Let It Be director Lindsay-Hogg repeatedly expressed that the tv show/movie needed a story. That's certainly true for a movie, but unfortunately framing the Let It Be movie as a dark depressing experience of the band falling apart is astonishingly off the mark.
The band isn't falling apart here, they are working through their issues. And they're having a great deal of fun. There are SEEDS planted here of the demise, most particularly the unfortunate hiring of the fraudulent and scheming Allen Klein. It's particularly cringey to see John bragging about how Klein charmed him while Glyn Johns repeatedly tries to warn John that Klein is a manipulative phony. But he was very young...
I was born in 1969, so it's incredibly startling to see just how young these guys actually were. Of course, I KNEW that they were only in their late 20s, but in all the released stuff they seemed older. Seeing John prance around and Paul swinging from the scaffolding really makes real.
The reason Billy Preston was brought in by George is quite different than history suggested. History said that the sessions were so bitter that only bringing in the outsider (but a friend of the Beatles) lightened the mood.
The reality is that bringing in Preston DID improve the mood, but mainly because their compositions were too complex to stick with the idea of no dubbing. They simply needed someone on keyboards, and that did relieve tensions because it solved a recurring problem. It's also true they were delighted to have Preston's talent and personality, I'm just pointing out how Let It Be distorted things.
Other notes-- it's startling how alive this footage is. You could almost believe this was shot yesterday.
Yoko's role in the breakup... I do wonder if her role in these sessions was diminished a bit in the edit here. HOWEVER, even if that were done, the sheer amount of footage here shows she couldn't have been much of a problem.
It's true John and Yoko were using heroin at this time, and this goes completely unreported. But again, that stuff is known, what's great here is seeing the mood wasn't bad at all and these guys creating fantastic songs out of the air like wizards.
The Length: I'll admit, I initially thought it seemed ridiculously long considering nothing much happens. But this isn't a movie, it's basically just footage with a bit of a narrative. We won't be getting much more like this, and honestly, I would like to have all the unedited footage as an extra.
Disney: Why in the world did Disney buy this? Obviously Disney is kid's stuff, and this is the first "mature" content (comprising incredibly mild swears and 50 year old smokes) on the network. One would think Disney has an incredibly strong brand yet they seem to want to turn themselves into another Walmart that sells everything.
The band isn't falling apart here, they are working through their issues. And they're having a great deal of fun. There are SEEDS planted here of the demise, most particularly the unfortunate hiring of the fraudulent and scheming Allen Klein. It's particularly cringey to see John bragging about how Klein charmed him while Glyn Johns repeatedly tries to warn John that Klein is a manipulative phony. But he was very young...
I was born in 1969, so it's incredibly startling to see just how young these guys actually were. Of course, I KNEW that they were only in their late 20s, but in all the released stuff they seemed older. Seeing John prance around and Paul swinging from the scaffolding really makes real.
The reason Billy Preston was brought in by George is quite different than history suggested. History said that the sessions were so bitter that only bringing in the outsider (but a friend of the Beatles) lightened the mood.
The reality is that bringing in Preston DID improve the mood, but mainly because their compositions were too complex to stick with the idea of no dubbing. They simply needed someone on keyboards, and that did relieve tensions because it solved a recurring problem. It's also true they were delighted to have Preston's talent and personality, I'm just pointing out how Let It Be distorted things.
Other notes-- it's startling how alive this footage is. You could almost believe this was shot yesterday.
Yoko's role in the breakup... I do wonder if her role in these sessions was diminished a bit in the edit here. HOWEVER, even if that were done, the sheer amount of footage here shows she couldn't have been much of a problem.
It's true John and Yoko were using heroin at this time, and this goes completely unreported. But again, that stuff is known, what's great here is seeing the mood wasn't bad at all and these guys creating fantastic songs out of the air like wizards.
The Length: I'll admit, I initially thought it seemed ridiculously long considering nothing much happens. But this isn't a movie, it's basically just footage with a bit of a narrative. We won't be getting much more like this, and honestly, I would like to have all the unedited footage as an extra.
Disney: Why in the world did Disney buy this? Obviously Disney is kid's stuff, and this is the first "mature" content (comprising incredibly mild swears and 50 year old smokes) on the network. One would think Disney has an incredibly strong brand yet they seem to want to turn themselves into another Walmart that sells everything.