LET IT BE
A film review by Andrew Hicks
Copyright 1997 Andrew Hicks / Fatboy Productions
(1970) ** (out of four)
"Let it Be" is exactly what they should have done with the miles and miles of film documenting the worst Beatles album since Beatles For Sale. This film is a chore even for a die-hard Beatles fan like me who owns every CD from Revolver on. I'd hate to think of the viewing experience that awaits someone who doesn't consider him or herself a fan. Most Beatles fans probably won't even like this movie, you'd probably have to be a Beatles fanatic. I'm somewhere in between those two distinctions, I guess you could call me a Beatles fanat.
That means hold the band in high enough esteem to love most of the album tracks that never receive radio airplay, but I don't love them enough to track down every bootleg and outtake in the band's history. That's a fanatic, and a fanatic would probably be interested in Let it Be simply because it offers a lot of rehearsal and live versions of every song on the Let it Be album and a few from Abbey Road. It's painful for me to see unpolished rehearsal versions of such great songs as "Get Back," "Maxwell's Silver Hammer," and "Across the Universe," though.
For someone who's not familiar with these songs, hearing such trashed versions will give off a bad impression. I'm sure more than one person, upon hearing the performances in this film and/or the Anthology albums, has thought, "This is the greatest band in rock and roll history?!" When you're used to the perfect album version of a song, hearing take two or three isn't the same. This movie sent me running for my Abbey Road and Let it Be CD's.
The first 45 minutes of LET IT BE is precisely that -- studio run-throughs of about 20 songs, some of which never made it onto any album. For the person interested in outtakes and rehearsals, this should prove fascinating, although it's interesting to note that, as with the alternate versions on the Anthology albums, a lot of these songs are edited down or not presented in their entirety. You'd think that someone who's actually interested in hearing this stuff would get pissed at not being able to hear it all.
The rest of us are left during this opening half of the movie to ponder such things. There are a few interesting moments for the middle-of-the-road Beatles fanat like myself, like learning George Harrison pretty much wrote "Octopus's Garden" for Ringo Starr, hearing certain band members complain to each other about other band members, and seeing Yoko Ono penetrate every aspect of the band without ever saying a word. LET IT BE also got me wondering why Paul McCartney had time to write all those brilliant songs but couldn't find a few minutes each day to shave. Things that make you go hmmm, right?
After the rehearsals come a few "music video" type performances of "Two of Us," "Let it Be" and "The Long and Winding Road," followed by the famous rooftop concert at their Abbey Road studio. Things pick up from there, as we get passable versions of "The One After 909," "Dig a Pony," "Don't Let Me Down," "I've Got a Feeling" and "Get Back" twice before those stuffy bobbies come up and make them quit. You were wondering who broke up The Beatles? It was those damn bobbies!
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