By focusing on the touring years of the Beatles, director Ron Howard has found a helpful means of incorporating tons of restored footage from around the globe that captures some of the mighty charge that accompanied their riotous shows. As the film follows the fab four around the planet and through the wringer, we’re welcomely spared too much of familiar subplots – the wives, the weed, the tensions within the band itself. By the end, though, comes a realisation that the circus surrounding the Beatles is hard to put to one side, and what makes it into Howard’s film feels like a drama-free oversimplification that only tells half the tale.
From 1962 to 1966 the band were a cultural phenomenon whose shows quickly shook off the notion of a musical performance in favour of exercises in mass hysteria. With meticulous craftsmanship, Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years offers modern audiences a ticket to many of these performances, offering a unique perspective on how the band fared with the chaos both on and offstage. More than ever, it’s a chance to watch the band’s insane chemistry – as musicians, as a gang against the world – and, as you’d expect, the footage looks and sounds great in a cinema.
Bolstered by news and home movie footage, you get a sense of how out-of-control the Beatles’ touring life was, but in defying his own subtitle and following the band to their final, rooftop performance, Howard can’t bring himself to solely include their phenomenal live impact. In trying to have a bob each way, he serves up a potted history that veers towards music TV documentary at times when it should be embracing the band’s potency as much as possible.
‘The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years’ movie times
