As police begin to enter the building and ascend for to put an end to this disturbance, and working types muse about "Yeah, it's good music and what not, but I don't think you have to disrupt the whole motherfucking city on account of it" and old fellas with pipes stand beside chimneys for to get a better look, you realise that this was the last time these four performed together in public, and it's possible a fella could feel a little sad, if it wasn't for the valedictory feel of the affair.
Let It Be is an interesting work, for sure, although it's doubtful if non-fans of The Beatles will have the patience to sit through it, unlike, say, Don't Look Back, where the character of Dylan was so strong that even if you couldn't give a rancid arse-gas for songs about Tambourine Men or whatever, you were still fascinated by this cocky son of a bitch with the dishevelled hair and the sneering tones.
And really, it's hard to imagine another group at the end of their tether being so consistently magical. An hour and a half of, say, Back To The Egg-era Wings ("The band The Beatles could have been" according to Alan Partridge) would surely be less pleasing on the ear-holes.
For a truly awe-inspiring work of Beatles-related film-assembling, look no further than the excellent, if oddly sombre, The Beatles Anthology. For a fine appendix to that gargantuan opus, Let It Be does quite nicely, thank you very much.
Good work Fabulous Four or whoever.
The Duke resides at Mondo Irlando
Article comments
1 - Chris Kent
Nice work on an interesting film Duke. I saw Let It Be during a midnight showing many years ago and have not seen it since. I can recall the audience hissing when the Bobbies make an appearance on the rooftop during The Beatles' final show. It's a sad documentary, detailing the end of one of the greatest bands in history, and most certainly an era. I thought the film had never been released on DVD or video for a number of reasons, but I have the album and listen to it regularly.
As for rock documentaries, the best detail bands from the 1960s for some reason, and I love the varying versions of Woodstock and Monterey Pop. The greatest rock documentary of all time in my opinion is X - The Unheard Music, a brilliant film detailing the LA punk/rock/rockabilly band and their attempts to break into the mainstream after their third album Under the Big Black Sun. There were great interviews, concert footage from the Whiskey A Go Go and battles with the corporate record companies who felt Point Blank was a better bet for heavy promotion. I saw Point Blank in concert, and X a few years later and can say in all confidence the record companies were complete idiots.....
2 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
Chris, that sounds like a flick i'd like to be seeing. A lot of the classic rock-docs are bieng exhumed for DVD, so hopefully the X flick will make an appearance.
As to the availability of Let It Be, i believe it was released on video in the mid-90's for a time, although i've never saw it in a store. There have been yackings about a special edition DVD, but as the Amazon link above testifies, nothing is confirmed. Which is odd, all being told. The Beatles have certainly never been adverse to a bout of re-releasing, and yet only three of their films are available on DVD, not counting the Anthology. Hopefully Help!, magical mystery tour and this right here will be granted a release shortly.