At this point, documentaries on The Beatles are an exercise in using nostalgia as cover for the troubles of modern life. There is something superficial about using the past as a project for the future, of basing yourself in this well-trodden part of music history. Bagging the surviving members of the Fab Four and a litany of famous faces who grew and gained their creative passions around this time is the swinging gusto Beatles ‘64 exercises. With Martin Scorsese producing it feels like his name, attached to this David Tedeschi project, is a promising start. It worked before on the exceptionally moving Personality Crisis: One Night Only and so too it works for John, George, Paul and Ringo. But why this moment? When documentaries about The Beatles are, at this point, one or two a year, why head for one of the most well-documented parts of their career?
Because it is where there are still missing details. Beatles ‘64 may not add anything new to the discussion or debate on what The Beatles were attempting during this period, but it does add that extra layer for the dedicated fans who desire more from a finite resource. As much a documentary as it is an exhibit, Beatles ‘64 has the main draw of reviving some materials and footage which have not been seen before. Pictures from Paul McCartney and a focus on The Beatles as people struck by stardom, is a neat addition. It charts not just the Fab Four but the momentum which is found in the United States and United Kingdom at the time. President John F. Kennedy’s assassination is just backdrop fodder for The Beatles, who are briefly painted as saviours of the American hope. A two-week trip Stateside to give an entire country a fever spreading across Europe.
Look at those crowds. All the rabid fans. The sterilisation needed for the modern pop star is linked to the burst of interest in The Beatles and, Beatles ‘64 would argue, to the assassination of presidential figures. Those in the public eye are now far removed from those rabid fans, and understandably so. The Beatles’ burst onto the scene in the States is measles-like, commentators of the time suggested. So it goes today, but with the company-like cash many musicians have now, keeping out of the way and on those private jets is much easier. Beatles ‘64 is, above all, terrifying. The Beatles were beyond rock and roll which was what parents of the time, according to John Lennon, had trouble with.
For all the fatigue found in 1964, there is a plethora to pick at. A lot of it is picked from a meat-free bone. But the odd avenues of history with Pat Boone and Little Richard are fascinating. The layers it adds to The Beatles, those little flickers of influence heard throughout their careers well after the breakup of the Fab Four is a neat stop-off. Such is the flair Tedeschi brings to this documentary which, for better or worse, follows the straight and narrow of documentary filmmaking. Inevitably tender scenes show themselves when George Harrison and Lennon are on-screen, but there is a sense Beatles ‘64 is relying on that emotive punch. It uses it deliberately and fleetingly, those who fawn over The Beatles will find plenty to scream and shout about, but those wanting the history and fascinating ties to music of the time are serviced too.
