Why did the Beatles dislike "Help!" the film?

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by CMcGeek, Sep 13, 2014.

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  1. CMcGeek

    CMcGeek Loves records maybe too much Thread Starter

    Location:
    Sedona, AZ
    In some interviews (the ones I'm thinking of are basically in the Anthology) the band seems to mostly have disdain for their second film "Help!". I always loved it and thought at times it was even funnier than "Hard Day's Night". Can anyone shed any light on this?
    I know it's been said they hated the cartoon series, and then later on Lennon and Harrison had a change of heart about that.
     
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  2. I think that Lennon thought it was a film that could have had anybody in the lead so it really wasn't so much about The Beatles. It didn't matter that it was a very funny comedy or that it was an influence on the Pythons (and itself influenced by the Goons).
     
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  3. Ken_McAlinden

    Ken_McAlinden MichiGort Staff

    Location:
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    From what I have read, they at least enjoyed making it at the various appealing locations.
     
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  4. bababooey

    bababooey Forum Resident

    Location:
    Houston, TX USA
    Because it wasn't very good.
     
  5. CMcGeek

    CMcGeek Loves records maybe too much Thread Starter

    Location:
    Sedona, AZ
    Well, Magical Mystery Tour is practically unwatchable for me, yet they spoke more fondly of that movie
     
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  6. vinylman

    vinylman Senior Member

    Location:
    Leeds, U.K.
    They probably couldn't remember much of it at the end of each day's filming. Decent basic story, poorly executed.
     
  7. As I recall except for the segment for I Am Athe Walrus, John thought it was crap.
     
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  8. CMcGeek

    CMcGeek Loves records maybe too much Thread Starter

    Location:
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    Yes, that I gathered also from interviews, and there were times they didn't remember their lines, but you'd never know anything was amiss from the end product.
    I always said "Help!" was much more of a precursor to The Monkees TV series than "Hard Day's Night" is, but the later Monkee episodes are kind of a mess because they leave outtakes in that they probably couldn't fix.
     
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  9. alexpop

    alexpop Power pop + other bad habits....

    They looked they were enjoying themselves on ' skis smoking funny cigarettes. :)
     
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  10. vinylman

    vinylman Senior Member

    Location:
    Leeds, U.K.

    But, if you'd asked him a week later, he'd probably have had a completely different opinion.
     
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  11. dlokazip

    dlokazip Forum Transient

    Location:
    Austin, TX, USA
    To each his own. Help! is my least favorite Beatles movie. I much prefer Magical Mystery Tour despite its flaws.
     
  12. Very true.
     
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  13. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    I love seeing Help! at the movies..it was breathtaking seeing the Beatles in COLOR on the big screen for the first time!...we had a B&W TV at home.
     
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  14. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    yea, John loved playing with words...
     
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  15. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    smoking...yea...
     
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  16. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    actually I did not care what the story was about...the Beatles themselves and the music they were performing was all I needed...for me it was like a concert seeing them on the big screen performing their great songs!...hey! I was pre-teen!
     
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  17. CMcGeek

    CMcGeek Loves records maybe too much Thread Starter

    Location:
    Sedona, AZ
    I agree, all I knew and cared about was the fact that it was the Beatles, that they made me laugh, and I loved the music. Just as I did with the previous film. I never looked at it any other way.
     
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  18. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    it was so damn exciting to see them on the big screen...I remember all the kids screaming in the movie theater ...what a blast it was back then.
     
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  19. Glenn Christense

    Glenn Christense Foremost Beatles expert... on my block

    Melody Maker Dec.6th, 1969

    John: "Help! was a drag, because we didn't know what was happening.In fact,Lester was a bit ahead of his time with the Batman thing, but we were on pot by then and all the best stuff is on the cutting room floor, with us breaking up and falling all over the place."

    Many Years From Now, page 196
    Paul starts by saying they didn't like previous scripts offered to them, then..

    Paul: "In the end Charles Wood and Marc Behm wrote Help! and it was pretty higgledy-piggledy. We'd have meetings but we weren't all that interested.
    We just browsed through it, really, rather than taking it very seriously. We didn't bother learning our lines.I'm sure we were reacting to the lousy script."

    He also goes on like John about how stoned they were and giggling through the whole thing.
     
    Last edited: Sep 14, 2014
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  20. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    All the musical numbers in MMT are fantastic, but you can throw everything else out as far as I'm concerned.

    The quote I remember from Lennon years later was that he said that he felt like he was merely a guest star in Help, and that it was more about the other people in the movie -- not primarily The Beatles. It's a really goofy movie, but on the other hand the songs are great and it has some moments. Victor Spinetti is the best thing in the film -- he's a riot, as far as I'm concerned.

    That's a pretty good assessment, given that Hard Day's Night is about a world-famous rock group appearing on television and being constantly chased around by fans, and The Monkees was about a madcap group of struggling unknown musicians just trying to find work.
     
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  21. mongo

    mongo Senior Member

    Why did the Beatles dislike "Help!" the film?
    Because above all, The Beatles as an entity had impeccable taste, with the large exception being MMT, which looked far more fun to make than to watch.
    Personally, I think Richard Lester is over-rated as a film maker.

    In AHDN, he was able to capture a bit of the times, but probably more due to The Beatles themselves and Alun Owen.
    Otherwise, a big meh.
     
  22. action pact

    action pact Music Omnivore

    "Help!" is a successful film by sheer force of the Beatles' electric and always entertaining personalities, not to mention the amazing songs. But it isn't all that deep.

    But "A Hard Day's Night" is simply dazzling as an artistic statement. Some of the dialog in that film is downright intellectual in its refusal to dumb itself down for the sake of the kiddies, ie: the scene with George in the casting office, some of John's ad libs, etc. The underlying premise of the film - how much of a tedious grind touring and being in demand as a celebrity really is - is, in itself, rather bold. The film peels a layer away to show a little of what Beatlemania is like from the inside.
     
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  23. dustybooks

    dustybooks rabbit advocate

    Location:
    Wilmington, NC
    I think Help! is brilliant, and a pretty audacious piece of mainstream entertainment, given that it is filled with strange wordplay and is downright surreal at times. It's also hilarious -- I credit it with forming a big chunk of my sense of humor. I've seen it more than almost any other movie, I bet, though only a few times since I grew up. I wish its reputation was better. But I am a huge fan of Richard Lester in general. Have you all seen Petulia? Good heavens, that's an incredible movie.

    As for why the Beatles didn't like it... I think they probably sensed it was something that wasn't really about them, that was kind of out of their control. Of course, A Hard Day's Night is pretty identifiably an auteurist Lester project as well, but it's a bit less eccentric. Lennon specifically I think had a tendency to judge his own output by his own personal life and outlook at the time, and most evidence -- not least being the lyrics to "Help!" itself -- suggests he was in a bad way emotionally around 1965. I think all four Beatles and their periphery had a tendency to be influenced by the response to their work too. Lots of popular artists are like that
     
  24. Dee Zee

    Dee Zee Once Upon a Dream

    I don't care if they liked it. I liked it immensely in 1965.
     
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  25. CMcGeek

    CMcGeek Loves records maybe too much Thread Starter

    Location:
    Sedona, AZ
    I still love it now!
    I guess the movie career wasn't really their bag in the end, but the camera loved them
     
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