Spondonman As a life-long Beatles fan don't expect objectivity here - I first saw this in the early 70's and found it riveting … and got the same feeling tonight. This was an early ordinary rockumentary about 4 ordinary yet very talented blokes in their late 20's at the peak of their creative powers, in the process of readjustment to being mere hairy bickering mortals again after experiencing a few years of quasi-godhood. "Mr. Epstein" was long dead although Paul was trying to fill his shoes, and their Apple Empire was shrinking. The Beatles almost on their own created intelligent pop/rock music, which imho has not moved on since 1969 where they left it. There have been many excellent innovative and intelligent rock bands that have come and gone since, many borrowing and adapting from the Beatles back catalogue – however I don't count the many cash-in rip-off bands such as Oasis. Has anyone since not ripped them off at some point? I've lost count of the number of times over the decades I've heard a "new" piece of music and said to myself "I've heard that before somewhere – ah yes, such and such by the Beatles". Apart from the quantum leaps in sound technology since then nothing of any lasting musical value has been added – there has been no progression. Led Zeppelin filled stadia – but did they fill billions of hearts? Queen was popular – but did they rule the world? Pop and rock music may have always been ephemeral, but along with Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, Lata Mangeshkar, Frank Sinatra and Jimi Hendrix the Beatles weren't. Never mind about their timeless music, they even managed to look timeless while everyone else around them in here looked dated by the early '70's. God works in mysterious ways.John, Paul, George and Ringo got together first in Twickenham Studios then in the Apple basement in January 1969 to rehearse some new songs with the assistance of almost-5th Beatle Billy Preston (and occasionally actual-5th Beatle George Martin) and with the hope of playing live again sometime soon. Yoko (definitely not 5th Beatle) would have probably been on stage with them. As it turned out on they only made it to the Apple roof on 30th January, disturbing the peace of the police on the streets of London below. The Rolling Stone review of the film from 9th July 1970 that I remember so well was typically over-reverential but had some telling points – the first being how deliberately grainy the photography was which still can take some getting used to and that there was over 800 hours of footage from 4 cameras to edit down to the brief 80 minutes we got. How on Earth can it ever be properly remastered and will more ever be officially available in our lifetimes? Maybe we should also bear in mind that the film was to be called Get Back as a return to simplicity for the band, and that McCartney originally penned racist lyrics for this sublime song which thankfully weren't incorporated into any of the final versions. There's a lot of classic pop music in here – from their own then new stuff to rock'n'roll standards from the '50's, which the Beatles were in an ideal and unchallengeable position to translate for listeners both of the Old World of pop and the New World of rock that they left behind them.Highlights: A splendid cod version of Bessame Mucho from McCartney; a loving version of You Really Got A Hold On Me from Lennon; the videos for Two Of Us, Let It Be, Long And Winding Road; and Get Back, Don't Let Me Down up on the freezing roof; so many others. Overall: to a fan, a beautiful and sad account of a unique group of individuals struggling and failing against disintegration; this should also be essential viewing to fans of intelligent pop/rock music who might have sometimes wondered where U2, Bon Jovi, Kings Of Leon et al came from – so far though, this was the artistic pinnacle.

gdinelli I saw this movie for the first time only a few days ago. Being a Beatles fan, I was always curious but hadn't the opportunity to see this. Well, it isn't the best movie ever, nor the best musical, best documentary etc.. It's a Beatles movie, and a very good one. Sure they argue, there are times when they seem to just "do nothing" and let the hours pass, but still, when they play... It's almost as if the world stopped, all troubles were forgotten, just for the sheer magic of their music. And sometimes we can see them having fun, and it's all worthwhile. After all, a very good movie for music fans. Say what you will, they are THE BEATLES!

Michael_Elliott Let It Be (1970) ** (out of 4) This "document" of The Beatles making their final album and leading up to the "Rooftop Concert" is a rather dull and tedious film that I'm sure will only appeal to die-hard fans. As a document, there's really not too much to see here except for the rehearsals, which again, are only for die-hards. It appears the cameramen on the film were either monkeys are cows because the entire thing is uneven, ugly and just downright lazy. Those interested in an hour worth of rehearsals might get a kick out of this but there aren't too many great songs being played. The biggest plus is the concert at the end. I've read that certain members of the group didn't want this released and I can see why. Scorsese's The Last Waltz captured the ugliness of The Band's breakup on a professional level. This film is just very, very lazy and I'm sure a better film could be made of this period.

Marcworks I had heard of this movie for quite some time, and had always been curious about it. The idea of watching the rock and roll legends in the studio, recording wonderful tunes, sounded intriguing. I finally got my hands on it, and I can totally understand why they only release the Let it Be, Hey Jude and Rooftop concert footage. From what I understand, this film was produced due to a contract deal that forced the Beatles into making five films, whether they wanted to or not. Following the disaster of the 'Magical Mystery Tour' film, it's no wonder the Beatles didn't take part in Yellow Submarine (which turned out to be a great film, second to A Hard Day's Night) I've read in various Beatle Biographies that Paul McCartney came up with the idea of having camera's installed in the studio. This turned out to be a bad idea.The Beatles are aware of the cameras, which puts them in a VERY awkward mood. Ringo Starr is silent for most of the time, John Lennon is also quiet and George Harrison seems to fuss with Paul when he speaks. Oh, I almost missed Paul. He speaks endlessly, and makes big broad gestures, pretending to be the genius that we know he is, but coming across as rather full of himself. Camera's are set up for him when he stages Let it Be and Hey Jude, where he is seen staring obsessively at the camera. The camera work is smooth, and very professional. However, when the other Beatles sing a song, the camera is less focused, and more candid. There is also constant, subtle bickering between Paul and George, and at times John. It is wonderful to watch, but very sad to see them act this way together, because I had such a nice picture of them in my mind before i saw this. NOW I KNOW WHY THEY BROKE UP!You'll enjoy the rooftop concert. That is the ONLY scene where all of them seem comfortable together. Well, there was a brief moment where Billy Preston showed up in the studio to play keyboards. They all behaved nicely at that point. I think it is mentioned in the Anthology video.Still, if you did music, you'll have a good time watching, even if Paul gets a little too full of himself.