Backbeat (film)

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Backbeat
BackbeatPoster.jpg
British theatrical release poster
Directed by Iain Softley
Written byIain Softley
Michael Thomas
Stephen Ward
Produced by Finola Dwyer
Stephen Woolley
Starring
Cinematography Ian Wilson
Edited by Martin Walsh
Music by Don Was
Production
companies
Distributed by Rank Film Distributors (UK)
Release dates
  • January 1994 (1994-01)(Sundance)
  • 1 April 1994 (1994-04-01)(London)
Running time
100 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Box office$5.5 million (US/UK/Australia)

Backbeat is a 1994 British biographical drama film directed and co-written by Iain Softley in his feature directorial debut. It chronicles the early days of the Beatles in Hamburg, West Germany, focusing primarily on the relationship between Stuart Sutcliffe (Stephen Dorff) and John Lennon (Ian Hart), and also with Sutcliffe's German girlfriend Astrid Kirchherr (Sheryl Lee). [1]

Contents

The film was produced by Channel Four Films and PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, and was released in the UK on 1 April 1994. It received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics, though was well-received by the real-life Beatles and Kirchherr. [2] The score by Don Was earned a BAFTA Award for Best Original Music, and the film was nominated for Outstanding British Film and Best Sound.

Plot

In Liverpool, England in 1960, art students and friends John Lennon and Stuart Sutcliffe have an altercation with a group of men outside a club, with Stu sustaining a head injury. Stu is a painter, and agrees to join John's rock-and-roll group the Beatles as their bass guitarist. The Beatles, their line-up comprising John, Stu, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Pete Best, travel by ship to Hamburg, Germany, and are introduced to the city's red-light district, the Reeperbahn. The band plays regularly at the Kaiserkeller club, and their sleeping quarters are the storeroom of the Bambi Kino, a small cinema. They meet German artist Klaus Voormann, and begin taking the drug Preludin to stay awake and play for long hours.

Klaus brings his girlfriend, German photographer Astrid Kirchherr, to see the Beatles perform, and introduces her to Stu. The Beatles and Astrid go to Bar Enfer, where a drunk John begins yelling at Stu over Astrid, before being escorted out by Paul. Later, the Beatles pose for photographs taken by Astrid. A record producer from Polydor Records comes to the Kaiserkeller to see the Beatles perform, but when he arrives, Stu is on stage singing "Love Me Tender" to Astrid, and the producer leaves, unimpressed. Paul wants Stu out of the band, but John states that if Stu leaves, he leaves as well.

The producer from Polydor returns to the Kaiserkeller and gives the Beatles the opportunity to perform on a record the following day. Stu says he is ill, so the other Beatles leave without him to attend the recording session, which sees them backing up singer Tony Sheridan. Astrid and Stu take photographs and have sex, and Klaus catches Stu and Astrid in bed together. Stu comes back to the Bambi Kino to find Ringo Starr, a drummer from another band, sleeping in his bunk bed. John remarks that he thought Stu had moved in "with the SS", and informs Stu that the Beatles are now playing at the Top Ten Club. Stu chooses instead to focus on his paintings. John visits Astrid, who criticizes him for his anger and accuses him of being jealous of her relationship with Stu. The Beatles are suddenly deported when authorities discover that George is under the age of 18; Stu and Astrid bid each other goodbye.

By December 1960, Stu wants to return to Hamburg, as he has not painted since he left. John thinks that Astrid was insinuating he has homosexual feelings towards Stu. By March 1961, George has turned 18, and the Beatles return to Hamburg, where Stu reunites with Astrid, who gives him a "mop top" haircut. Stu later tells John that he no longer wants to be in the band, and the two have a physical fight over Astrid. During a game of limbo at a club, Stu collapses in pain. A doctor suggests the incident is the result of a head injury. Stu proposes marriage to Astrid, and is accepted into a German art school. Stu and Astrid visit a beach with John and John's girlfriend Cynthia Powell; there, John expresses feelings for Astrid, but notes she fell in love with Stu. Stu and Astrid go to see the Beatles perform, with Paul having taken over as bassist, and the group bids the two farewell before leaving Hamburg.

On 13 August 1961, Stu comes home to find Astrid and Klaus holding hands, watching the news about the Berlin Wall being erected. Enraged, Stu assaults Klaus and throws paint all over Astrid's photographs and darkroom. He later apologises to Astrid, stating that his behaviour was unlike himself. Astrid tells Stu that the Beatles will soon become famous, and that Stu will grow to resent her as a result, but Stu denies this. Stu collapses in pain and dies of a brain haemorrhage. The Beatles, with John, Paul and George now sporting mop-top hairstyles, come back to Hamburg, where Astrid informs John that Stu is dead. At the Beatles' next performance, John sings a verse from "Love Me Tender" before the group breaks into "Twist and Shout". Astrid watches them perform before making her exit through the adoring crowd.

Cast

Casting notes

Hart had already played Lennon in the 1991 film The Hours and Times . [1] Bakewell later reprised his role as McCartney in the 2000 television film The Linda McCartney Story . Williams reprised his role as Best in the 2000 television film In His Life: The John Lennon Story .

Freda Kelly was the Beatles' longtime secretary and the president of their official fan club during the 1960s and '70s.

Production

Writing

The original script was written by Iain Softley based on a series of 1988 interviews. After failing to secure funding, screenwriter Stephen Ward was brought in to completely rewrite the script in 1993. Ward interviewed Astrid Kirchherr and others who were close to the Beatles during their time in Hamburg. [1] The project was green-lit that year.

