The Beatles: Eight Days A Week Review

The Beatles: Eight Days A Week Review 

What can be said about the Beatles that hasn't been said already? They are the greatest and most influential artist of all time and have sold more albums than anybody else. Artists from U2, to Wu Tang Clan, to Ed Sheeran have all claimed that the Beatles were a huge influence on them. Songs like All You Need is Love and Hey Jude are still as popular now as they were when they first came out. They are one of the only bands in which most people can name each of the four members: John, Paul, George, and Ringo. To many and to me The Beatles are bigger than music, they are a part of our lives. So as a huge Beatles fan myself I was excited to see this film. However what this documentary does is focus on an aspect of the Beatles that is really hard to capture, the perspective of the Beatles as a whole. Being a Beatle sounds like a dream come true but after you watch this you see what being a member of the Beatles is truly like. The film is enlightening, exciting, and is a must watch for Beatles fans and even for people who have never heard of the Beatles.

The film was directed by Ron Howard who has directed films like Apollo 13 and A Beautiful Mind. This is his second music documentary as he previously directed the documentary Jay-Z: Made in America. While Ron Howard isn’t considered to be documentary filmmaker he does a wonderful job and seems to really understand the Beatles. 

In my opinion, the best aspect of the documentary is how we get the perspective of the Beatles: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. The film mainly focuses on the Beatles from 1963 to 1966 which is considered the height of Beatles popularity or Beatlemania. Throughout the film, we get video footage, pictures, and audio of each of the Beatles that gives the audience the feeling of chaos and pressure that the Beatles must have felt. We see the Beatles going through a quick cycle of doing TV appearances, concerts, clubs, and writing songs as the Beatles are becoming more popular. At one point they are doing 25 concerts in 30 days and have to go through the cycle in a single day. Ron Howard gives us this perspective visually by making most of the frames of the Beatles and audiences at a close up shot to show how confined the Beatles were to the cycle. We also see the audiences grow and get crazier throughout the film to level that nobody had ever seen. In one scene we learn that 7,000 concert-goers rushed the stage during of the Beatle’s concerts and many people had to go to the hospital. We see plenty of girls screaming and fainting throughout the film. Then we find out that the Beatles have to perform in stadiums with the humongous and uncontrollable crowds the Beatles are getting. It results in the concerts being so loud that the Beatles can’t even hear themselves. I think a lot of credit has to go to sound mixer who is able to let us hear the loudness and insanity of fans while also letting us hear the music. This all leads up to the climax of the film at Shea Stadium in which the Beatles perform in front of 55,600 people which is the biggest and loudest concert the Beatles have ever performed. Ringo even said he had to look at John Lennon’s butt to keep in rhythm. This would eventually lead to the Beatles, especially George, to get sick of touring.  

We also see the Beatles grow and develop as a band. At the beginning, we see the Beatles as a scrappy band from Liverpool, England. Then we introduced to two important figure in the Beatles story, Brian Epstein and George Martin. Brian Epstein was the one who visioned the Beatles as a classy band and George Martin was the one who disciplined them in the studio while also letting them be themselves. We also see this evolution through the Beatles music. As Beatlemania is happening we see the band start writing songs with more simple lyric as they would have less time to write songs. We also get audio of them performing in the studio which was their escape from their tours. Then we see the Beatles experiment with drugs and make more personal songs like Help. Near the end, as the Beatles get sick of doing the same music over and over again, we see the Beatles mix with different sounds and even change their look with Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Near the end of the movie see the Beatles escape their clean image by making an album cover of what looks like dead babies and of course John Lennon’s famous “we’re more popular than Jesus” statement. We also see that the Beatles got closer touring because they could related and stick with each other. In fact, I think once they stopped touring, the band began to drift apart. 

Then we also have context from fans of the Beatles who were there at the time through interviews. We get interviews from people like Sigourney Weaver and Elvis Costello who were fans of the Beatles. There are also shots that Ron Howard shows from the fans perspective to make you feel like you are watching the Beatles live. 

There is even some historical context put into this movie as well. Near the beginning of the film we are shown that it was a somber time with John F. Kennedy shot in 1963 and with the Vietnam War going on. This gives the viewer context into why people gravitated towards the Beatles cheerful music. We also get context into the Civil Rights Movement of the 60s. What made the Beatles unique for the time is they believed that their concerts should not be segregated. That and their humorous personalities made them universally loved. This is best shown in the interviews with Whoopi Goldberg who say she saw the Beatles as colorless and people who she would want to be friends with. Some people even said they were a menace to society in the film.

If I had a problem with the movie it would be that I would have liked to have explored more about the background of each of the individual Beatles more and what drove them. We get some scenes that do that. There is a scene in which we learn that both John and Pauls mom's died which lead to their strong bond and I would have like more scenes like that. 

Other than that I think this is a great documentary that explores the touring days of the Beatles. I think the title Eight Days a Week is perfect because it shows how the Beatles felt while going on tour. They felt like there were eight days a week for them. This is a much see for any Beatles fan or any fan of movies. Now excuse me while I relax after A Hard Days Night and listen to the Beatles Eight Days A Week.

Grade: A