New Version of the Beatles ‘Let it Be’ Film to be Released!?

The most depressing thing in it for me is George getting electric shocks. The biggest band in the world at the time and having to put up with that level of technical malfunctioning. No wonder they were all fed up.

 

“Focus” seems to be incorrect. I’ve watched the film a number of times, and based on my memory, Preston’s on screen time is very limited. There’s a scene where George appears to be introducing him, there are brief shots of him during the jam and the in-studio “Get Back”, and some shots of his organ runs on “Let it Be”. He’s largely ignored on the rooftop. I could be wrong but I would be surprised if Preston’s screen time exceeds 120 seconds or so.

 

The film cans contain a film that would be of real interest to fans far beyond being hornswoggled by Allen Klein. Now that Early 70s are over and the reality that the Beatles are breaking up after signing a multimillion dollar record contract with Capitol is water under the bridge. Maybe something of value can be realized. It would be no problem to reissue the 88 minutes or whatever Hogg's earlier cut totaled. They could issue a Let It Be: ANTHOLOGY featuring a multihour dissection of the Get Back sessions. They could reissue ANTHOLOGY folding this footage into the narrative. They could create a documentary making of Let It Be using footage from the film within a documentary about the whole project.

Hogg did say in 2008? that the film was ready for rerelease with much of his wish list for extras added.

My favorite idea ... release a LET IT BE: REALITY EDITION ... a cut of the film annotated with cutesy reality show confessional cut-ins only it's 50 YEARS OF COMMENTARY by the Beatles Yoko Glyn John's Billy Preston George Martin.... one minute George young and bearded "it was HELL" cutting to George in the 70s "so unpleasant" to the 80s "somebody was having an ego trip" all the while Lennon Remembers quotes are echoing in in ATMOS upper channels undercut with Mccartney "oh it wasnt so bad really!" then quick cut to Yoko

"I knew I was psyching him out by sitting on his amp.... little did he know I was twisting the reverb button every time he looked away...you can hear it on I've Got a Feeling...NO HE DON'T GOT A FEELING!!!"

cut back to Mccartney: "I disabled the reverb button on me amp... cut Klein in for 25% if ya want, missus, but my settings... hands off! You can hear her clicking her heels on don't let me down like ****ing Dorothy from Wizard of ****ing Oz!!!"

 

Billy is definitely an MVP on the album he's spicy but as George Martin said the Get Back solo alone was worth the price.. but add in don't let me down ...909.. title song...even parts that don't quite work like Dig a Pony have thought behind them. The album would have really sounded purely ragged without him.

 

But, remember when they released the Anthology and included that scene where John and Ringo convince George to play on the roof? That was absolutely amazing and no one had seen it before. There has to be more of those moments; the problem is someone needs to wade through the footage to find them.

 

And that's what Paul may be implying. Maybe somebody already has!

 

Yeah, but at the expense of the songs? No thanks.

 

Yeah, if you like the tinkle-tinkle of a Fisher Price xylophone, a funkless sound that reduces Get Back from the raucous rocker it should have been to a weakling.

 

My take is that we could be in for a peppy Eight Days A Week type version which focusses on how the songs were developed in the studio, with interjections from talking heads on their working/writing methods and styles, climaxing in the euphoria of the roof top performance, accompanied by a soundtrack containing new works in progress and the full roof top show. All in gleaming new pictures and remastered sound. I'd be up for that. Bring it on!

 

Lindsay-Hogg's original edit was over two hours. The Beatles watched it on July 21st 1969 and then individually asked for cuts (mostly of John and Yoko).
Here are the delighted-looking faces of the four and families (George's older brother and Pattie nearest us:

 

Not a problem, that was done in 2003.

 

Let's not forget what they did with Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years - the 1965 Shea Stadium concert footage was not included in the DVD/BluRay release.

So we can expect lots of hype about the full rooftop footage, and maybe even a rare screening of the full performance, but the deluxe/ripoff DVD/BluRay edition of the revised LetItBe film will probably not have the rooftop in all it's glory.

 

Is that the source of what leaked video we have? I love the “Get Back” playback session where they talk about releasing the single as “part I and part II”. The other cool thing is how they are all into the song - the scene reminds me of the scene in Gimme Shelter where the Stones are in a hotel room listening to an early take of “Brown Sugar”. You can see it in their eyes when they know they have a great track.

