Friday 12 January 2018

The Beatles as actors


FILMS WITH THE REAL BEATLES

NOTE: Some browser may not show some of the clips embedded in this blog. Please, use the alternative links under the blank space (which is the not-showing clip).

This blog is dedicated to the Beatles (as band and solos) as actors in movies and TV sketches (TV commercials included). I omitted music videos from this collection and concentrated on other things. But, to avoid ignoring the whole music video scene, here’s a list of videos featuring a sort of acting (not just playing and singing):
  • Day Tripper (Ringo’s sawing off the bars)
  • Goodnight Vienna (Ringo Starr)
  • The Frog Song (Paul McCartney)
  • The Chess Game (John & Yoko)
  • This Song (George Harrison)
  • Crackerbox Palace (George Harrison)
  • When We Was Fab (George Harrison)
  • Ding Dong, Ding Dong (George Harrison) 
  • Pipes of Peace (Paul McCartney)
  • Wonderful Christmastime (Paul McCartney)
  • Waterfalls (Paul McCartney)
  • This One (Paul McCartney)
  • Appreciated (Paul McCartney)
  • My Valentine (Paul McCartney)
  • Only You (And You Alone) (Ringo Starr)
  • You Don't Know Me at All (Ringo Starr)
  • Stop and Take Time to Smell the Rose (Ringo Starr)
  • Act Naturally (Ringo Starr with Buck Owens)
and many more ....

MAIN COLLECTION VIDEO



I'm sure that many of you enjoyed very much certain scenes and would love to see the whole movie. Well, the SgtPepperChannel cares about you, and has already provided this blog with some of the best movies featured in this collections. The ones I choose for now are the one that have actors playing as the Beatles. I was also planning to upload the whole Pirates of the Caribbeans: dead man tell no tales film, but, I didn't even watch it! I only watched the scene with Paul .... and since that has been the most talked about subject the early 2017 (but as usual nobody really cares to see it with own eyes) I will share it for first.



Be honest: how many posts did you see on Facebook or elsewhere with this photo of Paul McCartney in a pirate costume ? Lots of times, right? And how many times did you see anybody sharing the actual clip (it has always been on YouTube !!!) .... none !!!!! So, should we finally get to see that bloody sketch ?!
FOOTNOTE: The joke Uncle Jack tells to Jack Sparrow "a skeleton walks into a bar and orders a beer and a mop" was previously told by Quentin Tarantino in 1996 in the film Desperado (https://youtu.be/Gz_PJqCCd2E?t=9s), by Harvey Miller and later by Jack Nicholson, repeated by Al Pacino (https://youtu.be/nOPdRjGtryk?t=30s), subsequently parodied by Johnny Deep (https://youtu.be/8R12QHMFF48?t=1m39s) ... see how Disney keeps on recycling the same garbage !?



Here's also a behind the scenes special clip of this scene, in which Co-directors Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg go through the making of this particular McCartney's cameo.




I won't share the actual full Beatles movies as main feature, those are pretty easy to find with a Google search and perhaps you all already own a digital copy, but I want to share this 1984 movie in full: Give My Regards to Broad Street, directed by Peter Webb and starring Paul McCartney, Bryan Brown, Ringo Starr, Barbara Bach and Linda McCartney.



However, Give My Regards to Broad Street is not the only film featuring Paul, Ringo, Linda and Barbara; The Cooler is a short promo film directed by Kevin Godley and Lol Creme and it was originally made as a promo video for "Private Property" from Ringo’s solo album "Stop And Smell The Roses". It was filmed at the AIR Studios in southwest London in mid-January 1981 by Paul McCartney’s MPL Communications.



