It’s a myth that Eurovision Song Contest entrant and one hit winder Clodagh Rodgers sang her song ‘Jack in the box’ at JFK’s funeral (‘You’re fired!’ – Ed) but with the US still in a state of shock after the assassination and it was a difficult background to make an impression for any upstart pop group visiting the country for the first time. And yet that’s exactly what happened in Beatles 64 where the mop topped four first visited the US to appear on the Ed Sullivan show and the crowds went made for them.
This new documentary directed by David Tedeschi is collated from the late film documentarian Albert and David Maysles and produced by Martin Scorsese who have previously collaborated on the late George Harrison documentary ‘Living in the Material World’ – a truly excellent insight into the band’s quiet one. Beatles 64 however is far more formulaic. The footage has been used previously in the Maysles own doco ‘What’s Happening : The Beatles’ and consequently there’s an over familiarity with the footage. Interspersed with all this are the obligatory talking heads often stating the obvious. But it also chats to the fans who were there at the time and catches up with them 60 years later and, as for so many people, their songs stir often highly emotional memories for them.
But there’s little that we haven’t heard before but there is the odd snippet and that often raises a smile. One US fan says he didn’t even know where Liverpool was – a hint to enemy countries then that any attack against the US should not use bombs but instead geography exam papers in order to confuse the population. And photographer Harry Benson’s description of the band as ‘ songs vomiting out of them’ is something that’s never said at the Ivor Novello awards. That the band were largely regarded as a bunch of working class yobbos when they were bought along to the British Embassy sees a modern day McCartney recount the tale and rounding it off with an f bomb rebuke about the diplomats. Perhaps the most telling moment is that even back in 1964 John Lennon was hyper concerned about the inherent violence simmering under the society’s surface and was almost an omen for what would happen to him in December 1980.
Ringo and Paul have been involved in the project themselves as producers as have Lennon’s son and Harrison’s widow but the documentary only really livens up when the restored archive footage of the band sees them joshing with each other and the press. But the exuberance comes to a halt each time some talking head comes on to pontificate on culture clash or feminism or whatever. After Peter Jackson’s recent documentary series and before that The Beatles anthology there seems to be slim pickings on the new footage front but Beatles 64 is not without its moments
related feature : ‘8 Days a Week : The Touring Years’ – Ron Howard’s documentary reviewed
related feature : The band ‘Ghost’ release their movie, ‘Rite here, Rite Now’ and director Alex Ross Perry takes us BTS
We speak to director David Tedeschi and producer Margaret Bodde about the film…..
Here’s the Beatles 65 trailer……
Beatles ’64 is on Disney+ from 29th November 2025
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