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

Beatles Covers: Marianne Faithfull - Yesterday

"Getting Better" (Vocals, Drums, and Bass Mix)

Featuring video from Beatles Rock Band.

John Lennon Playing Bass on "Helter Skelter"

Birth of the Beatles

Birth of The Beatles is a 1979 biopic TV movie, produced by Dick Clark's company (Dick Clark Productions) and directed by Richard Marquand.

The film

The film focuses on the early history of 1960s rock band The Beatles. It originally appeared on the ABC television network. The soundtrack was recorded by the Beatles tribute band "Rain." The guitar and vocal parts for Lennon were performed by Eddie Lineberry, McCartney's parts by Chuck Coffey, Harrison's by Bill Connearney and Starr's by Steve Wight.

While the program was entertaining, and included most of the expected elements to a dramatization of the Beatles story, the movie suffers faults on many levels. Events are often telescoped to make the most of the time allotted, background details are assumed more often than investigated (and thus are frequently inaccurate), and the actors are plainly not experienced musicians, as shows whenever the Beatles and other bands appear onstage. (An "audition" scene introducing Pete Best's character, by sharp contrast, shows a drum flair the real Best never exhibited on any surviving recordings from the period.) Many of the familiar Beatle guitars (made by Rickenbacker, Hofner, and Gretsch, among others) are conspicuously absent.

Pete Best's help

Pete Best served as a technical adviser for the production. The film tends to reflect Best's personal account of certain events, and shows some evidence of bias. The movie implies that Best was terminated from the band because of resentment toward Best's popularity in Liverpool at the time. In one scene the band are referred to by John Lennon as "Peter Best and his sods" and makes no mention of dissatisfaction with his playing, which has been thoroughly documented, even during the band's early years. George Martin has repeatedly stated that he was not satisfied with the caliber of Best's drumming at the band's EMI audition, and wanted the drum parts played by a studio drummer for future recordings. Ringo Starr, already a longtime friend of the band, proved a better personal and musical match. (Incidentally, Martin also prohibited Starr from playing drums on an early recording session for 'Love Me Do' replacing him with session player Andy White).

However, it must be noticed that there are several accounts that confirm this version of the events, since it has been well documented that Best's popularity with fans was indeed a source of friction, as many female fans considered Best to be the band's best-looking member, and there was one particular event where, after a gig, Best was surrounded at the stage door afterward by attentive females while the other members were ignored after signing a few autographs. McCartney's father, Jim McCartney, was present at the time and admonished Best by saying: "Why did you have to attract all the attention? Why didn't you call the other lads back? I think that was very selfish of you."

The movie received modest ratings when it premiered on American television, and was repeated in December 1980, as a tribute to John Lennon in the weeks after his murder. It later repeated on CBS, on The CBS Late Movie during the 1980s.

A more recent (and less comprehensive, dealing mainly with Stuart Sutcliffe and the band's days in Hamburg, Germany) dramatization of the early Beatles years is the 1994 movie Backbeat.

European version

A European version exists, and is a different cut from the American version. The following changes were made to the European version:

1. Some of the dialogue and text in this version is different.
2. The opening narration is now done by a British narrator, with the opening text superimposed on a black screen as opposed to a blue screen.
3. The prologue, which includes John saying that he wants to see Mickey Mouse is omitted.
4. The opening theme song is "My Bonnie" instead of "She Loves You."
5. A scene in an art school with a naked woman is included.
6. The scenes where The Beatles perform at the Kaiserkeller are longer. They also include two additional song scenes: "Kansas City" and "Shake, Rattle and Roll" (the former has them trip on the stage floor, while the latter has them break it).
7. The scene where they find Stuart badly beaten has extra dialogue. It also fleshes out Stuart's refusal to see a doctor even more, unlike the regular versions where it abruptly cuts right after John says "Let's get him to a hospital," making the viewer think that Stuart went to a hospital after he got badly beaten, when it's clear that he didn't.
8. The scene where Stuart and Astrid have their moment in bed together is different. The other version has him showing her her new necklace, while this version, has the two of them making love to each other.
9. John's bedroom scene with Stuart has extra shots of the others in bed.
10. The scene where they first talk to Brian Epstein is a little bit longer.
11. The scene where Brian goes to find The Beatles performing "Love me Do" at a venue is longer.
12. The scene where Brian goes to tell the Beatles about George Martin and EMI, has him getting out of a taxi.
13. In the scene where Cynthia tell John about expecting a baby, John asks her "What are we gonna call him?"
14. The scene where the Beatles arrive at New York City is longer.
15. The end credits feature "She Loves You", instead of "My Bonnie."

Cast

* Stephen MacKenna .... John Lennon
* Rod Culbertson .... Paul McCartney
* John Altman .... George Harrison
* Ray Ashcroft .... Ringo Starr
* Ryan Michael .... Pete Best
* David Nicholas Wilkinson .... Stuart Sutcliffe
* Brian Jameson .... Brian Epstein
* Nigel Havers .... George Martin
* Wendy Morgan .... Cynthia Lennon

Wikipedia

Beatles Covers: Jeff Healey - Yer Blues

John Lennon & Elton John - Thanksgiving Concert (Madison Square Garden, New York City, 1974)

Super 8mm silent live film footage of the concert where John Lennon joined Elton John on stage to sing "Whatever Gets You Thru the Night," "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," and "I Saw Her Standing There."