The Beatles: Get Back - Season 1
The project was announced on 30 January 2019, the fiftieth anniversary of the Beatles' rooftop concert.[14][26] On 11 March 2020, The Walt Disney Studios announced they had acquired the worldwide distribution rights to Jackson's documentary, now titled The Beatles: Get Back. It was initially set to be theatrically released by Walt Disney Pictures on 4 September 2020 in the United States and Canada, with a global release to follow.[27][28] Jackson said the feature film would have been around two-and-a-half hours long.[29] On 12 June 2020, it was pushed back to 27 August 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[30]
The Beatles: Get Back - Season 1
Even more of a revelation, though, is the overall vibe. Watching the original 1970 film, you can't believe those glum guys didn't break up sooner. Here, though, it's not as clear-cut. There are so many moments of levity, of laughter, John and Paul goofing off, cracking each other up. (There's a beautiful moment when they start jitter-bugging together.) Yes, there are moments of tension and disagreement, but that's a normal part of any artistic process. When George quits, John and Paul have a private discussion, unaware of a microphone in the flower pot. The conversation is a breath-taking glimpse of their relationship. They decide to go and ask George to come back to the band. George does return, and Billy Preston arrives at almost the same time. Preston, an amazing pianist whom they befriended in Hamburg, joins the sessions, injecting a sense of purpose and focus into what had been rather aimless.
Having grown from a gang of bequiffed teenagers in the late 1950s into the lauded lords of Beatlemania in the 1960s, by 1969 the group found itself adrift. After a backlash from American religious types against Lennon's glib remark about being more famous than Jesus, they gave up touring to focus on increasingly complex and experimental music. But the time-saving technological innovation of multitracking meant they often played individually rather than together as a unit, just as other commitments and relationships pulled their friendships in conflicting directions.
McCartney's love and understanding of music is infectious as he connects what they're doing with wider musical traditions. You get an intriguing glimpse of how inspiration strikes as Harrison discusses what he watched on telly last night and how a jarring juxtaposition between two shows sparked the song I Me Mine. And just as my dad did while pushing a broom 'round a back room in Merseyside, you get to see the Beatles casually and joyously swapping instruments, working together to shape their sound.
Though I'm from the Wirral, a leafy peninsula across the river from Liverpool that the Beatles played many times as they grew up, my parents didn't have any rarities or collector's items in their record collection. We weren't a musical household, or if I'm honest, even particularly big Beatles fans. They were just the main/only shared interest in my parents' jumble of easy-listening LPs. I'm sure I'm not the only person who connected with my parents through the Beatles as a sort of background radiation transcending musical taste. On paper then, Get Back would seem like perfect holiday season family viewing.
Peter Jackson's "The Beatles: Get Back" is a mesmerizing feast for the eyes, a veritable time machine that transports viewers back to the Beatles' heyday in January 1969. New fans and diehards alike will revel in the carefully restored images of the Fab Four as they bring such classic tunes as "Get Back," "Don't Let Me Down," and "Let It Be" to life in the studio, culminating in the famous Rooftop Concert.
I loved the glimpses of an alternative history. What if they had played a Libyan amphitheatre with Nicky Hopkins on keyboard? Imagine if The Beatles did their gig on the rooftop of Parliament - with Dylan singing backup? A concert on Primrose Hill but without George?
And, in the end, it's the people outside of the Fab Four who make this movie. Debbie Wellum - who is a disembodied voice - is an absolute superhero in her diversionary tactics with the police. Mal's cheerful meandering through the background is a delightful presence. Glyn's wardrobe is scene-stealingly fabulous. The Beatles aren't just The Beatles - if it takes a village to raise a child, it takes an infinitely patient team to elevate a rock band. 041b061a72