Backbeat (1994)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Iain Softley

Writers:

Iain Softley (writer)
Michael Thomas (writer)

Release Date:

15 April 1994 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | History | Music

Tagline:

He Had To Choose Between His Best Friend... The Woman He Loved... And The Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Band In the World.

Plot:

A dramatization of the Hamburg, Germany phase of the Beatles' early history.

Plot Keywords:

Stuart Sutcliffe | John Lennon | Germany | Beatles | Paul Mccartney

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 4 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Sheryl Lee	...	Astrid Kirchherr
Stephen Dorff	...	Stuart Sutcliffe
Ian Hart	...	John Lennon
Gary Bakewell	...	Paul McCartney
Chris O'Neill	...	George Harrison
Scot Williams	...	Pete Best
Kai Wiesinger	...	Klaus Voormann
Jennifer Ehle	...	Cynthia Powell
Marcelle Duprey	...	Singer
John White	...	Sailor 1
Bernard Merrick	...	Sailor 2
Nicholas Tennant	...	Sailor 3
Finola Geraghty	...	Model
Rob Spendlove	...	Arthur Ballard
Charlie Caine	...	Lord Woodbine

Also Known As:

BackBeat - Die Wahrheit über die Beatles (Germany)

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

UK | Germany

Language:

English | German | French

Colour:

Black and White | Colour (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby | LC-Concept Digital Sound

Certification:

Singapore:M18 | Argentina:13 | South Korea:18 | Australia:M | Finland:K-14 | France:U | Germany:12 | Iceland:L | Norway:15 | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Cheney Street, London, England, UK

Company:

Channel Four Films

Trivia:

Some of the paintings Stu makes in the film are reproductions of actual paintings by Stuart Sutcliffe.

Goofs:

Continuity: A scene dated March 1961 has George being wished a happy 18th birthday. George's actual birthday was in February (as was even mentioned earlier in the film.)

Quotes:

John Lennon: You can't do your solo spots any more, Stu.
Stuart Sutcliffe: Why not?
John Lennon: Because it's shite.
Stuart Sutcliffe: Give it to me straight. Let's not beat around the bush.

Movie Connections:

Version of Stuart Sutcliffe: The Lost Beatle (2005) (TV)

Soundtrack:

I Remember You

The Licensed Poets

A film which concentrates on the short musical and artistic career of Stuart Sutcliffe, the Scottish-born bass player from the days when the Beatles were a quintet playing the Reeperbahn of Hamburg, and his love affair with the German artist Astrid Kircherr.

I suppose there are two types of people who will watch this film: those who know little or nothing about the Beatles's time in Hamburg, and those who do. The former will probably enjoy the film for what it is; the latter will find it annoying. I am sorry to say that I am in the latter camp. There are so many historical inaccuracies that it is hardly worth listing them. The most annoying to me was the placing of the recording of "My Bonnie" before Stuart Suttcliffe had left the band. I thought that was totally unnecessary. Another inaccuracy is depicting Paul McCartney trying to kick Suttcliffe out of the band so that he could take over the bass. Also, the length of Astrid's hair is based on a self photograph of hers. Contemporary photographs show her with shoulder length hair.

As well as the Beatles themselves, who walk onstage and start to play without plugging their guitars in, the film also features the real life characters Astrid Kirchherr, Cynthia Powell Lennon and Klaus Voormann, who are named, and Bruno Koschmidder and Tony Sheridan, who are not.

Since John Lennon and Stuart Sutcliffe are dead, the film makers can imply that the pair had homosexual feelings for one another and not get sued.

The rest of the Beatles are reduced to one dimensional cutouts: the serious one, the quiet one, the cipher.

That's what the film got wrong. Let us see what the film got right.

When you look at an historical film - especially one that covers a period within living memory - one can find lots of anachronisms with the fashions of the time. Normally I will home in on half a dozen things that were not around in 1960/61. Not in this film. The shooting and direction - apart from the little melodrama at Sutcliffe's death - was good, and the scene where Sutcliffe spazzed out and threw red paint all over the bathroom was excellent, the red paint signifying blood, as though a murder had been committed.

But alas the scriptwriters were not up to the same standard as the wardrobe department, the cameramen, the musicians and the director, and I found titles of Beatles songs yet to be written, like "Hard Day's Night" and "Eight Days a Week," being worked into the script utterly ridiculous. What were the scriptwriters trying to do?