The Best Beatles Movie

Rating: Null/10 (4 November 2000)

The question is not whether this film is good, but why it was so phenomenally popular, and is remembered so fondly.
Unless you were there, it is hard to understand the context. This is a Beatles movie in Bonnie and Clyde clothes. Check out the John and Paul caracatures, complete with Sgt Pepper moustache. The photography is ripped out of Warren Beatty's mind, and casually surrealistic. The musical scenes, especially the bike scene, are inspired by the Hard Days' Night school.
A distance from reality is established in every detail: the overexposed photography often lapsing into sepia, the anachronistic dialog, the `look at me relax' approach to acting, and the abstract, supernatural posse composed of legends who are not supposed to come here. Someone was able to put his finger on how to package a revolution for consumption. This commercialization is of course why the greater promise of that revolution never appeared.
This film made Robert Redford famous, a generous soul and minor talent, and it is easy to see why he would be proud. But Paul Newman knew better even then, and I suppose he regrets having participated. No matter, he has real legacies.
When I reviewed it last week, the Beatle connection was immediately obvious. And I was struck by the Katherine Ross character. In 1969, how we wished Yoko had been like that.