussed in this manner. I do have vague memories of a story on FM radio about their song "If I fell" (from memory) being autobiographical too...a song secretly intended to communicate with Lennon's lover, as he contemplated leaving his wife, I believe.

The only "complaint" I have of this documentary is that it would have been good to have revisited some clips from previous documentaries. E.g. there was one which featured Lennon talking to a fan, I believe, who was convinced that The Beatles had written a song about him...Lennon had to explain to him, like Jesus to a child, that that couldn't possibly be true (if I recall). One Australian documentary I saw had footage of one of their Australian concerts (Festival Hall, Melbourne?), where I heard an undiscovered gem of a song "It won't be long". Nothing like that in Howard's documentary. I do remember one "Parkinson" interview, I think, with Paul McCartney where he asked Paul about their songwriting influences. Paul mentioned their education, which was interesting...until Parkinson unfortunately changed the subject.

It was great to be reminded of the wit of the band in their press conferences...some funny comments from them.

Highlight:

A soccer crowd at Anfield spontaneously singing a Beatles song during a game.

Liked/interesting:

Footage of Ringo really hammering the drums enthusiastically.

The band were mostly stoned when shooting their film "Help!".

Their record deal was lousy.

Reviewing documentaries is always a bit tricky, since it is often difficult to separate the quality of the film making from your emotional attachment to the subject material. In my case, my early life was saturated with Beatlemania. Although I was only 2 year's old in 1963 at the start of it all, I had three older siblings who ramped up the excitement so much that it permeated my young mind. I still remember being vehemently "Sssshhed" since I was making too much noise during the live and ground-breaking "All you need is Love" telecast!

Ron Howard's film focuses on "the touring years" which as depicted were truly manic, spanning from 1963 to 1966 before then skipping forward to 1969 for their final rooftop concert. This was in a time when airline travel was not the more comfortable and smoke-free environment it is today, so these worldwide trips much have been seriously gruelling, even without the adoration that reached dangerous proportions when they reached their destinations.

Howard has clearly had his research team scour the world for archive clips since – whilst sensitively skipping some of the more 'commonly seen' materials, like the "jewelry shaking" clip – the film shows concert action I certainly had never seen before.

The film is also nicely interlaced with celebrity cameos recalling their linkage to the Fab Four's performances (often moving, like Whoopi Goldberg's) and the group's "legacy" effect on modern-day art (in Richard Curtis's case rather less convincing). One of the most striking of these is that of Sigourney Weaver recounting her attendance as a pre-teen at the Beatle's Rose Bowl performance in LA. There, in the newsreel footage of adoring fans, is the unmistakable face of the 'before she was famous' actress: at least I hope it really was her (as the clip's timing implied) and not a lookalike, since that would be really disappointing!

Also featuring – although not enough for my liking – are Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, recounting their feelings about the events and what happened behind the closed doors of hotel rooms or – most notably – a meat truck.

What shines through is the honesty and intelligence of Lennon and McCartney, typified by the idiotic questioning of journalists, some of who had done so little homework they didn't even know there wasn't a Beatle called Eric! Some of the group's off the cuff responses were priceless: "What is the secret of your success?" asks one journo. "We don't know" quips John. "If we knew we'd form another group and be managers."

While the film has enormous energy in its first two thirds, it rather runs out of momentum in its final reel…. a bit like the Beatles did in fact. It also has elements of gimmickry like the smoke rising from photo cigarettes which gets a tad tiresome after the tenth occurrence.

But this is a very watchable and enjoyable rock down memory lane for 50-somethings and for any fans old and young of the Fab Four's music. Highly Recommended. Note that the documentary itself is about 90 minutes in length, with another 30 minutes of live concert music tagged onto the end post-titles (which for travel reasons I was unfortunately unable to stay for so can't comment on).

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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.

9/17/17. This documentary is a good reminder of just how crazy teenagers were in the '60s. What struck me about the Beatles now was just how good their sound was and how talented they really were. They deserved all the success they got, but as humans they just couldn't maintain their professional ties, to the detriment of pop music. They were a cultural phenomenon and true rock icons who had it all but couldn't keep it going. Perhaps, that is the saddest part of watching this - they made wonderful music, but only for a short time, in retrospect. Together, Lennon and McCartney were the best music writing team ever. Separately they were hardly half of what they were together. They balanced each other out. While McCartney continued to be successful, none of his own works ever surpassed the work he did with Lennon. (Although I did like Ram) And, Lennon turned into an embittered, cynical angry man who just couldn't get over the slights he tried to overcome. And, when he finally got close to getting his act together we all know what happened that one December day.

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.