Filming

Although set in Hamburg, the film was mainly shot in London, aside from some location filming in the St. Pauli quarter. [1]

Soundtrack

Due to the film's focus on the early days of the band, the soundtrack includes no songs written by members of the Beatles but various songs the group performed in Hamburg, written and recorded by other artists. In this respect, rather than re-create the sounds of the period, iconoclastic, rebellious musicians were recruited (as a producer noted, the Beatles' pre-recording stage act was "the punk of its day") to better convey the way the music was appreciated by audiences of the time. All musicians were members of contemporary American rock bands: [1]

The film's distributor happened to be PolyGram Filmed Entertainment which was then under common ownership with Polydor Records, the label that owned the rights to the Beatles' music from the Hamburg days.

Release

The film premiered at the 1994 Sundance Film Festival. It opened on one screen in the West End of London on 1 April 1994 and was planned to expand to 59 screens in the UK the following week but ended up expanding wider to 211 screens. [3] [4] It was given a limited theatrical release in the United States, opening on 15 April. [5] A DVD version was released by Universal in 2005.

Box office

The film grossed £25,912 in its opening weekend from one screen in London, finishing in seventh place at the London box office. [6] It expanded to 211 screens in the UK the following week and grossed £433,669, finishing in fourth place at the UK box office. [4] It went on to gross £1,870,001 ($3 million) in the United Kingdom. [7] In the United States, it opened in 10 theatres and grossed $126,740 in its opening weekend. The following weekend it expanded to 209 theatres and moved up to 18th place at the US box office with a gross of $617,993. It went on to gross $2.4 million in the United States and Canada. [8] In its opening week in Australia, it grossed $136,000 from 50 screens. [9]

Reception

Critical response

Backbeat holds a rating of 68% based on 40 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, the review aggregator site. [2] The site's consensus states, "Its overly pretentious and melodramatic leanings notwithstanding, Backbeat explores the beginnings of the Fab Four with striking authenticity, soaring rock 'n' roll verve, and a strong admiration for its subjects." [2]

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone liked how the film captured the early 60s period through its visual style and use of music. [10] Film critic Roger Ebert gave the film two out of four stars; although he thought the "dialogue has real wit", he felt the film is "never able to convince us there's a story there". [11]

The Beatles and others

At the time of the film's release, Paul McCartney commented:

One of my annoyances about the film Backbeat is that they've actually taken my rock 'n' rollness off me. They give John the song "Long Tall Sally" to sing and he never sang it in his life. But now it's set in cement. It's like the Buddy Holly and Glenn Miller stories. The Buddy Holly Story does not even mention Norman Petty, and The Glenn Miller Story is a sugarcoated version of his life. Now Backbeat has done the same thing to the story of the Beatles. I was quite taken, however, with Stephen Dorff's astonishing performance as Stu. [12]

Astrid Kirchherr praised the accuracy and detail of her relationship with Sutcliffe and the Beatles. [13] The film received further positive responses from Julian Lennon, Pete Best, and Sutcliffe's sister, Pauline, who said, "I still think the director did a fabulous job. It's a good movie. If you like movies, it's a great movie." [14] [15] [16]

Stage adaptations

The film's original writer and director, Iain Softley, turned the screenplay of Backbeat into a theatrical production. It premiered at Glasgow's Citizens' Theatre on 9 February 2010 [17] featuring a live band. In 2011 another stage version opened at the Duke of York's Theatre in London. [18]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Broughton, Chris (2 September 2024). "'Let them kick the crap out of the songs': how we recreated the Beatles to make Backbeat". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 December 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 "Backbeat". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on 26 January 2025. Retrieved 15 February 2018.
  3. ↑ "London". Screen International . 8 April 1994. p. 1.
  4. 1 2 "UK Box Office". Screen International . 15 April 1994. p. 50.
  5. ↑ "Weekend Box Office : Hey, Chevy, the British Are Coming". Los Angeles Times . 19 April 1994. Archived from the original on 28 January 2021. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
  6. ↑ "London Top 10". Screen International . 8 April 1994. p. 1.
  7. ↑ "Top 10 Rank films in UK 1994". Screen International . 11 April 1997. p. 16.
  8. ↑ Backbeat at Box Office Mojo
  9. ↑ "Backbeat swings up". Screen International . 29 April 1994. p. 21.
  10. ↑ Travers, Peter (15 April 1995). "Backbeat". Rolling Stone . Archived from the original on 10 December 2018. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  11. ↑ Ebert, Roger (22 April 1994). "Backbeat". rogerebert.com. Archived from the original on 13 November 2019. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  12. ↑ "Beatles Musical "Backbeat" Opening in L.A. Before Broadway Run". kzok.cbslocal.com. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 16 January 2015.
  13. ↑ "Astrid Kirchherr – Her Bio With Photos of the early Beatles". beatlesnumber9.com. Archived from the original on 30 June 2011. Retrieved 26 May 2011.
  14. ↑ "Lennon and Proud of It – Interview with Jody Denberg, 6-16-99". Austin City Limits Radio. Archived from the original on 28 December 2018. Retrieved 28 December 2018.
  15. ↑ "The Pete Best interview". abbeyrd.net. 12 July 2003. Archived from the original on 28 December 2018. Retrieved 28 December 2018– via San Jose Mercury News.
  16. ↑ "Gary James' Interview with Stuart Sutcliffe's Sister Pauline Sutcliffe". classicbands.com. Archived from the original on 28 December 2018. Retrieved 28 December 2018.
  17. ↑ "Citizens Theatre". Citz.co.uk. 9 February 2010. Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 30 December 2010.
  18. ↑ "Backbeat – Duke of Yorks Theatre, London – Tickets, information, reviews". london-theatreland.co.uk. Archived from the original on 22 June 2012. Retrieved 1 July 2012.
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