jgeorge4 There's a very good reason this movie is so obscure: It's not great.Before you leap down my throat, let me assure you I'm a Monty Python fanatic and a Beatles fan. I love a good mock-biopic (I think "Dewey Cox" is about the best movie ever made).But those of us who turn to "The Rutles," expecting the kind of side-splitting laughter easily found in The Holy Grail, The Life of Brian, Spinal Tap, or Dewey Cox, are going to be pretty disappointed.Is the movie worth watching? Definitely. It's worth an hour of your time just to be amazed by the all-star cast ("Hey, was that John Belushi? Was that Bianca Jagger? Was that George Harrison?") It's really an astounding collection of 70s-era comedy and rock royalty.Additionally, it's worth watching because the music is so amazing. It's amazing how you can subtly combine, retool, and revamp the Beatles' songbook and come out with music that's very appealing in its own right.But in the end, the parody of the Beatles playing live and being all campy starts to wear a little thin, and you begin to see why this movie is so obscure. Go ahead and watch it, but keep your expectations in check.

Dalbert Pringle To fully savor the wildly droll flavor of The Rutles it really helps to have some prior knowledge of The Beatles' career and an appreciation for Monty Python-esque Comedy. Yep. That's what's in order to get into the zany spirit of this one's story.This often-hilarious parody of The Beatles meticulously chronicles (in clever mockumentary style) the rags to riches story of the Prefab 4 (aka. The Rutles).Starting from their early, humble days of tight pants and mop-top hairdos in Liverpool, England to their "scream-o-mania" arrival in America on The Ed Sullivan Show, Nasty, Stig, Dirk & Barry are immediately crowned the undisputed conquerors of Rock'n'Roll and total world domination of Pop Music is the gleaming prize in their box of Cracker Jack.Uproariously written and co-directed by Eric Idle (of Monty Python's), The Rutles is a Musical/Comedy delight that's certain to put a big, happy smile on your face as it royally brings down The Beatles' legend with a resounding "THUD!".Showcasing 16 sound-a-like Beatles' songs that contain some of the funniest, and some of the most mocking and ridiculing lyrics that you're ever gonna hear, The Rutles also features amusing cameos by Mick Jagger, Paul Simon, Ron Wood, George Harrison, to name but a few celebrities.I think it's interesting to note that prior to The Rutles' official release back in 1978, it was first viewed individually by each one of The ex-Beatles for their hopeful approval. It seems that George, Ringo & John were all unanimously amused enough by the film's comic lampooning of their careers to give it an enthusiastic "thumbs up" OK.But, alas, on the other hand, Paul was not in the least bit amused. No, he was not.As the story goes - It was John Lennon who cautiously approached Eric Idle and Neil Innes (the musician/actor responsible for composing the sound-a-like Beatles' songs) and wisely warned them to omit certain tunes from the soundtrack (especially Get Up and Go, which was way too close to Get Back) or else face being sued by the humorless McCartney.And, sure enough, bristling with anger, McCartney did, in fact, make a number of threats to sue Idle over The Rutles' musical content. Eventually, though, he finally did back down when his then-wife, Linda (who thought the movie very funny), diplomatically intervened and convinced Paul to withdraw his charges and allow The Rutles to be released almost totally unscathed and unedited.(Phew! That was a close call!) All-in-all - THE RUTLES was 80 minutes of good, comic, musical fun-fun-fun.... (Goo-Goo-G'Joob!)

jc-osms I had the great pleasure to watch "All You Need Is Cash" last night at a Glasgow live music venue, where it was followed by a very enjoyable live performance by the band themselves, fronted by Neil Innes and still with John Halsey as the cuddly Barry (Ringo) Wom. Nice to not be the only Rutles fan around - in fact the real devotees were singing along and pre-empting dialogue like it was "The Rocky Horror Show". Cultdom indeed.Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed revisiting this parody / homage to the Beatles as conceived by Python Eric Idle with the music provided by the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band's Neil Innes. Worked up from a brief sketch in an Idle BBC series, the story is I suppose fairly easily told, so well-known is the story of the most famous band ever. It's also fairly easy to spoof too and even if some of the jokes date back to when Sgt Pepper was a boy, there are plenty of laughs here.Idle gives himself the biggest part, not unnaturally, as the roving Whicker-esque reporter doing the narration and as Paul / Dirk in the band plus some other minor parts while there are effective cameos by a heavily disguised George Harrison, Paul Simon and Mick Jagger, the latter in particular in fine form. Blink and you might also miss fleeting appearances by most of the Saturday Night Live team of the time, not to mention Ronnie Wood and Michael Palin.The humour though wouldn't be strong enough to carry the show without Innes' quite superb pastiche music, with titles and arrangements instantly identifiable as Beatles take-offs but wholly enjoyable in their own right and in fact I believe the songs have dated far less than the comedy.It definitely helps your enjoyment if you're a longstanding Fab Four fan like me, but this sort of thing could very easily have gone wrong and it's a measure of the skill of Messrs Idle and in particular Innes that they get it so right. It certainly please pleased me.

rw266 This is not for the younger crowd (unless you are a big Beatle Fan) a very,VERY funny but affectionate spoof of Beatlemania insanity, it's not an actual spoof of the Beatles in fact it pays homage to their enormous talent, just the sleazy side of the music biz.The video and a lot of the jokes are a bit dated but although the costumes and re-creations of the original merchandise are really good the best thing about this parody is the AMAZING music, Neil Innes sounds just like John Lennon and their original songs sound exactly like the Beatles. The lyrics are hysterically funny and I think Lennon gets the worst of the ribbing especially on songs like "Cheese & Onions". George Harrison fully backed the project & makes a few small appearances and put up a lot of his own money to back the project.I used to play Rutles tracks at parties and night clubs and people thought they were bootleg or unreleased songs, I mean they really liked them.