Peter Jacksons Beatles Doco - 'The Beatles Get Back'

Remove this Banner Ad

Jul 28, 2012
10,989
10,310
Melbourne, the lost City.
AFL Club
Geelong
Other Teams
QPR, Buffalo Bills
Totally absorbed in this, Let it Be was a film that almost every Beatles fan had nothing but disdain for. Jackson has dispelled the myth surrounding the Beatles final year with this doco and Yoko was not to blame. Paul was trying to hold the band together under impossible circumstances, Apple was going bust, management was zilch and a there was really no direction. The idea of a concert was a good idea, but both John and George were taking copious amounts of drugs including Heroin which saw their interest wane considerably. To John's credit he wasn't as bad as i was expecting, he was still his flippant and jovial self, George just wanted his songs given a little bit more attention. Paul had become condescening and this irked the other two, especially George who simply walked out and wanted nothing to do with playing live'. The compromise was the rooftop performance, they look happy doing that. Ringo, was well Ringo. It was ultimately the Allen Klein involvement that killed the Beatles.
 
Totally absorbed in this, Let it Be was a film that almost every Beatles fan had nothing but disdain for. Jackson has dispelled the myth surrounding the Beatles final year with this doco and Yoko was not to blame. Paul was trying to hold the band together under impossible circumstances, Apple was going bust, management was zilch and a there was really no direction. The idea of a concert was a good idea, but both John and George were taking copious amounts of drugs including Heroin which saw their interest wane considerably. To John's credit he wasn't as bad as i was expecting, he was still his flippant and jovial self, George just wanted his songs given a little bit more attention. Paul had become condescening and this irked the other two, especially George who simply walked out and wanted nothing to do with playing live'. The compromise was the rooftop performance, they look happy doing that. Ringo, was well Ringo. It was ultimately the Allen Klein involvement that killed the Beatles.
Interesting interpretation.

Drugs was nothing new. You only have to look at what happened in India.

It is clear the Beatles were in decline as a band, and this was a last ditch effort to produce a studio album and concert. They were already writing material which would go on to become hits in their own solo right.

I didn't get the impression Paul was condescending. He was a perfectionist, which must have irritated but in the end proved to be for the better. John was flippant and may explain in part why Paul felt he had to take control? George wasn't rated by Paul, it seemed, and John occasionally listened to what he had to say.

Not sure about Yoko. I just didn't get why she was constantly there like a shadow. Was it a condition imposed by John?
 
Jul 28, 2012
10,989
10,310
Melbourne, the lost City.
AFL Club
Geelong
Other Teams
QPR, Buffalo Bills
Interesting interpretation.

Drugs was nothing new. You only have to look at what happened in India.

It is clear the Beatles were in decline as a band, and this was a last ditch effort to produce a studio album and concert. They were already writing material which would go on to become hits in their own solo right.

I didn't get the impression Paul was condescending. He was a perfectionist, which must have irritated but in the end proved to be for the better. John was flippant and may explain in part why Paul felt he had to take control? George wasn't rated by Paul, it seemed, and John occasionally listened to what he had to say.

Not sure about Yoko. I just didn't get why she was constantly there like a shadow. Was it a condition imposed by John?
There will be many takes on it, Paul never dabbled in the hard stuff as far as drugs are concerned. He was definitely patronising though and wasn't at all interested in what George wanted, he didn't have to explain every little detail to George and to his own dismay he was visibly shaken for a while when George did walk out. One of the prime examples of being condescending is not being open to new ideas, he would'nt dare try that on with John. The business side of things was in disarray and they missed Mr Epstein badly. John was in love, but i don't think the others had that much of a problem with Yoko being there, i still think management and the poor handling of business affairs caused more division than anything musical. It was a great doco, no matter which way you look at it.
 

Log in to remove this ad.

There will be many takes on it, Paul never dabbled in the hard stuff as far as drugs are concerned. He was definitely patronising though and wasn't at all interested in what George wanted, he didn't have to explain every little detail to George and to his own dismay he was visibly shaken for a while when George did walk out. One of the prime examples of being condescending is not being open to new ideas, he would'nt dare try that on with John. The business side of things was in disarray and they missed Mr Epstein badly. John was in love, but i don't think the others had that much of a problem with Yoko being there, i still think management and the poor handling of business affairs caused more division than anything musical. It was a great doco, no matter which way you look at it.
Fascinating fly on the wall stuff, though.

Imagine if the Beatles had not broken up when they did and what songs would have been on their next album?
 

AdelaideGT

Club Legend
Sep 1, 2020
1,938
1,963
AFL Club
Adelaide
Imagine if the Beatles had not broken up when they did and what songs would have been on their next album?

I was never a big Beatles fan but have been fascinated by their history in recent times - mainly due to docos like this one.

I imagine they all HAD to go their seperate ways in the early 70s but - say around 1976, imagine if they had reformed for one allbum, one world tour.

