Danny Boyle’s ‘Yesterday’ Recalls Other Very Odd Beatles Films


LET IT BE?
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Danny Boyle’s Yesterday suffered from the same problem as the last picture scripted by Richard Curtis, 2013’sΒ  About Time.
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This being a central conceit -a freak incident means that only one person, conveniently a struggling musician, remembers the music of The Fab Four, that doesn’t really work (also see Ricky Gervais’ unwatchable The Invention of Lying).
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Reviewers also criticised Curtis’ default-mode reliance on schmaltz (Love Actually the prime case).
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Thinking about the movie I was reminded of the very odd big budget movie version ofΒ Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978) – where bewigged Brit comedian Frankie Howerd,Β  singer/actor Paul Nicholas, Donald Pleasance and George Burns joined The Bee Gees (as ‘The Band’), Peter Frampton, Aerosmith and many others in this hugely misguided effort.Β 
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Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - Official Trailer (HD)

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Write-ups were (too say the least) mixed – Rolling Stone said of director Michael Schultz that he:
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“would seem to need direction merely to find the set, let alone the camera”Β Β 

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The Beatles seemed bemused – with George Harrison commenting:
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“I think it’s damaged their images, their careers, and they didn’tΒ needΒ to do that.
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It’s just like the Beatles trying to do The Rolling Stones.Β The Rolling Stones can do it better.”Β Β 
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The Bee Gees careers were far from destroyed.
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We’ve eventually Julie Taymor’s Across the Universe (2007) where The Beatles songs were shoehorned into a fairly trite love story, with critics generous in retrospect.
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Across the Universe (2007) Trailer #1 | Movieclips Classic Trailers

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And lastly, who could forget (well many have, tbh), Tony Palmer’s All This & World War IIΒ (1976).
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A movie where cover versions of the Mop Tops’s songs* are set to archive and movie footage of Hitler, Mussolini, Roosevelt, Stalin, Bogart, Laurel & Hardy and many other people not really associated with The Mop Tops.
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"All This and World War II" theatrical trailer 1976

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What the hell were they smoking?
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Needless to say, reviews were awful and the movie has still yet to be released on dvd etc.
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In the words of George Harrison…’It’s All Too Much’

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It's All Too Much (Remastered 2009)

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*performed by Leo Sayer, Lynsey de Paul, Roy Wood, Status Quo and Keith Moon, amongst others.
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Did I overlook any?Β 

Stephen Arnell

Culture Comment Content Provider. Portrait courtesy of artist Darren Coffield. 'Non satis me tempo'

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