Backbeat

Backbeat is a 1994 film that chronicles the early days of The Beatles in Hamburg, Germany. The film focuses primarily on the relationship between Stuart Sutcliffe (played by Stephen Dorff) and John Lennon (played by Ian Hart), and also with Sutcliffe's German girlfriend Astrid Kirchherr (played by Sheryl Lee). It has subsequently been made into a stage production, debuting at Glasgow's Citizens Theatre in 2010.

Production

The film is based on interviews conducted by the writer/director Iain Softley with Astrid Kirchherr and Klaus Voormann in the spring of 1988.

The soundtrack to the movie includes no songs written by members of the Beatles, but various songs the group performed in Hamburg, written and recorded by other artists.

Rather than re-create the period sounds, iconoclastic, rebellious musicians were recruited (as a producer noted, The Beatles' pre-recording stage act was "the punk of its day"). This was done to better convey the way the music came across to the audience, at the time. The musicians were all members of well-known American rock bands:

* Dave Pirner (Soul Asylum): vocals
* Greg Dulli (The Afghan Whigs): vocals
* Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth): guitar
* Don Fleming (Gumball): guitar
* Mike Mills (R.E.M.): bass guitar
* Dave Grohl (Nirvana): drums

The original recording of "My Bonnie," performed by Tony Sheridan with the Beatles as a backing group was used in the film, the only use of a real Beatles performance.

Additionally, the film's distributor, PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, was then under common ownership with the label which owned the rights to release and distribute the Beatles' music from the Hamburg days, Polydor Records.

Main cast

Actor	Role
Stephen Dorff	Stuart Sutcliffe
Sheryl Lee	Astrid Kirchherr
Ian Hart	John Lennon
Gary Bakewell	Paul McCartney
Chris O'Neill	George Harrison
Paul Duckworth	Ringo Starr
Scot Williams	Pete Best
Kai Wiesinger	Klaus Voormann
Jennifer Ehle	Cynthia Powell
Wolf Kahler	Bert Kaempfert
James Doherty	Tony Sheridan

Hart also played Lennon in the film The Hours and Times. Bakewell later reprised his role as McCartney in the television film The Linda McCartney Story, as Williams again played Best in the television movie In His Life: The John Lennon Story.

Response

Paul McCartney was not impressed with the movie, stating:

"One of my annoyances about the film Backbeat is that they've actually taken my rock 'n' rollness off me. They give John the song 'Long Tall Sally' to sing and he never sang it in his life. But now it's set in cement. It's like the Buddy Holly and Glenn Miller stories. The Buddy Holly Story does not even mention Norman Petty, and The Glenn Miller Story is a sugarcoated version of his life. Now Backbeat has done the same thing to the story of The Beatles."

Backbeat at the Citizens' Theatre

Re-imagined for the stage by the original writer and director of the 1994 film, Iain Softley, Backbeat premiered at Glasgow's Citizens Theatre on 9 February 2010 featuring a live band.

Cast

Actor	Role
Alex Robertson	Stuart Sutcliffe
Isabella Calthorpe	Astrid Kirchherr
Andrew Knott	John Lennon
Daniel Healy	Paul McCartney
Jamie Blackley	George Harrison
Oliver Bennett	Pete Best
Justin McDonald	Klaus Voormann
Kate Hodgson	Cynthia Lennon
Paddy Lannigan	Bruno Koschmeider
Robert Reina	Bert Kaempfert
Charles Swift	Tony Sheridan

Wikipedia