The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years

2016 "The band you know. The story you don't."
7.8| 1h46m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 16 September 2016 Released
Producted By: Imagine Entertainment
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: http://www.thebeatlesliveproject.com/
Synopsis

The Beatles stormed through Europe's music scene in 1963, and, in 1964, they conquered America. Their groundbreaking world tours changed global youth culture forever and, arguably, invented mass entertainment as we know it today. All the while, the group were composing and recording a series of extraordinarily successful singles and albums. However the relentless pressure of such unprecedented fame, that in 1966 became uncontrollable turmoil, led to the decision to stop touring. In the ensuing years The Beatles were then free to focus on a series of albums that changed the face of recorded music.

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Reviews

SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped
Dorathen Better Late Then Never
ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.
Derrick Gibbons An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.
robhingston Really encapsulates the moments no other documentary on the Beatles has been able to do that in the same way ..
Jason Voigt ...at 137 minutes, I felt there was something missing. Before I go on to a small rant, I'd like to just say that there is no absolute way to do a comprehensive look at the Beatles in any short length of time. That would take up a number of hours! I would also like to point out that there are several people who have helped the Beatles become who they are, in any part of the world. Whether they are a disk jockey playing their music on the radio, or attending their performances while they were nobodies.I am disappointed that there was not one mention of Ron Elz (a.k.a. Johnny Rabbit), who was the first to play a Beatles song in a major radio market, St. Louis. The story goes like this: George Harrison was the first Beatle to set foot in the United States, where he started at Lambert-St. Louis Airport in September 1963. By that time he was a star in Europe, but in America no one took notice yet of Beatlemania. George was on his way to his sister's house in Benton, Illinois (two hours away) but before he ventured that way, he stopped at a few radio stations in St. Louis and gave away promo copies of Beatles records to anyone who would listen. Elz was the first and only person to respond and played "I Want to Hold Your Hand" on his "Make It Or Break It" nightly segment. The audience chose to 'break it'. Harrison became friends with Elz. There was also a DJ in West Frankfort, Illinois that played a Beatles record, long before they were noticed in America. The Beatles would invite Elz to introduce them on stage at their first concert in America, in San Francisco. Needless to say, they were more than appreciative of him.That said, the movie was interesting. Not much stuff I didn't know, especially for a long-time Beatles enthusiast. It was cool hearing from random celebrities like Whoopi Goldberg and Sigourney Weaver about the impact of Beatlemania, along with people not many have heard of, including the DJ from Miami who hung around the Beatles during their tour. Great clips and photographs, many I have never seen.
Twins65 ...and in some ways, they still are.This is a group that played their last live (paying) show over 50 years ago, and they get still get a documentary movie made about their formative years which is released in theaters in 2016 and does respectable business.I was all of seven years old when they quit touring, and don't remember it happening in real time. So even though I've seen a bunch of these clips "snippeted" in the last half-century of my life, many of the behind the scenes day-to-day nuggets were all new, and well worth a viewing.To see the fan-love of the tours (U.S. and around the world) is still pretty unbelievable to look at. It was a different era, so instead of online mass adoration, EVERYBODY (REALLY, EVERYBODY!) JUST WENT OUT & SHOWED UP TO CATCH ANY KIND OF GLIMPSE THEY COULD GET OF THEM!This phenomenon probably wouldn't still be looked at with this much reverence today if the music doesn't stand the test of time. BUT IT DOES.If you like the sixties, or love the Beatles, you gotta' see this one.
grantss Directed by Ron Howard, a documentary on the Beatles, focusing almost exclusively on their "touring years' - 1963 to 1966. Includes interviews and press conferences with the Beatles, rare footage and recordings and interviews with people who were influenced by the Beatles.Excellent documentary. The fact that it is directed by Ron Howard lets you know that this going to be more than your average blow-by- blow documentary. It's quite an emotional experience, as you see the young, not-yet-famous band start out on the road to stardom, how they deal with the increasing fame and, in some instances, how it overwhelms them. The footage and stills often capture many of their moments of joy and triumph, adding to the engagement factor, plus the concert and studio footage gives you a great feeling of artistic geniuses at work.There's also an energy and pioneering spirit about it all, created largely through Ron Howard's choice of footage and editing. The interviewees, which include such luminaries as Elvis Costello, Sigourney Weaver and Whoopi Goldberg, also show how young people's lives were affected by the Beatles.In addition, the sense of friendship and camaraderie between the four is palpable. Another benefit about having a big-name director/producer make the movie - you get to hear actual Beatles tracks, all wonderfully produced. Not some amorphous background non-Beatles track because the producer couldn't get the rights to play their music.While not covering the entire Beatles history, well, not in any depth - pre-63 and post-67 are covered but really just as prescript and postscript respectively - this is still the most definitive documentary on the Beatles. No documentary I've seen so accurately captures the impact of the Beatles and their influence on music, culture and, especially, everyday people.