Beatles '64: A party to remember

"What place do you think The Beatles' story will have in Western culture?" a reporter asked Paul McCartney, then a young man enjoying unprecedented glory for a band.

Scene from the movie Beatles '64 - Photo: IMDb

Paul rested his chin on his hand, his doe-like eyes dreamily responding, "You must be joking. Culture? This isn't culture. This is just a party."

The footage of that interview has been used in numerous previous documentaries about The Beatles.

With "ingredients" that aren't particularly new, and are almost already familiar to hardcore fans, the master filmmaker Martin Scorsese (in the role of producer) and his close collaborator David Tedeschi (director) still managed to transform the documentary *Beatles '64* into a sweet, humorous, endearing, and nostalgic portrait of John, Paul, George, and Ringo.

The novelty of Beatles '64

The difference lies in the fact that, unlike most other filmmakers who chose The Beatles as their subject matter and were mostly younger than the band, Martin Scorsese was born in 1942 – meaning he was the same age as Paul McCartney.

More importantly, the New York filmmaker's illustrious career placed him in a position of equal observer. And film is how great men see other great men.

The Beatles arrived in America less than three months after the country had experienced its saddest days: the assassination of President Kennedy.

Beatles '64 | Official Trailer

A country still in mourning, and four young men from a small town arriving at an airport named after a recently deceased former president, proved to Americans that life goes on.

The same old story: interviews where The Beatles used their somewhat childish wit to respond to journalists; footage from private settings where they displayed all the mischief, innocence, and devilishness of young men in their twenties; and fanatical fans scrambling to buy the band's used towels.

The familiar sociological explanations for their incredible success still persist, such as how they created the image of "a new man" who rejected the display of strength to express his inner femininity (according to pioneering second-wave feminist scholar Betty Friedan).

Scene from the movie Beatles '64 - Photo: IMDb

But the novelty of Beatles '64 lay in two things.

First, there are the "witnesses" of the era featured in the film. There's the daughter of conductor Leonard Bernstein, recounting the evening she carried the television from upstairs down to the dining room with her father to watch The Beatles on Ed Sullivan's show.

That's the story of renowned director David Lynch recounting how he, as a teenager, happened to get tickets to a concert in Washington by chance.

He was a young man who jumped onto a transatlantic train from New York to Liverpool like a pilgrim, causing a commotion in the English city and later being featured on John Lennon's album Imagine.

Every story is imbued with an adventurous spirit that can only be found in the hearts of young, fearless souls.

Scene from the movie Beatles '64 - Photo: IMDb

The second unique aspect of film syntax.

The film opens with the death of President Kennedy and concludes with an interview with John Lennon, in which he humbly describes the wave of British culture's invasion of America as an ocean-going vessel searching for a new continent, and that The Beatles weren't any more exceptional than others, simply because they were on the upper deck and therefore the first to see land.

The scene cuts to John making a gesture of raising his hand to his forehead like a sailor, shouting, "There's land!"

The ending suggests a bright future for The Beatles, but when contrasted with the beginning, it also hints at a sad ending for the band's leader.

There is a clip in the archive showing fans holding up signs that read: "Choose Ringo as president."

The Beatles were perhaps also a supreme leader in their own kingdom, a kingdom of youth and love. The Beatles came to dispel the sadness over the death of the young American president.

But in turn, John was also cruelly deprived of his life.

Everything unfolded to make The Beatles heroes. In one scene, composer Leonard Berstein sways and counts the beat to the song "She Said, She Said," and John sings, "...everything is right."

In the context of this film, perhaps we can understand that lyric as: everything seems inevitable, destined for The Beatles to be a highlight, a revolution, an earthquake, a momentous celebration, a love story.

The film focuses on just one short chapter in the band's history: the two weeks they first set foot in America.

Short, but the sound lingers on.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/beatles-64-mot-cuoc-vui-de-doi-20241208104530885.htm