Backbeat (film)

Infobox Film | name = Backbeat


caption = UK film poster
director = Iain Softley
producer = Finola Dwyer
Stephen Woolley
writer = Iain Softley
Michael Thomas
Stephen Ward
starring = Sheryl Lee
Stephen Dorff
Ian Hart
music = Don Was
cinematography = Ian Wilson
editing = Martin Walsh
distributor = PolyGram Filmed Entertainment (now Universal Studios)
released = 14 April 1994
runtime = 100 minutes
language = English
imdb_id = 0106339

"Backbeat" is a 1994 film that chronicles the early days of The Beatles in Hamburg, Germany. The movie focuses primarily on the relationship between Stuart Sutcliffe (played by Stephen Dorff) and John Lennon (played by Ian Hart), and also with Sutcliffe's German girlfriend Astrid Kirchherr (played by Sheryl Lee).

The movie is generally more accurate, both about Sutcliffe's life and the early Beatles history, than the 1979 TV movie "Birth of the Beatles", which covers mostly the same period. It also has a darker, more detailed storyline, and The Beatles history as such, is background to the main story.

The film is based on the book "The Real Life Story Behind Backbeat - Stuart Sutcliffe: The Lost Beatle" by Alan Clayson and Pauline Sutcliffe (ISBN 0330335804, 1994).

Paul McCartney, however, was not impressed with the movie, stating: "One of my annoyances about the film "Backbeat" is that they've actually taken my rock 'n' rollness off me. They give John the song "Long Tall Sally" to sing and he never sang it in his life. But now it's set in cement. It's like the Buddy Holly and Glenn Miller stories. "The Buddy Holly Story" does not even mention Norman Petty, and "The Glenn Miller Story" is a sugarcoated version of his life. Now "Backbeat" has done the same thing to the story of The Beatles."

The soundtrack to the movie includes no songs written by members of the Beatles, but various songs the group performed in Hamburg, written and recorded by other artists.

Rather than re-create the period sounds, iconoclastic, rebellious musicians were recruited (as a producer noted, The Beatles' pre-recording stage act was "the punk of its day"). This was done to better convey the way the music came across to the audience, at the time. The musicians were all members of well-known American rock bands:
* Dave Pirner (Soul Asylum): vocals
* Greg Dulli (The Afghan Whigs): vocals
* Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth): guitar
* Don Fleming (Gumball): guitar
* Mike Mills (R.E.M.): bass guitar
* Dave Grohl (Nirvana): drums

Additionally, the film's distributor, PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, was then under common ownership with the label which owned the rights to release and distribute the Beatles' music from the Hamburg days, Polydor Records.

Main Cast

Hart also played Lennon in the film "The Hours and Times". [ [http://imdb.com/title/tt0104448/ The Hours and Times] Retrieved 29 January 2007] Bakewell later reprised his role as McCartney in the television film "The Linda McCartney Story", as Williams again played Best in the television movie "".

References

External links

*imdb title|id=0106339|title=Backbeat
* [http://www.dvdjournal.com/quickreviews/b/backbeat_ce.q.shtml DVD Journal review]
* [http://www.vidiac.com/video/22b3d40e-488e-46c3-bc74-9917010bf2b6.htm Trailer for the film "Backbeat"]