BACKBEAT
Backbeat is a 1994 Anglo-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 (Stephen Dorff) and John Lennon (Ian Hart), and also with Sutcliffe’s German girlfriend Astrid Kirchherr (Sheryl Lee). It has subsequently been made into a stage production. (More from Wikipedia)
Finally, I have a recommendation to go with my confession earlier. If any of you are still signed up with Netflix, you should add the 1994 film Backbeat to your queue. It is the early history of the Beatles mostly when they were in Hamburg, Germany and primarily follows Stu Sutcliffe (played by Stephen Dorff), an old friend of John Lennon who was in an early incarnation of the band. Long before they were famous, Sutcliffe was drawn into photography and found a love; he died tragically young before his 22nd birthday. Along the way, you meet Paul McCartney (the two actors who play John and Paul are dead ringers), George Harrison, and even Ringo Starr, who was hanging around the group even though he wasn’t in the band yet. Actually the words “the Beatles” were only spoken once during the entire movie; John Lennon mostly just called them “the band”.
The idea is that, in those days, the Beatles were the world’s greatest punk rock group, so the band that they lined up to play the music was drawn from the top American alternative rock bands of the day, like the Afghan Whigs,Soul Asylum, R.E.M., and Sonic Youth. The drummer was Nirvana’s Dave Grohl, who later became the front man for Foo Fighters; sadly, I believe that I read that they have gone on a hiatus. However, he still hits the skins from time to time for bands like Queens of the Stone Age. Highly recommended.
(September 2012)
