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The Beatles - Let It Be CD (album) cover

LET IT BE

The Beatles

 

Proto-Prog

3.94 | 46 ratings

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Guillermo
Prog Reviewer
3 stars I saw this film twice in 1979 in my city during a Beatles` Films Festival organized by some cinemas. The last time I saw it was when a friend lent me for two days a Betamax cassette with the film, in 1989.

In the three times I saw this film I liked it a lot, with the exception of some scenes which were not very good. One of them is the scene when George and Paul appear arguing about a guitar part for one song played by George, with Paul trying to explain to George how he wants him to play it. After trying to please Paul, George replies to Paul in an angry way. This scene was also included in The Beatles`Anthology video. I think that it wasn`t right to include it in the film. Why the Director decided to show to the public how the members of the band argued? I don`t see a good reason to do it.

The other secene which I don`t like is the one on which John and Yoko dance the waltz to George`s I Me Mine song. Reading later in the web, I found that it really wasn`t a good gesture from John to George, because everytime George presented new songs he wrote to the band, both John and Paul didn`t show interest to his songs. In fact, John didn`t appear in the studio version of this song which was included in the Let It Be album and in other songs composed by George recorded by the other three members between 1968 and 1969. Another scene is the one on which they play some Rock and Roll oldies, out of tune in guitars and vocals, looking bored but trying to look funny.

But there are a lot of really funny scenes where they are joking, for example, the one on which Paul sings Besame Mucho in an operatic style, and the full Apple rooftop live performance, which is maybe the best part of the film.

When George was asked in 1970 after the film was premiered his opinion of the film, he said that he didn`t like it, because it brought to him memories of a very unhappy period in the history of the band.

This film really was a contractual obligation, because Brian Epstein signed a contract with United Artists and the band still had to do it. They had several plans to fill this contract. One was to film the band for a live TV special show, a thing that only Paul liked to do. Finally, their plan was to film their rehearsals and the live performance at the Apple building`s rooftop.

Some months ago I read in the web that they didn`t have plans to release this film on DVD, with Neil Aspinall saying that the film didn`t bring good memories for the band. And I agree with this comment, because the band at that point (January 1969) was in the way to split.

I originally liked this film a lot, but after reading the history of this period of time in the Beatles`career, I think that it is only of historical interest, because it really wasn`t a good time in their lives.

Guillermo | 3/5 |

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