On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the first visit to the U.S.A. of The Beatles in February 1964, Martin Scorsese has put the band back together, so to speak. Scorsese produces along with others including Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Olivia Harrision, and Sean Ono Lennon this wildly entertaining and smartly conceived new documentary that liberally mixes footage from the iconic 1964 documentary chronicling the Beatles visit which was the result of unprecedented access given to directors Albert and David Maysles (Gimme Shelter) , plus new interviews including Paul and Ringo, remixed musical tracks and Ed Sullivan Show appearance, and much more. Beatles ’64 will begin streaming on Friday November 29 on Disney + which no doubt is trying to replicate its success with Peter Jackson’s landmark 2021 mini series, The Beatles: Get Back which won five Emmys.
That film chronicled their recording of their legendary 1969 album, “Let It Be” with rare footage, and was followed in 2022 by an IMAX release of their actual final concert together as The Beatles, Get Back: The Rooftop Concert. What Scorsese producing and David Tedeschi directing are delivering here not only is a nostalgic and tune-filled journey back to another time, but a fascinating and sociological exploration of what The Beatles explosion was all about, now seen six decades later by many of the people who were there at the time including teenage fans now in their 70’s.
Beatles ’64 focuses on those three weeks beginning February 7, 1964 when the Beatles de-planed at JFK Airport in NYC and follows them through that city and the immortal Ed Sullivan Show appearance, and then on to Washington D.C. and finally Miami. The Maysles brothers and their cameras became a fly on the wall through all of it, much of the time with the boys goofing off in hotel rooms while teenage girls camped outside the Plaza Hotel were trying to figure out ways to get closer to them. The footage in this section darts back and forth, from the inside to the outside. The Maysles’ 16MM docu, What’s Happening! The Beatles In The U.S.A. was seen as a special episode in March ’64 of the CBS show, The Entertainers. In 1991 the footage from the 81 minute docu was re-edited and released as The Beatles: The First U.S. Visit.
Now it is given new life, with added insights and the passage of time, from not only McCartney who is filmed visiting a Beatles exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum and commenting on what he recalls most about that ’64 US debut, and also Ringo Starr showing off part of his own Beatles collection of suits he wore then to none other than Scorsese who appears on camera as an interested interviewer, however briefly. McCartney wryly remembers that when they played their recording of “She Loves You” for his father he said dad was complimentary but asked if they could change the lyrics of “Yeah! Yeah! Yeah” to “Yes! Yes! Yes!” for a more gramatically proper usage.
The film opens with footage of the funeral in November of 1963 of President Kennedy before moving on to the game-changing arrival of The Beatles just a little over two months later, an event McCartney thinks might have been cathartic for a still-mourning America. The history of rock ‘n roll from the 50’s and the Beatles unique interest and admiration in covering black artists like Little Richard and Smokey Robinson is also gone into detail, as well as the outrage in some quarters and among parents as to the influence of this mop-topped quartet from Liverpool. The breathless news coverage gets almost ridiculous as their trip is reported even on the network nightly news shows, and newspaper headlines like one that says, “Beatle Has A Bug” referring to one member’s bout with a “sore throat”.
New interviews include writer Joe Queenan telling how his abusive father would beat his kids and not allow them to see the band, but that going to the Beatles in concert was more important to him than any obstacle. Music producer Jack Douglas tells of a trip he took to Liverpool to trace the Mersey sound with his buddy, only to run into trouble with the law. Little did he know that later he would be working with the legendary icons. Artists like Smokey Robinson, Ron Isley, and Ronnie Spector talk about their own interactions with the group and the effects on them. Photographer Harry Benson, director David Lynch, and others are interviewed. Danny Bennett shows off rare Beatles merch including wigs, talcom powder, sneakers, andthere’s even a sawed off seat matching a Beatles ticket from the Shea Stadium concert acquired as the ballpark was being torn down.
Best of all however are the numerous up-close interviews with the teenaged fans in the streets, then and now. Leonard Bernstein’s daughter Jamie talks about her initial dreams of George Harrision commenting on her bra, but then switching her attention to John Lennon. The vintage footage of the young girls scheming to get past security in the hotel and into the rooms of the Beatles is hilarious, and clearly inspired Robert Zemeckis’ early comedy, I Wanna Hold Your Hand. Nothing in that movie could match the real thing brought back to vivid life here in this raw black and white footage.
Attempts to explain the phenomenon at the time by the likes of Betty Friedan and Marshall McLuhan are almost comical to watch now as they assess the reasons for the hysterical behavior by these young fans, some of it with “sexual” overtones. Scenes in the hotel rooms where then-WINS radio personality Murray The K got unfettered access explains why he spent the rest of his career calling himself the “fifth Beatle”. And of course there is extensive time devoted to the Sullivan show itself and its incredible impact, seen by an unheard of 73 million homes. We also get well-chosen interviews with Lennon interviewed by Tom Snyder years later on his NBC talk show, and with Harrison in interviews also used in Scorsese’s 2011 epic documentary George Harrison: Living In The Material World which was edited by Tedeschi in his first collaboration with Scorsese.
One priceless sequence has The Beatles in D.C. invited to the British Embassy where many of the invitees at the reception turned up their noses to which Mc Cartney now just laughs and says, “We didn’t give a flying F**k!”
Beatles ’64 is a gem, a voyage back in time to try and put into perspective a life-changing moment for so many. In fact it would be a great double feature with the fictionalized comedy A Hard Day’s Night which started shooting almost immediately upon their return to London and was released in summer of ’64. It even got 2 Oscar nominations including one for Original Screenplay. I can still vividly recall the first time I ever heard of The Beatles. I was with my buddy Bobby Barr in his room where he showed off his new Beatles hat and album , “Meet The Beatles” . As one of their signature early songs used in this docu says. “there are places I’ll remember, All my life”. Where I first “met” The Beatles was one of them.
Producers are Scorsese, Margaret Bodde, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Olivia Harrison, Sean Ono Lennon, Jonathan Clyde, Mikaela Beardsley.
Title: Beatles ’64
Distributor: Disney +
Release Date: November 29, 2024 (Streaming Disney +)
Director: David Tedeschi
Cast: Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Joe Queenan, Jamie Bernstein, Ronnie Spector, Danny Bennett, Jack Douglas, Smokey Robinson, Ron Isley, Harry Benson, David Lynch.
Running Time: 1 hour 46 minutes
