Beatles '64 drops onto Disney+ today, and it's a must-watch for any fan of the Beatles or, damnit, music full-stop. And happily, you can watch it on Disney+ for just $2.99 if you take advantage of this limited-time Hulu/Disney+ bundle deal.
Using lovingly-restored footage originally shot by David and Albert Maysles, it charts the band's epochal storming of the US, and showcases the Fab Four at their Fabbest, as yet undaunted by global fame and full of the infectious energy and sense of outright fun that endeared them to an adoring world.
It also features new interviews with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, archive material from Lennon and Harrison and a number of talking heads who can attest to the seismic impact the Beatles made on America in that year.
These include A-listers such as Berry Gordy, the late Ronnie Spector and Smokey Robinson who says: “They were the first white group that I’d ever heard in my life who said ‘yeah we grew up listening to black music.”
Whilst Scorsese on this occasion is the doc’s producer, the director is David Tedeschi, who also worked with him on the George Harrison documentary Living In The Material World. In an interview with NME, Tedeschi has talked about how the Maysles managed to get such incredible footage: “They weren’t well-known,” he reveals. “We don’t really know how they got hired – there’s no real record – but they were remarkable. It’s one thing for them to be with the Beatles – who are of course tremendously charismatic – day after day, so the band get used to them and they have a very nice rapport.”
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