The Beatles Get Back

DVD Wholesale Quick Overview:

John Lennon: “I’d like a fifth Beatle.”

Paul McCartney: “It’s bad enough with four.”

This exchange occurred in January, 1969, on Day 15 of the 22-day marathon rehearsal process for a television special/album/concert/documentary (the nature of the project changed by the day, sometimes by the hour). During those weeks they would lose George Harrison for a couple of days, and gain keyboardist Billy Preston. Sometimes John was a total no-show. On one day, only Ringo showed up. McCartney murmurs ominously at one point, “And then there were two.” “And then there were one.” And then there were none.

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“Let It Be,” the film patched together from the mounds of footage by director Michael Lindsay Hogg, was released in 1970, right after the Beatles broke up. Because of that unfortunate bit of timing, the film was viewed not as a fascinating glimpse of four superstars in a working process, but almost entirely as foreshadowing, a retrospective portrait of the break-up as well as a commentary on “why” they went their separate ways. Yoko Ono, present in every scene by Lennon’s side, was reviled, and there are still people who think she is the reason the Beatles broke up. The overall result of the film is fairly grim, particularly for Beatles fans. They all look so glum and serious, there’s no sense of playfulness or even shared creativity. They sit holed up in separate corners, bickering, and there’s a sense that things are falling apart, and none of them care to stop the disintegration. It all culminates in the famous rooftop concert, with John, Paul, George and Ringo performing in the open air, like glorious wind-blown gargoyles hovering over the London streets. The album of the same name—the Beatles’ twelfth and final studio album—was released around the same time, and that, too, has a distinct thrown-together quality (but still! It’s the Beatles! They always leave you with something!). The footage of the Let It Be sessions (what we have seen, at least, thus far) has stood as the final word for 50 years, evidence that the band that changed the world went out with a whimper, not a bang.

DVD Wholesale Main Features:

Package Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.52 x 5.39 x 0.55 inches; 3.88 Ounces
Item model number ‏ : ‎ 3SS-DVD130
Director ‏ : ‎ Peter Jackson
Media Format ‏ : ‎ Subtitled, NTSC
Run time ‏ : ‎ 7 hours and 38 minutes
Release date ‏ : ‎ July 12, 2022
Actors ‏ : ‎ Paul McCartney and The Frog Chorus, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr
Studio ‏ : ‎ WALT DISNEY PICTURES
ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0B1JG7S4X
Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 3