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

Why buy? It's available all over the place, free, for archive purposes.

You buy something like the re-release (if it happens), because then it will be a legit consumer product.

 

Probably a dumb question, but given how insane everything was at the time, did all four Beatles have editing rights over the cut at the original time of release?

 

Leave the original film as it is and release it with a lot of bonus material. I wish John and George were alive to weigh in on this idea.

 

That would be incredibly disrespectful to the woman he murdered.

 

I recall reading that after they viewed the longer first rough cut on July 21, 1969, three of the Beatles sent notes on which scenes needed to be removed from the film (P,G, & R wanted a lot of the J&Y stuff edited out). I'm sure Lennon and Ono provided their input as well, but I don't recall that being mentioned in what I read.

 

I saw it in the theater not long after JL was murdered. That added to the sad atmosphere. The audience applauded as each Beatles made his first appearance which served only to give me a mild adrenaline rush before the gloomy story commenced. Yea, yea, there are some fun moments. Had there not been, they would have broken up right then and never made it to the Rooftop. Doesn't change the overall gloom of the film.

It has popped up on TV sporadically over the years. Channel 11 in NYC, IFC, VH1 and now Youtube. I have never felt compelled to watch the whole thing again, except for the Rooftop sequence. I could watch that over and over (side note: considering what a blast they had on the Rooftop, maybe a few other live gigs were in order?).

But if they release a box set, I will procure it. Eventually.

 

Ahh okay! I just wasn’t sure with the hectic nature of everything going on personally, the various members making their own solo work and not being overly involved in Spectors reworking of LIB that they’d be that involved with the editing. Thanks

 

There is no human being on this planet who deserves more to die in jail than Phil Spector.

Flame away ....

 

How about just "Let It Be - True"?

 

I'll believe this when I see it. Macca has said such things before.

 

I'd love to see the original film to be released as well, but this is a case where the re-worked version might turn out to be a better film. Let's hope they'll do a great job. I've seen the original on youtube and I wasn't impressed.

 

That's not clear. None of them look very good. McCartney is cocky and bossy, though the most into it. Ringo looks sad and bored. Harrison looks disinterested and snarky (one scene where he is flashing mocking looks as McCartney proposes performance ideas). Lennon is lost in his own world, looking humiliated to be "Paul's sideman" as he put it, only coming to life when waltzing around the studio with Yoko. And speaking of Yoko, there are those shots of her sitting there with a blank solemn stare.

From Wikipedia:

An anonymous industry source told the Daily Express in July 2008 that, according to Apple insiders, McCartney and Starr blocked the release of the film on DVD. The two were concerned about the effect on the band's "global brand ... if the public sees the darker side of the story. Neither Paul nor Ringo would feel comfortable publicising a film showing the Beatles getting on each other's nerves ... There's all sorts of extra footage showing more squabbles but it's questionable if the film will ever see a reissue during Paul and Ringo's lifetime."[46] However, in 2016, McCartney stated he doesn't oppose an official release, stating, "I keep bringing it up, and everyone goes, 'Yeah, we should do that.' The objection should be me. I don't come off well."[47]​

 

The film maker given charge of this will be very important. Also perhaps some of the people who've written about these sessions in detail should have a say. As well as The Beatles and others who were there.

Just taking the available footage and constructing a film from it can lead to something quite a long way from the truth. "Dig!" by Ondi Timoner is an example of this. We can also get into a discussion of what is truth. At least the Brian Jonestown Massacre seemed to benefit from that film in the end.

Or are we just looking for an entertaining film finishing with the rooftop concert? I'd prefer to head hunt a great documentary film maker and let them at it.

 

Hey I have an idea-keep an edited version of the original in the package (edited-meaning enhanced nagra, 5.1 for the tracked songs, cleaned up film and perhaps better syncing) and call the happy redo...ready for this original idea ..."Get Back".

 

I've seen the original. It's pretty gloomy and really underwhelming until they get on the rooftop. I think the important thing to remember is the film Let It Be is just that, a film. The footage was cut together with a certain vision in mind... There's really no such thing as a Let It Be film that tells the entire story of those sessions uncensored. For that we'd need to just look at the original tape. So I'm OK with having another version that gives the period a different look, keeping in mind that it, too, will be only part of the story.

 

It is a finished work that they produced. The film was crap and depressing, so now 50 years later they are going to try and "make something out of it" (as Lennon might put it)? Hell, Magical Mystery Tour was kind of an amateurish affair too. How about remaking that one while they're at it?

Re-edits, remixes... I don't know. Where does it stop? Once Paul & Ringo are gone, you can bet the kids and wives are not going to be as protective of their legacy if it means a quick buck. Look at what has happened with Hendrix.. still scraping that empty, dry barrel.

 

That's why the Beatles' movie should be called 'Dig It!'.

Re-edit/remake the darned thing, with footage from the original movie and all the additional footage (it would be funny if there wasn't much additional footage to be had in the first place). Edit out the 'bad' scenes.

The original film can just be what it has largely become: a cult movie, commercially unavailable in stores, merely a product of its time, for its time.

 

McCartney has recently said that he probably comes off the worst in the film, and so he should be the one wanting it altered or to remain unavailable, yet he isn't. He goes on to say it's the others who don't want it out.

 

Macca seems to have a thing for revising Let It Be; first the album, now the film,

Why can't he just....let it be?

 

Direct, honest question:

What do you care?

In other words, why do you care or want to control how I or others experience the Beatles, when obviously you do not have to partake? I seriously do not understand this compulsion toward management of how others participate.

 

I think you propose an impossible scenario. Maybe Ken Burns might do a good job, but I'd venture to say that even his documentaries only get it right some of the time. As Winston Churchill said, "history is written by the victors." Most of what we know as history (and the documents used by historians to write that history) has a spin on it. Mark Lewisohn claims that he is totally unbiased, but that is not humanly possible and a read through his book shows several places where he takes facts and then puts his interpretation or spin on them to draw conclusions. Paul, George and Ringo had different perceptions of events when interviewed for Anthology.

So whatever is done with that existing footage and music from Let It Be, will in fact be the story told by whomever is given the task, of course with the say, editing and final approval of the four Apple board members. We will get what we get, and it will be no more or less true than the original MLH version of the film.

 

Why the pointless attack to Paul? Everything Apple releases has to be approved by four parties, and there are reports that Ono and Harrison have vetoed the original film before.

 

You would have a built in commercial-there is one version of Dig it where John shouts out the titles of the soon to be LP, including ironically, All Things Must Pass.

 

The Let It Be 50th anniversary could somewhat mirror the upcoming Imagine reissue:

Audio:
- New remix of Original Album (stereo & 5.1)
- Raw, Stripped Down remix of Original Album (similar to Naked)
- Remix of Get Back/Don’t Let Me Down single
- The Outtakes + The Rooftop Gig
- Evolution Mixes using the Nagra tapes (Fly On The Wall as each track evolves)

Video:
- New Movie re-cut from all the footage
- Original Movie restored
- The Complete Rooftop gig
- Bonus Outtakes
- 50th Anniversary Interviews / Making Of Documentary

 

So he says. McCartney is a shrewd businessman and knows his image and his fans. He talks as if other people are in charge and he is just an outsider waiting for them to decide what to do. I don't buy it. I think he is looking for a way to make himself (and the others) look better, "more joyous" as he said in the interview. But that is disingenuous. It's like he's become Brian Epstein and is putting them back in suits and making them bow to the audience to look like 4 nice cuddly lads again.