Expert: Pattie - 8/2/2009

Question
In 1979 Dick Clark Productions made a movie about The Beatles called "Birth of The Beatles".  Around the same time frame another biopic about The Beatles was released that was much better.  Do you know the name of that other biopic?  Theres seems to be no information about that other movie, almost as if Dick Clark Productions has suppressed it.  Is there a comprehensive list of all movies about The Beatles?

Answer
Hi Doug!

This is such a great question and not one I've ever had. I'm going to attempt to list as many Beatley films as I can remember...

Let's get the "official" films out of the way first:

"A Hard Days Night" (1964)
"Help!" (1965)
"Magical Mystery Tour" (1967)
"Yellow Submarine" (1968) The Beatles themselves only appear in the last few minutes of the film.
"Let It Be" (1970)

Okay, here we go. There were several Beatles related films that came out during that time, but weren't necessarily "about" the Beatles. There's "Beatlemania: The Movie" which came out in 1981. It didn't play in any theaters though. It was basically the Broadway show on film and came out on VHS only. There's a great movie called "Backbeat", but that was released in 1994. It's based on the book written by Pauline Sutcliffe (Stuart's sister) called "The Real Life Story Behind Backbeat - Stuart Sutcliffe: The Lost Beatle" and mostly concentrates on the relationship between Stuart and John and Stu's love affair with Astrid Kirchherr when they were in Hamburg. Actually, "The Birth Of The Beatles" and "Backbeat" are really the only true films made about the Beatles.

There are several movies about John, including "John And Yoko: A Love Story" which came out in 1985, "The Hours And Times" from 1991 which is about John's holiday in Spain with Brian Epstein in 1963. Interestingly, in that movie, John is played by Ian Hart, the same actor who played him in "Backbeat". There's also "In His Life: The John Lennon Story" from VH1 which came out in 2000. There's also another one called "Two Of Us", also made by VH1, I believe. That's about a "possibly" true incident when Paul visited John at the Dakota in NYC when Yoko was away and they spent the evening together, talking, arguing, getting stoned and wandering about Central Park in disguise. That was released in 2000 (a big year for Beatley bio-pics). Then there's "The Linda McCartney Story", which isn't too bad except that I thought they portrayed John as a bit of an idiot. That came out in 2000 also. More recently are two movies made about John's murderer. One is called "The Killing Of John Lennon" (2006) and "Chapter 27" (2007). Much more interesting than those though are "The US VS John Lennon" (2006) and "Imagine: John Lennon" (1998). Both are excellent documentaries. A fantastically funny movie is Robert Zemeckis' "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" from 1978 (could this be the one you're thinking of?). While it's not about the Beatles per se, it's about a group of teenagers trying to see the Beatles at the Ed Sullivan show and at the Plaza Hotel in 1964. It's a riot! There are also two movies whose plots are wrapped around Beatles songs. The "bad"..."Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" from (1978) and the "good" "Across The Universe" (2007). Obviously, I have opinions on these LOL.

Now...the Beatles themselves made movies on their own after the band broke up. You can find Ringo in movies like "Candy", "2000 Motels", "Caveman", "The Magic Christian", "That'll Be The Day" as well as a few others. Paul made a movie called "Give My Regards To Broad Street" in 1984. George appeared in "The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash" in 1978. John made "How I Won The War" in 1966 as well as many short films with Yoko in the late 60's and early 70's.

There are literally dozens of documentaries that have been released over the years about the boys. The best of which, I believe is the Beatles "Anthology" which was first aired on TV (on my birthday!) in 1995. There's another fantastic documentary called "The Compleat Beatles" from 1984.

Well, Doug, I hope I haven't given you too much information to take in, and I hope somewhere in there is the movie you were thinking of.

Just as a post-script to this, there is currently a movie about John's early life being filmed called "Nowhere Boy", starring Aaron Johnson (as John) and Kristin Scott Thomas (John's Aunt Mimi) that is expected to hit the theaters in 2010. I just hope they get it right!

If I think of anything I've left out, I'll post a follow-up for you. Thanks so much for the question!

Peace,
Pattie
8^)