Backbeat

Backbeat
UK film poster
Directed by	Iain Softley
Produced by	Finola Dwyer Stephen Woolley
Written by	Iain Softley Michael Thomas Stephen Ward
Starring	Sheryl Lee Stephen Dorff Ian Hart
Music by	Don Was
Cinematography	Ian Wilson
Editing by	Martin Walsh
Studio	PolyGram Filmed Entertainment
Distributed by	Gramercy Pictures
Release date(s)	14 April 1994
Running time	100 minutes
Language	English
Box office	$2,392,589

Backbeat is a 1994 British-German drama film directed by Iain Softley. It chronicles the early days of The Beatles in Hamburg, Germany. The film focuses primarily on the relationship between Stuart Sutcliffe (played by Stephen Dorff) and John Lennon (played by Ian Hart), and also with Sutcliffe's German girlfriend Astrid Kirchherr (played by Sheryl Lee). It has subsequently been made into a stage production, debuting at Glasgow's Citizens Theatre in 2010. It has been announced that Backbeat will make its London West End début on 10 October 2011 (previews begin 24 September) at the Duke of York's theatre.^{[dated info]}

Production

The film is based on interviews conducted by the writer/director Iain Softley with Astrid Kirchherr and Klaus Voormann in the spring of 1988 and later by screenwriter Stephen Ward who was brought into the project after the initial script by Iain Softley failed to raise the financing for production.

The soundtrack to the movie includes no songs written by members of the Beatles, but various songs the group performed in Hamburg, written and recorded by other artists.

Rather than re-create the period sounds, iconoclastic, rebellious musicians were recruited (as a producer noted, The Beatles' pre-recording stage act was "the punk of its day"). This was done to better convey the way the music came across to the audience, at the time. The musicians were all members of well-known American rock bands:

• Dave Pirner (Soul Asylum): vocals
• Greg Dulli (The Afghan Whigs): vocals
• Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth): guitar
• Don Fleming (Gumball): guitar
• Mike Mills (R.E.M.): bass guitar
• Dave Grohl (Nirvana): drums
• Henry Rollins (Black Flag): vocals on "Love Me Tender"

The original recording of "My Bonnie," performed by Tony Sheridan with the Beatles as a backing group was used in the film, the only use of a real Beatles performance.^{[citation needed]}

Additionally, the film's distributor, PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, was then under common ownership with the label which owned the rights to release and distribute the Beatles' music from the Hamburg days, Polydor Records.

Main cast

Hart also played Lennon in the film The Hours and Times.^[1] Bakewell later reprised his role as McCartney in the television film The Linda McCartney Story, as Williams again played Best in the television movie In His Life: The John Lennon Story.

Response

Paul McCartney was not impressed with the movie, stating:

One of my annoyances about the film Backbeat is that they've actually taken my rock 'n' rollness off me. They give John the song "Long Tall Sally" to sing and he never sang it in his life. But now it's set in cement. ('Paul' sang Long Tall Sally in the Glasgow stage version). It's like the Buddy Holly and Glenn Miller stories. The Buddy Holly Story does not even mention Norman Petty, and The Glenn Miller Story is a sugarcoated version of his life. Now Backbeat has done the same thing to the story of The Beatles. I was quite taken, however, with Stephen Dorff's astonishing performance as Stu.^[2]

Astrid Kirchherr praised the movie for its accuracy in its mood and detail of her relationship with Sutcliffe and The Beatles.^[3]

Backbeat at the Citizens' Theatre

Re-imagined for the stage by the original writer and director of the 1994 film, Iain Softley, Backbeat premiered at Glasgow's Citizens Theatre on 9 February 2010^[4] featuring a live band.

Cast

Backbeat at the Duke of York's Theatre London

Backbeat – the adaptation of the 1994 film by Iain Softley on the birth of the Beatles – will be rock 'n' rolling its way to London's Duke of York Theatre for its West End premiere from October.

Backbeat is the story of how The Beatles 'became' The Beatles – when John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Pete Best and Stuart Sutcliffe embarked on their journey from the famous docks of Liverpool to search for success in the seedy red light district of Hamburg, working eight days a week, in the clubs of the tawdry Reeperbahn, performing rock 'n' roll covers night after night.

The compelling triangular relationship between the band's original bassist Stuart Sutcliffe, the striking German photographer Astrid Kirchherr whom he fell in love with, and his best friend John Lennon, became an intrinsic part of the Beatles' story – and put them on an unstoppable trajectory onto the world stage.

Stuart's struggle between his best friend and the band, Astrid and his art, makes Stuart the troubled focus of Backbeat. His death, aged only 22, in the same year that the Beatles appointed Brian Epstein as manager, signed to Parlophone Records by Sir George Martin, and released their first single 'Love Me Do', adds to the poignancy of this remarkable and vivid portrait of the early 1960's.

Backbeat features the all-time rock 'n' roll classics that the Beatles cut their teeth with – 'Twist & Shout', 'Rock 'N' Roll Music', 'Long Tall Sally', 'Please Mr Postman' and 'Money' - live on stage as performed by 'the Beatles'.

Co-written by Iain Softley and Stephen Jeffreys, with musical direction by Paul Stacey, and directed by the award-winning David Leveaux.

References

External links

• Backbeat at the Internet Movie Database
• Backbeat at AllRovi
• Backbeat at Box Office Mojo
• Backbeat at Rotten Tomatoes
• www.atgtickets.com/2871/669/London/Duke-Of-Yorks/Backbeat-Tickets

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