Directed by: Ron Howard
Ringo Starr will be 80 years old this year, and Paul McCartney only 78. The Beatles have been in the public consciousness for so long it seems both men should be pushing 100. The Beatles' introduction to American audiences occurred in February 1964, a mere fifty-six years ago, yet their shadow and influence has been cast so large it feels like it happened much earlier. I cannot remember a time in which I didn't know of The Beatles. Most people probably think the same way.
The Beatles would only be together for six more years following Ed Sullivan, yet their catalog of songs is so massive and enduring it remains a significant part of pop culture history, even all these years later. 2020 is the 40th anniversary of John Lennon's death, and this means he will be dead for as many years as he was alive. It is a sad footnote, one which can't be dismissed as you witness Eight Days a Week, in which John Lennon was very much alive.
Ron Howard's Eight Days a Week understands how the rigors of touring and worldwide Beatlemania at first invigorated the band and later wore them down to the point that they stopped touring altogether. We feel the excitement and sheer joy of being The Beatles at that time. Restored footage of early concerts captured not just how amazing The Beatles were as a live band, but the pandemonium their presence caused in millions of people in the UK and the US, not to mention virtually every other country on Earth. The Beatles themselves were gobsmacked that the reception to them in Australia might have even been greater than that of other countries, and that's saying something.
How awesome did it feel to be John, Paul, George, and Ringo to be welcomed with such unprecedented joy and fervor when they disembarked from their planes wherever they landed? Thousands of screaming fans were waiting to catch a glimpse of them. There was nothing like Beatlemania before or since. With such adulation eventually comes backlash, which would occur around 1965 and early 1966 when John's remark, "We are bigger than Jesus" was met with derision and scorn. Some cities in the US were burning Beatles' records. An unintentional snub of then-Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos caused them to be kicked out of the country. By that time, The Beatles were happier in the studio creating groundbreaking music than out on tour playing all of their hits again.
What separates The Beatles from any other musical act was their songwriting capabilities. They could produce new music at an astonishing pace. Other acts would continue to stick with what made them famous, but The Beatles pushed against the tide. They wanted to experiment, create a whole new sound, and take risks. They weren't content to rest on their laurels. The evolution from Please, Please Me to Sgt. Pepper's is so distinct it is hard to believe the albums came from the same four guys from Liverpool. Touring was what marked The Beatles' arrival on the scene, but it was their later work which would make them immortal.
Director Howard wisely chooses to focus on the four years or so in which The Beatles toured constantly, yet managed to make two movies (A Hard Day's Night and Help!) and their soundtracks, plus Rubber Soul and Revolver, which marked their departure from their earlier pop hits (which by the way were also transcendent). Ringo tells stories of a typical day in the life of The Beatles at the time, and it had to be mentally and physically draining living that day after day. They could have used eight days a week just to meet their obligations. They also had families and children who needed them also, but would wind up as casualties to the demands of Beatlemania.
The Beatles' final tour ended on August 29, 1966 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Once the show ended, The Beatles quit touring and this led to a freedom which would allow Sgt. Pepper's to be made. Free from the constraints of touring, The Beatles poured their energy into the second half of their run as the greatest band ever. This isn't an opinion. For even if you may like other bands better, you know a group like The Beatles will never come again. Their influence on the world is something which will never be felt from any other artist, actor, or musician in the same way.
Howard also reflects on how other people or outside sources influenced The Beatles in subtle, but noticeable ways. Their manager Brian Epstein isn't given enough credit for shaping the band's look and style. He guided them to the top by taking a ragtag group of young men and putting them in suits and unique haircuts, a far cry from their early days as The Quarrymen. Producer George Martin was the perfect fit to collaborate with them on their later albums. He knew precisely how to handle them, and his experience working with comic actors like Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan prepared him for The Beatles' own eccentricities and creative vision. He and Epstein could rein them in, and how many people can say that?
The early clean-cut twenty-something men with matching short haircuts soon grew their hair and beards out almost as a revolution against their image. The band gave the world one more glimpse of their incredible live act with an impromptu concert atop the Apple Records building in London on January 30, 1969. The crowds gathered below, not sure what to make of what they were seeing.
Were these the real Beatles or impersonators? They were the real thing alright, and their look and sound was night and day to their 1964 Sullivan appearance. How many people who saw that concert would think they were seeing The Beatles performing together for the last time? It's possible people were expecting a comeback which was never to be.
Maybe one reason why The Beatles' legacy continues to grow fifty years after they disbanded was because they did not reunite for another tour or album. Ringo would play with Paul or George would play with John, but the four men would never occupy the same stage together again. They were together as long as they needed to be, and when that was over, The Beatles were no more. It's as if the men instinctively knew when enough was enough. Eight Days a Week understands this too. There is no mention of The Beatles' breakup and the external and internal pressures which caused it.
The documentary ends just as Sgt. Pepper's was released, capping off a remarkable five-year period which started in 1962. The evolution and reinvention of The Beatles in between is something we have the pleasure of witnessing like never before. The rest is left to history.
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