MovieChat Forums > Let It Be (2024) Discussion > Why can't we admit this movie sucks?

Why can't we admit this movie sucks?

posted 14 years ago by onvinyl
12 replies | jump to latest

Let me preface this by saying, I am IN LOVE with The Beatles. I have been for a very long time. I am now in a college course about them, their lives, and their music. It has only served to make me appreciate The Beatles as people.

I think a lot of you on this board are the same way: you've loved The Beatles for a long time. And for that reason, you just can't bring yourself to admit that this movie is terrible. Reasons:

1.) Aspect Ratio is screwed up. We know that it was shot on 16mm because it was meant to be a TV special, and because The Beatles didn't like the project's result they didn't really care that blowing it up to 35mm made it look awful.

2.) This isn't even the original cut approved by all of The Beatles. John was sort of cut out of the re-edit process.

3.) The music isn't that great. It's The Beatles, so it's still good, but this was at a time when they were thinking, "Let's play our music without all that production and just like we used to play live, in Hamburg, all those years ago." But they hadn't played live for almost four years at this point. The result sucked so badly they shelved the project till Phil Spector came in and made it beautiful. Does anyone really want to hear The Long and Winding Road without the orchestration? Nobody but Paul fanboys who melt at his whim.

4.) It's the end of the greatest era in rock music. They're all fighting, they don't want to be filmed all that much, they can sense that this friendship and project that took their 20s is ending and they just want to be done. The reason this sucks is the same reason we take wedding videos and not divorce movies. It's sad, and who wants to remember it?

Face facts, Beatlemaniacs. Let it Be is a sad facet of history that should only be viewed historically, not as entertainment, and not as a loving tribute to the band whose tenure was so fruitful yet so short.

[–] joewilson70 14 years ago

After reading "Get Back - The Beatles Let It Be Disaster", I can tell you that
The movie WAS always meant to be at the cinema.
You say Lennon was cut out, well he was hardly there, so the bits cut out must have been of him and Yoko looking at each other.
Phil Spector made it beautiful? I thought it was common knowledge his production was a disaster.

Beatles fans see this movie it is a captivating, intriguing movie....

[–] hallogallo 14 years ago

1 - This was shot for a TV special/series on 16mm.

2 - The image composition was screwed up when the original academy ratio image was matted to 1.66 ratio for European cinema showings (1.85 for USA screenings?).

3 - Image composition was further screwed up when rather than doing an open matted version for TV showings the owners chose to pan and scan the cinema version down to 1.33 by removing further information from the sides of the frame.

4 - This movie is boring.

5 - If it wasn't for "Beatles For Sale" then "Let It Be" would be their worst LP by a mile.

"I think you're a load of old crap too, Mr Mulligan."

[–] bredlau3 13 years ago

AH man..."Beatles For Sale" is one of my favorite Beatles albums, but "Let It Be" is my least favorite.

[–] hallogallo 13 years ago

I can understand why people like "Beatles For Sale" it's just that it doesn't do anything for me personally. To a lesser extent I feel the same way about "Abbey Road" and "Sgt Pepper" (ie I like the LPs but they're no classics IMO).

"Let It Be" on the other hand is, "Get Back" aside, a stinker. Infact if it weren't for that track it would certainly be my least favourite Beatles LP.

"I think you're a load of old crap too, Mr Mulligan."

[–] bredlau3 13 years ago

I'm not super crazy about Sgt. Pepper. I think Revolver is so much better. But I have a soft spot for Beatles For Sale.

Let It Be comes across like it's all left overs from The White Album...I know it's not totally, but it sounds a lot like they were just songs that weren't good enough for that album. Nothing on Let It Be is great IMO. I don't even like Get Back that much. I Dig A Pony is pretty good though. Not the best album to go out by though.

[–] ihatestairwaytoheaven 14 years ago

The orchestration on the Long and Winding Road is a travesty of music production and has been noted by every one up to and including George Martin himself. Don't even get me started on the waltz music on I Me Mine, the craptacular studio outtakes on For You Blue and Get Back, the god awful string section on Across the Universe. The only thing on the album done right by Spector was his mix for Let it Be. Maybe you should take an audio production course when you're finished.

In other news, Im not wearing pants. Film at 11.

[–] beatlenut8 13 years ago

Lennon wasnt portrayed very well because his attitude sucked. He stated he didnt want to be there and emotionally he wasnt. He was into Heroin by this point and distancing himslef from everybody save Yoko Ono. George and Ringo werent too much better. Still, this is an invaluable artifact into the way the beatles worked even though they werent getting on that great. There are some great tracks on this album and film - some of their greatest.

And for the record Beatles For Sale is a brilliant album. The pinnacle of british beat.

[–] lirico2spinto 13 years ago

I think it's unbelievable how Lennon got away with alot of crap at that time. If it was anybody else, and they acted the way Lennon did- showing up late, not really participating, not listening to anybody else but his 'master' Yoko- that person would have been fired on the spot. But because this is John Lennon- the founder/creator of The Beatles- he got away with it? I think that sucks, I think his attitude really sucked.

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] Line-of-Flight 12 years ago

The music is not great?! Even if you dislike the official Let It Be album the music can still be greatly enjoyed in the version of the produced but never officially released 1969 'Get Back' album (available only as bootleg) and 2003's release of 'Let It Be... Naked' which have both really grown on me, I love them.

[–] cbartal 12 years ago

The OP says that it is the end of an era.

It was not the end of an era.

Abbey Road was the end of an era. That was the last time the Beatles recorded together.

It is important, and great (IMO) because it chronicled the downfall of The Beatles.

They managed to pull it back together long enough to produce Abbey Road afterwards, but Let it Be chronicled the tension between the Beatles that had been festering since Pepper.

I am reading Geoff Emericks book. He didn't engineer Let it Be, but the tension between the Beatles in his book are put on film in plain daylight in Let it Be.

It's a sad movie in so many respects. But it serves a definite purpose.

It is warts and all. Wilco did much the same thing with I am Trying to Break Your heart, but YHF was a masterpiece.

If filming of the Beatles was during Abbey Road, you might have a different opinion of the film. But it was Let it Be. And Let it Be was a bit of a weak album, made MUCH worse by Spector's orchestrations and moreso, his injected choirs.

If you read Emericks book, I think you will come to appreciate the film a bit more, because it illustrates the real Beatles, from 62 to 70.

[–] pturman-929-979676 12 years ago

Are you nuts? Is LET IT BE the Beatles at their best? Not by a long shot. But it is still worth watching for any Beatle fan if only because it's the one & only glimpse you get into their process. Granted, it's obvious THEY aren't enjoying MAKING the movie, but does that mean I don't enjoy watching it?

And I also don't agree that the songs aren't great. Okay, there's only 8 or 9 great songs instead of 12 (or however many are on the album). But I submit the reason you don't think the songs are great is because unlike every other Beatle song, you're not hearing only the finished product. LET IT BE shows them REHEARSING & working up the songs (which, again, is one of the things I LOVE about the movie).

And if that's not enough, we wouldn't have the rooftop concert. What a great document because it shows their power as MUSICIANS as opposed to being the center of a 3-ring circus like all their other concert footage. So maybe you don't like it but I guarantee you when it's finally, FINALLY made available in whatever format, I will be the first in line to purchase it.