Beatles' Biggest Influence on Magical Mystery Tour Film

Pot, what pot?

 

And then getting and slaking the munchies afterward:

 

I heard Jack Nicholson wrote the script.

 

I would suggest "The Goon Show" was the template. It certainly informed Johns' books, 'IN HIS OWN WRITE' and
"A SPANIARD IN THE WORKS" .

 

I can see many filiations between "Help!" and "The Monkees" episodes, but MMT is a whole different animal(s).

I see no psychedelia, no 'Lewis Caroll-like' poetry of the absurd, and no 'free-form' filming and editing in any pre-MMT episode of the Monkees.

 

MMT is not a good movie. But when seen today I think it works as a time capsule trip back in time to the colorful, psychedelic Sixties. I like to think of it as one of those "Album Videos", with the promo performances surrounded by zany vignettes. I would say that MMT is more watchable as nostalgia today than it was when it first debuted.

 

Of course, one of the biggest defenders of the Monkees was ironically, The Beatles.

 

I haven't seen the movie, would you recommend it?

 

Not unless you are a really big fan of the Beatles psych era and also like kind of slow and weird art films with a sort of druggy haze prevalent throughout.
The songs are great of course but you don't need the movie to hear the songs.

I love the movie but many many fans who normally love the Beatles dislike the movie.

 

Thats Indica! Running around like tools in MMT , means it must have been Sativa

 

You can watch the whole thing on youtube if you're a masochist.

The movie would have been better if it had been influenced by The Monkees TV show. As others have mentioned, the music is excellent.

 

Perhaps 'Un Chien Andalou' or another surrealist film by Bunuel or Dali? Or perhaps it was just pot and/or acid (as some others have already posted). I haven't seen it since I was a kid, but I remember that I quite enjoyed it.

 

To me...

Watching Magical Mystery Tour is the same as watching Uncle George and Aunt Margaret's 8mm home movies from their vacation in Branson Missouri with a few music clips thrown in to kill the boredom.

 

I think McCartney had more reefer than the rest of them.

 

I agree, but I think the Monkees influence is even more obvious in the last few minutes of the Yellow Submarine film.
I enjoy Magical Mystery Tour. Especially with Paul's commentary on the DVD. It's weird and strange, has great music, and is just the right length. Aunt Jessie played drums in the outtakes. And she rocked!

 

I literally just watched this for the first time last week. 52 minutes of "what the hell am I watching", yet by the end all I could think was "I really want to try psychedelic drugs."

 

I'm sure nobody wants to carry the weight of the responsibility of being The Beatles' biggest influence on Magical Mystery Tour film. But... an astounding soundtrack.

 

In no way did The Beatles imitate an manufactured group created to imitate what they did in HELP! two years prior.

I get that there are lots of nostalgic fans of that TV show but get real.

 

The Walrus video is perfect, I don't care what anybody says.

 

This is actually a confirmed fact.

 

No.

 

Exhibit 1 that The Beatles were not infallible. Brilliant musicians, amateur filmmakers. Combine this with mind altering substances and the lack of someone to say "no", and you have a recipe for disaster.

Only the soundtrack redeems this turkey. Paul has tried over the years to drag Martin Scorcese into the discussion to give MMT some legitimacy, but it remains illigitimate at best and embarrassing at worst.

 

A bit off topic, but that reminded me of this
The Ferret Song - John Cleese & the Loving Pruneful

http://youtu.be/CS_fCLKamfo

 

The Beatles didn't imitate anybody. This is no reason to belittle an excellent TV series.