Going back a couple of years, in 1978 Ringo Starr took part to the TV Special/film "Ringo", where he plays himself, as well as a fictionalised version of himself and his fictional half-brother Ognir Rrats.
However, in this film George Harrison played a little role as interviewee at a press conference (making also a reference to trousers of The Rutles) .... and possibly a cameo of Paul McCartney.
George appears at minute 1 and minute 35: https://youtu.be/raHA3pzB2Kk?t=1m and https://youtu.be/raHA3pzB2Kk?t=35m14s and Paul towards the end as a beardy pianist https://youtu.be/raHA3pzB2Kk?t=41m16s

 




In the film Alice in Wonderland from 1985, Ringo Starr played the role of the turtle while singing the song Nonsense. I could have let the whole clip, but, for the sake of keeping the video under 2 hours of length I cut it 3/4 short. However, here the whole unedited clip.




And, also the scene from Candy (1968) should be posted in full.



I had a lot of requests to share a link for the Beatles' 2008 bootleg film Let it Be (the big picture).
It is more or less the same as the 1970 version of Let It Be, but with 30% of extra screen-picture (literally). Let it Be was recorded on 35mm film and zoomed in. This version has the original film size. NOTE: this is not a remastered version !!! Apple has no plans of releasing the LET IT BE remastered movie anytime soon. đŸ˜©



Paul and Linda McCartney take part to an episode of the British TV comedy series, Bread in 1987. Sparingly, Linda is a very good actress.
... Paul appears at the very end.




And, since we are talking about Paul and Linda, let's include Denny Laine of Wings too.
In 1977 Paul McCartney also played in a sketch, along with Linda and Denny Laine for The Mike Yarwood Show (https://www.bitchute.com/video/111ZiEa78WBH/). They also performed a couple of songs live during the same TV show.




Another curious and less note TV appearance is the one Ringo took place at the Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In show in 1970. NOTE:  a lot of these clips are available ONLY in this blog. So, fell lucky to have discovered this page!



... and the end of the episode + credits Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In with Ringo's guest appearance (show hosted by Hosted by Dan Rowan and Dick Martin, this ground-breaking variety show was a fast moving barrage of jokes, one-liners, running skits, and musical numbers that made fun of the social and political issues of the late 1960s and early 1970s.)




And, since we are talking about Ringo, here another few clips of his sketches for Saturday Night Live. The first in known as Fernando's Hideaway, from 1984.



And the next one is from the same year.



Before moving to the voice acting section of this blog, there is a McCartney funny voiceover commentary sketch with Seth Meyers filmed in 2013.



VOICE ACTING

We covered some of the Beatles voice acting in cartoons, such as the Simpsons and the Powerpuff Girls, which you can watch is the Cartoon blogspot.
Since this one below (BoJack Horseman) is pretty recent cartoon episode (2015) I don't mind sharing it again (here's also a version dubbed in Spanish: https://youtu.be/MTjTw7vu4h4).




Not only Ringo Starr was the first to take part to a Simpsons episode, but he also was the one with most lines. You can watch the full episode of "Brush with Greatness" here:


Brush With Greatness: https://my.mail.ru/mail/grom2763/video/17/352.html (Russian)

Two years after the Ringo appearance in the Simpsons, it was George Harrison's turn to play himself in the 1993 episode "Homer's Barbershop Quartet" (MOMENTARILY UNAVAILABLE)



While Paul McCartney was the last. He eventually appeared on "Lisa the Vegetarian" in 1995.
http://pixa.club/en/the-simpsons/season-7/epizod-5-lisa-the-vegetarian


Sorry, the video is in Russian.

Also, we shouldn't forget that Paul McCartney voiced his own cartoon characters in Rupert and the Frog Song. Paul does the voice acting for Rupert, Bill, Boy Frog.
NOTE: the recent Rupert and the Hedgehog cartoon is inspired by Paul's animation; Rupert's voice is similar to the one McCartney did, but it is played by Julie Lemieux.



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JOHN & YOKO'S FILMS

Due to their extreme boredom I won't embed any of their avant-garde films/video.
However, I created a YouTube playlist with all of them in their entirety.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlqXiBY2sa0Rk4TrYicPyLLF01a6x3rdL

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ONLINE MISINFORMATION

While searching for clips to add to this collection I came across a lot of wrong info. Sites such as IMDB should be the primary source for this sort of research, but, most of the times they information they provide is misleading or even completely wrong.

