Get Back (2021)

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Flack
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Get Back (2021)

Post by Flack »



Have you ever wondered what it would have been like to actually witness lightning striking Ben Franklin's kite, or watch the apple drop onto Isaac Newton's head? If you are a fan of the Beatles, or even music in general, that's what Get Back is, a film that figuratively captures lightning in a bottle.

In January 1969, the Beatles booked recording time in Twickenham Studios and invited a film crew to capture the session. The video was intended to be used for a television special about the Beatles' return to live performances, but that didn't pan out. The band recorded for a week before George Harrison walked out, temporarily quitting the band. Upon his return a few days later, the television special was scrapped and the film crew decided to simply record the band's time in the studio, which culminated in the now famous live performance upon the roof of EMI, near Abbey Road. Although the footage that makes up this documentary was captured in 1969, the songs songs and video of the rooftop performance would not be released until May of 1970, a month after the Beatles broke up.

What we get during the 8 hours of 2021's Get Back is a fly-on-the-wall view of the Beatles doing what they did best. In one scene, Paul McCartney sits down at a piano and begins playing a few random chords to kill time because John and Yoko are nowhere to be found. Over the next few minutes, those random chords come together to form the song "Let it Be." When the band is firing on all cylinders, it's like watching magic. George presents a song to the group that he wrote in his hotel room the night before ("I Me Mine"). Before he can get to the chorus, his bandmates have joined in and are harmonizing and jamming along. Scenes like these are the closest I've seen to ESP.

Not everything is smooth. Paul is the defacto leader now, which doesn't please John. George doesn't want to play live anymore. Ringo, the world's most patient man, sits on his drum stool watching the band fall apart. After being told one too many times how to play the guitar, George quits the band and goes MIA for multiple days. And then there's the omnipresent Yoko, who doesn't say much but is joined at the hip to John. Where he goes, she is. Whether it's a playback session in the studio's console room or gathered around a table to discuss band matters, Yoko is there.

I do not envy the band's manager, the studio personnel, or anyone else whose job it is to control these four lads. The term "herding cats" comes to mind. George disappears for a few days, John comes in late, at different times all of them come in either drunk or hungover, and none of them (other than Paul) seem to be able to focus. Paul makes the band practice "Let is Be" twice in a row, but before he can get a solid performance from his bandmates John launches into "Blue Suede Shoes" with the others joining in. Entire days in the studio are wasted as the guys either play the same songs over and over again or burn off energy by playing cover tunes. Often times, John and Paul take turns doing silly voices, ruining takes.

It was rumored that the later Beatles' recording sessions were filled with stress and conflict, and there's some of that, but there's a lot more happiness and magic happening. There are scenes where it seems some of the band members are tired of each other, but more than that, it seems like each of them were simply tired of being The Beatles. Peter Jackson does a good job of culling through the almost 60 hours of available footage from the "Get Back" session and presenting a film that focuses on the band's genius. The footage has been treated with one of Jackson's magical techniques that makes it look as though it were filmed yesterday. It looks and sounds quite amazing.

The film ends with the entire "Get Back/Let it Be" concert that took place on the roof of the EMI studio. As the Fab Four perform their last live performance together, two clueless police officers respond to multiple noise complaints and attempt to shut down the performance. Unfortunately they can't seem to figure out that the band is on the roof, and the pair come off as bumbling boobs. It's the perfect ending to a perfect film.

At 8 hours in length Get Back is more than a documentary -- it's a time capsule that captures one of the greatest bands of all time creating magic.
"I failed a savings throw and now I am back."

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AArdvark
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Re: Get Back (2021)

Post by AArdvark »

I might check this out. Beatles were always OK with me. Not sure about watching eight hours worth, possibly in snippets would be alright. Ill even turn the sound on.

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Ice Cream Jonsey
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Re: Get Back (2021)

Post by Ice Cream Jonsey »

I don't dislike the Beatles.
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AArdvark
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Re: Get Back (2021)

Post by AArdvark »

Watching this now.

Firstly a Disney rant. Had to change the account settings so I can watch 14+ stuff. Apparently the standard account filters out any adult stuff so they don't get sued.

It was ok. I only watched the first installment, but that was enough to get the idea.

Watching them work out the words for Get Back and I want to help them out by singing the finished lyrics

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Ice Cream Jonsey
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Re: Get Back (2021)

Post by Ice Cream Jonsey »

They were fine.
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Tdarcos
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Re: Get Back (2021)

Post by Tdarcos »

Most people will never know what it's like watching a creative process take place, especially when it involves multiple insanely talented people. These guys were some of the best musicians alive, and they knew it. Thus you basically have a quartet of prima donnas with egos to match.

As I said in a book I wrote, and it applies to musicians, "Roughnecks aren't much different than teenagers in school, Some show up at the start of the day ready to work, on time and sober. Others come in drunk, high, stoned, or some combination of all three." The members of the Beatles probably figured out heretofore undiscovered states of consciousness to move into.
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Ice Cream Jonsey
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Re: Get Back (2021)

Post by Ice Cream Jonsey »

You think Ringo Starr had an ego problem?
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Tdarcos
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Re: Get Back (2021)

Post by Tdarcos »

Ice Cream Jonsey wrote: Tue Jan 31, 2023 4:58 pm You think Ringo Starr had an ego problem?
These guys were all but worshipped. This was the beginning of the 1960s, "drugs, sex, and rock and roll," era, where groupies hung around bands, and for a female fan, getting laid by the member of a band she liked was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. With those kinds of temptations, ego problems were to be expected. These guys dabbled in drugs; they dropped LSD and had met with a famous Eastern mysticsm guru whose name I can't remember. Marahesh Yogi? Something like that.

Here's another reason he might have had an ego problem; of the members of the Beatles: Paul McCartney, John Lennon, and George Harrison, only Richard Starkey had to use an alias.
Alan Francis wrote a book containing everything men understand about women. It consisted of 100 blank pages.

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