Help! is a Beatles movie that only is one in part- significant, sure, this time it's not simply the Beatlemania movie of the moment. They're still recognized and all by supporting characters, but being left to their own devices, in approximately more ways than one, it's got madcap tattooed on its brain. There's not really a Lord of the Rings element to it, being that the ring isn't going to destroy the entire world or not if it gets destroyed. In a way it's a MacGuffin (even as there is many a line exchanged about the importance of a finger, and how much Ringo might need it or not if chopped off). It could be anything, just as long as it has those quick-witted and quick-footed chaps from Liverpool on the run from the dastardly foreign royal-hunters and the scientists.
To describe all of what happens in Help! would take up more than a page load, but to put it really quick some of the highlights- Beatles in the Alps, Beatles in the Bahamas, Beatles in a royal palace, and all going back to the temple! Well, those aren't really highlights, but there's lots of great nuggets of gags and jokes in there. In fact, I'd say that the first half of the film, while the boys are still wondering why the hell they're being chased all around just for the big red rock on Ringo's finger, is purely wonderful, spot-on comedy, where the irreverent goes to very long lengths, including title cards, surprising exchanges, and all in very broad strokes. No need to know what these fellows are really like, that's never a point to be made. They're too busy for that- what with getting tailed every which way, recording songs, playing songs, dancing sometimes randomly when an alarm clock goes off or getting out of places in outrageous break-out-of-window fashion, and then even getting caught in the middle of a military assault. All of it is pulled off via Richard Lesters's direction with a full understanding of how this being silly, and the Beatles going for it, allows for so many possibilities, and almost all of them are realized.
The soundtrack, by the way, is definitely a favorite from the early Beatles days, with the classics of the title track, Ticket to Ride, Got to Hide Your Love Away, and Lose that Girl among others. They all fit in very well with the story too, or what's there of it. And the climax, which almost becomes anti in the last couple of minutes, is actually a given considering all that's happened- it caps off a 'why not' attitude to the situations that unfold. Also, quite a few excellent, quotable lines too. It's one of the best pictures of 1965. Grade- A
To describe all of what happens in Help! would take up more than a page load, but to put it really quick some of the highlights- Beatles in the Alps, Beatles in the Bahamas, Beatles in a royal palace, and all going back to the temple! Well, those aren't really highlights, but there's lots of great nuggets of gags and jokes in there. In fact, I'd say that the first half of the film, while the boys are still wondering why the hell they're being chased all around just for the big red rock on Ringo's finger, is purely wonderful, spot-on comedy, where the irreverent goes to very long lengths, including title cards, surprising exchanges, and all in very broad strokes. No need to know what these fellows are really like, that's never a point to be made. They're too busy for that- what with getting tailed every which way, recording songs, playing songs, dancing sometimes randomly when an alarm clock goes off or getting out of places in outrageous break-out-of-window fashion, and then even getting caught in the middle of a military assault. All of it is pulled off via Richard Lesters's direction with a full understanding of how this being silly, and the Beatles going for it, allows for so many possibilities, and almost all of them are realized.
The soundtrack, by the way, is definitely a favorite from the early Beatles days, with the classics of the title track, Ticket to Ride, Got to Hide Your Love Away, and Lose that Girl among others. They all fit in very well with the story too, or what's there of it. And the climax, which almost becomes anti in the last couple of minutes, is actually a given considering all that's happened- it caps off a 'why not' attitude to the situations that unfold. Also, quite a few excellent, quotable lines too. It's one of the best pictures of 1965. Grade- A