Is it possible for a movie to say anything new about the Beatles? John Lennon joked that they were “more popular than Jesus” for a reason; their legacy is hardcoded into our collective DNA. There’s no band on Earth whose work is so indelibly stamped on our brains that someone who can’t name the Fab Four would have to acknowledge hearing its songs.
Director Ron Howard, who has his own lengthy history in entertainment, took a page from Martin Scorsese’s playbook to give us a new way of looking at the Liverpool quartet. The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years narrows the band’s work down to a scant four-year period (1963 to 1966) of constant movement from city to city.
Howard’s work seems clear-cut, but with one stretch of 25 U.S. cities in 30 days, the Beatles’ schedule was punishing, and by the time they performed their final show at Candlestick Park in 1966, they were burned out. It was only by continuing to record in the studio that the band was able were able to last as long as it did.
Howard assembles Eight Days a Week with an eye to appeasing those knowledgeable about Beatles history. You don’t have to be obsessed with the band, but don’t anticipate backstory. Howard tightly sews his timeline together, and there’s little room for filler. Brief snatches of personal lives are sampled, like Paul McCartney’s bond with John Lennon over the mutual death of their mothers, and all four members – physically interviewed or through archival footage – briefly touch on their Liverpool roots. With the Beatles packing so much into a short amount of time, it’s impossible to focus on their broader impact as well as their own personal feelings of that time, which may explain why interview subjects outside the band are abruptly dropped.
The doc’s central conceit is that the Beatles’ arrival in America set off a powder keg, both for the band and the world. What happened during those four years cemented them as a global juggernaut, changing society and altering the band’s perspective on themselves. Talking heads include historian Malcolm Gladwell and celebrities like Whoopi Goldberg and Sigourney Weaver, both of whom had the good fortune to see the Beatles perform. Gladwell explains that the Beatles’ introduction to America helped create the teenager as we know it.
The actresses’ memories particularly illustrate the newfound power of the teenager. Weaver emphasizes her love for the band, buying a new dress in case they saw her in the sea of 50,000 people (she is captured in footage of the Hollywood Bowl concert). Goldberg is part of an intriguing sidebar on Beatles’ position within the racial dynamics of the ‘60s. The band refused to play segregated venues, and Goldberg depicts the Beatles as a unifying element in a fractured America. Such moments emphasize the cultural power the Beatles wielded in this volatile decade. Howard doesn’t avoid the humor of this power, as the film is full of pie-eyed girls whose paroxysms of jubilation look like mass seizures.
Only a director with Howard’s cachet could land interviews with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, and their voices are the predominant ones. Coupled with archival interviews from departed members John Lennon and George Harrison, Eight Days a Week captures much of the group’s effervescent spirit. As director Richard Curtis explains, what made the band relatable was the fact they were teenage boys who enjoyed poking fun at each other. Footage of them goofing off during interviews, dropping cigarette ash on Lennon’s head as cameras roll, show them as teenage boys on the ride of their life.
Incredibly, 50 years after their final live show, the music endures. Howard thankfully stops interviews to let the music take center stage, and long stretches of the film are simply dedicated to watching the Fab Four perform. Their chemistry and genuine joy for performing, even when they are tired, unable to hear each other and sick of singing live, is amazing to witness.
The Beatles: Eight Days a Week isn’t revelatory, but it’s a reminder of how much we love the music, and the members of the band. With rare concert footage, incisive interviews and insight into these early rock gods they were, the movie tells us what we already know, and that’s all we need.
The post The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years appeared first on Spectrum Culture.