Only Paul was still really having solo success around this time. A reunion would have been brilliant to see - and they would all have earned megabucks - but maybe by then too much bad blood.
 

swingdog

Norm Smith Medallist
Aug 3, 2007
9,419
12,353
Melbourne
AFL Club
West Coast
Just finished watching it. To add to everyone else's takes:
  • The length worked fine - I had it on often when I was doing other things, like cooking dinner, so it became a bit like the cricket. You could keep an eye on the key moments.
  • For me, the creative process was the most interesting part of it. The way they played old or nonsense songs between their own stuff, just keeping fresh and seeing what might come out. It's messy but obviously worked for them.
  • On that, like others, the emergence of Get Back was the jaw-dropping moment early on, seeing a new song being born.
  • The bond between John and Paul was so strong, they way they constantly look at each other when mucking around, playing songs. It was this George had to deal with as much as whether his own songs were good enough.
  • That they all managed to keep creating with so many people wandering in and out of the studio.
  • The genuine kick they got out of playing together on the rooftop.
  • That the police officer sent to break up the rooftop concert was just 19. Imagine trying to close down the world's biggest band when you're 19.
  • John telling everyone how great Allen Klein was.....how they came to regret that.
  • They were all obviously ready to not be Beatles anymore. I got the feeling they liked playing music together but not the additional crap that came with being The Beatles.
 
Last edited:
May 5, 2016
43,226
48,210
AFL Club
Geelong
Just finished watching it. To add to everyone else's takes:
  • The length worked fine - I had it on often when I was doing other things, like cooking dinner, so it became a bit like the cricket. You could keep an eye on the key moments.
  • For me, the creative process was the most interesting part of it. The way they played old or nonsense songs between their own stuff, just keeping fresh and seeing what might come out. It's messy but obviously worked for them.
  • On that, like others, the emergence of Get Back was the jaw-dropping moment early on, seeing a new song being born.
  • The bond between John and Paul was so strong, they way they constantly look at each other when mucking around, playing songs. It was this George had to deal with as much as whether his own songs were good enough.
  • That they all managed to keep creating with so many people wandering in and out of the studio.
  • The genuine kick they got out of playing together on the rooftop.
  • That the police officer sent to break up the rooftop concert was just 19. Imagine trying to close down the world's biggest band when you're 19.
  • John telling everyone how great Allen Klein was.....how they came to regret that.
  • They were all obviously ready to not be Beatles anymore. I got the feeling they liked playing music together but not the additional crap that came with being The Beatles.

Felt very much the same.

George was obviously a bit shirty at times at the lack of recognition for what he was writing but he also looked very invested in everything he played when the four of them were playing together.
 
The other thing that wowed me was the quality of the film. This was made in the late 60’s. Most stuff you watch from the 60’s, particularly docos, is grainy. This felt like it had been filmed yesterday
 
Mar 13, 2015
8,291
7,754
Victoria
AFL Club
Essendon
All effortlessly as cool as it gets, partly why they were so good.
Such a great documentary, the high water mark for musicians!

Only disappointment, it cuts out two of the best scenes from the original :(
Otherwise it's awesome of course.



and the good version of Dig It!

 

revo333

Norm Smith Medallist
Jan 7, 2018
6,730
5,882
AFL Club
Western Bulldogs
I will eventually watch it.

I have listened to a podcast discussion about it and the 2 main themes seem to be the way George was treated and that Yoko probably wasn't to blame as much for the Beatles break up as we were to believe.

Saw McCartney in concert last night, very good show.

He played get back and it reminded me that I still need to see this!
 
Saw McCartney in concert last night, very good show.

He played get back and it reminded me that I still need to see this!
I saw him last night in Sydney. 39 songs over nearly three hours.

Just amazing for an 81 year old.
 

revo333

Norm Smith Medallist
Jan 7, 2018
6,730
5,882
AFL Club
Western Bulldogs
I'm up to 25 minutes into the second part.

Have to say that I'm fascinated with Yoko Ono and whenever she is on screen I'm watching her regardless of who else is on the screen at the same time.
 

(Log in to remove this ad.)

revo333

Norm Smith Medallist
Jan 7, 2018
6,730
5,882
AFL Club
Western Bulldogs
I'm not sure he was thinking of his solo career yet. John & George were the ones keenest to do their own thing.

An interview I read recently pretty much confirmed this.

I've watched the first 2 parts and George appears to be the most keen to start his solo career.
 

revo333

Norm Smith Medallist
Jan 7, 2018
6,730
5,882
AFL Club
Western Bulldogs
Enjoyed Part 2 more than Part 1.

Found myself getting a bit bored during part 1 but part 2 flew by and the band was more inspired.

John Lennon gets the 3 votes for part 2, a fair turn around from his lacklustre showing in part 1

Will listen to all his solo albums over the next few weeks
 

Remove this Banner Ad

Back