Three years after Peter Jackson’s masterful eight-hour The Beatles: Get Back and Disney+ has a brand new documentary film about the Fab Four set to stream this week.
Beatles ’64 is a 60th anniversary retrospective of the band’s first three weeks in the USA and Beatlemania’s cultural impact Stateside in the aftermath of JFK’s assassination.
Yet the result is a jumbled and unfocused retelling with talking heads including Sir Paul McCartney at his photo exhibition to Sir Ringo Starr looking at his old drum kit with Martin Scorsese.
The new film begins by highlighting how the Beatles were a spark of positivity for a nation in mourning, before working its way through Albert and David Maysles’ iconic black-and-white footage documenting John, Paul, George, and Ringo’s cheeky chappie behind-the-scenes shenanigans.
Restored in 4K, these clips, some of which are previously unseen, are the highlight as the Liverpudlian lads joke around between lighting their next cigarette.
Giles Martin has also remixed the Beatles’ first American concert at the Washington DC Coliseum, and their Ed Sullivan Show appearances, with clips of families watching the historic performances live also included. The film certainly gives you a feel for this unique moment in his music history. However, it’s a far cry from the heights of Jackson’s retooling of Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s footage.
The film covers a large time period, but Ron Howard’s The Beatles: Eight Days a Week is a better documentary about the Fab Four’s US touring years. This new film is fine as a casual watch for completionist fans hungry for those unseen clips, but overall, it’s a little disappointing.
Beatles ’64 is streaming on Disney+ from November 29, 2024.