At the end of the Beatles as actors video collection I included two clips: Checking Out and Sabrina, the teenage witch; for these two clips I can't tell if those are George Harrison and Ringo Starr for real, but certainly I can tell that this guy here below is NOT Ringo, as claimed on IMDB, Ringo's encyclopedia and more. Screenshot taken from the film Saint Street (2012).

Saint Street full movie link (if you want to double-check it yourself)

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Ringo, among the four is the one with the most wrong references online. Just like on Facebook, most websites copy and paste descriptions from other places. In the next case, on Ringo's encyclopedia it also stated that this guy here below is Ringo. [from Weekend of a champion]
https://my.mail.ru/mail/billy.shears/video/_myvideo/168.html


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If you google "In episode 9F11 of Season Four, Homer is seen eating a cookie in the shape of Ringo’s head" you will find this citation in a lots of websites and forums. Too bad that nobody checked if it true ... well, one person did it ... that's me !

This is a screenshot of the Simpsons episode scene. The cookie is not even a cookie but a potato chip and Great Aunt Gladys clearly says that ..... not Ringo Starr. (Episode: “Selma’s Choice” S04E13).



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Another mistake I encountered is in the 1999 film An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster where Ringo is once again mentioned as a member of the Outlaw Cats but he’s not credited in the actual film credit roll. Alternately Yoko Ono is credited for her contribution as assistant director. Ringo has probably been confused for his song called Mystery of the Night, however, where they got the source for the Outlaw Cats is the real mystery about this movie and if this mistake has never been corrected is because nobody bothers to double-check these claims.

 

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Quick annotation for the film Monty Python's Life of Brian: Harrison appears in a cameo appearance as Mr. Papadopoulos, "owner of the Mount", who briefly shakes hands with Brian in a crowd scene. His one word of dialogue (a cheery but out of place Scouse "'ullo") had to be dubbed in later.

NOTE: I made a little editing mistake in the main video: one of the Not Only ... But Also clips is from 1994, the other in from 1966.
Also, How I won the war was filmed in 1966 but screened in 1967, and so Candy was filmed in 1967 but screened in 1968.
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HOW I WON THE WAR

How I Won the War is a black comedy film directed and produced by Richard Lester, released in 1967, based on a novel of the same name by Patrick Ryan. The film stars Michael Crawford as bungling British Army Officer Lieutenant Earnest Goodbody, with John Lennon.




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RINGO THE ACTOR

I'm sure you all noticed how Ringo appeared in so many films. Ritchie has indeed talent as actor and Richard Lester discovered with A Hard Day's Night, giving Ringo the main spot in his next film with the Beatles, Help! But I still find weird the fact that John had not a full sketch in AHDN but got to be the main character in How I Won The War.
However, I would like to share this short documentary of Ringo and his adventure filming Magical Mystery Tour.




EXTRAS

As I said earlier, I don't think there is a need to post the main Beatles films in full, but I'll do it anyway ..... but in a very small format to occupy less space. Use the full screen button to have a bigger view.
..............A Hard Day's Night....................................Help!..........Magical Mystery Tour


A Hard Day's Night

Help!

Magical Mystery Tour



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Comments are ALWAYS appreciated. Suggestions even more. But commenting “you forgot” followed by something that has no relation to the subject is plain annoying.

However, I was suggested to add the interview Paul McCartney at the Chris Farley Show even if the only person acting is Farley. I considered adding it to the main collection while editing the video, but I decided to include it not.  I’ll leave the full clip here, for those who want to watch it.


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TBC (more clips to be added)
If you would like to see a clip or a movie in full, let me know in the comments.
I'm very happy to share it.
Should I create a section with all the Beatles movies in full ?


3 comments:

  1. How can I download the Let It Be big picture version? Please help.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Are you Beatlesbootlegs9 ?
    I explained it in the comment you left on YT.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The videos “The Beatles as actors” and “Non-Beatles featuring the Beatles” were all removed because of copyright. Is there any way to see this videos or if you still have the files, please.

    ReplyDelete