I don’t know about anyone else, but I would love to see this in color with a cleaned up audio track. So great also to see John and George excited about the track and (you can hear this in the footage) pushing to release it as a single.

G: Let’s put it out as a single.
J: OK. Let’s break it off for a single then.
G: (looking at Paul) Let’s put it out as a single next week.
P: Oh yeah?
J: We’ll do “part II” on the backside with just Billy.
George Martin?: an instrumental?
J: Yeah.

Great, great footage, demonstrating that there was still some cooperation and enthusiasm in the band, despite what most fans (and the ex-Beatles themselves) might say or have said.

 

“Let It Be This Way Instead”

 

No, all the video clips you mention were available many years before 2003.

 

I've seen Let It Be twice. In a theater at a midnight show when I was 18, and a few months ago as an online stream that someone posted. My impressions were the same both times: it's a mostly tedious film, it's Paul-centric, and I wanted to watch the rooftop concert sequence at the end over and over again.

I'm all in favor of a "better" Let It Be, if that exists. Maybe a remaster of the original goes on a bonus disk. But if the new improved film has the rooftop show with the stunning quality of the clip on the 1+ video, I'll never watch the original again.

 

Yeah, I guess that’s right. I still have my Let it Be (with outtakes), Paul on Tour and Ed Sullivan videos purchased in Akihabara in March 1990 for (gasp) ¥10,000 each (probably $80 back then). I’m not sure why i’ve kept them; I’ll never watch them again.

I don’t remember seeing the clip of deciding to release “Get Back” as a single.

 

Having read this thread this morning I thought I'd watch a bit of Let It Be to see just how bad it is, having not watched it for a long time. I had half an hour before starting out for work with no-one in the house to disturb me. I got up to the Octopus's Garden sequence. And you know what I've had a massive smile on my face for thirty minutes. It's fine. Put it out. And I'm no-one where near the roof top footage yet! Or Billy Preston. I was always a sucker for Octopus's Garden anyway but that footage is priceless. Charming, no less. It is nowhere near as dour as I remember. There are loads of laughs and smiles. Yes I'm sure that it could ahve been filmed better but that really does not matter. It is extended time with the greatest band ever and, well, that's brilliant. I think it gets bad press because it was a traumatic time for the band but in reality what we get is fine. It is a process that we would not usually see and that is a great privilege. We should not be complaining that someone managed to capture this in extended form before everything exploded. A brilliant little time capsule. No-one comes out of it badly really. There are all sorts of little gems in there and the odd argument is just human. It is comforting to know that even Beatles sometimes have rows. We all do you know and it's part of the rich tapestry of life and makes the high points even higher! OK. Work now!

 

I would hope this will be much more radical than a directors cut. Go back to whatever footage is available and start again. Let It Be, is a great Beatle album. Let It Be, could be a great Beatle film. Anthologise It.

 

I think if you're a Beatle obsessive, you bring so much knowledge to the movie that you can actually - perhaps even unconsciously - supply the meaning and the links that aren't actually there. I think the problem, certainly commercially, is how it would seem to a mainstream viewer with minimal knowledge, but healthy curiosity, about the band. I suspect they'd be left confused and disappointed at the vagueness of the whole thing. It was made for a contemporary world in which everyone had lived with these people and read about them and thought about them for the best part of a decade. These days, WE are what's left of that world. Most people out there, however, will surely be bemused by the original film. That's why I feel a completely re-envisioned movie would be welcome.

 

At 2 mins, 30 secs.
George: 'What was the last one we had out?'
Paul: "Hey Jude"

Haha...reminded me of Paul's "Mr George Harrison, foremost Beatle expert!" comment, when they were at Abbey Road listening to Golden Slumbers on the Anthology DVD!

 

I say take Revolution 9 off of side 4 and put Billy Preston in there. Oops....wrong thread...

 

Including the Yoko jam session with the other Beatles and watching Paul getting into it by providing guitar feedback against the speaker would negate some of the legend that the other three wanted nothing to do with her.

 

All the same, the Beatles themselves always said this was a miserable experience overall. I think it comes across in the finished film that the director made.

 

Jesus wept.