Birth of The Beatles

"Birth of The Beatles" is a 1979 biopic TV movie, produced by Dick Clark's company (Dick Clark Productions), that focuses on the early history of 1960s rock band The Beatles. It originally appeared on the ABC television network. The soundtrack was recorded by the Beatles tribute band "Rain". The guitar and vocal parts for Lennon were performed by Eddie Lineberry, McCartney's parts by Chuck Coffey, Harrison's by Bill Connearney and Starr's by Steve Wight.

While the program was entertaining, and included most of the expected elements to a dramatisation of the Beatles story, the movie suffers faults on many levels. Events are often telescoped to make the most of the time allotted, background details are assumed more often than investigated (and thus are frequently inaccurate), and the actors are plainly not experienced musicians, as shows whenever the Beatles and other bands appear onstage. (An "audition" scene introducing Pete Best's character, by sharp contrast, shows a drum flair the real Best never exhibited on any surviving recordings from the period.) Many of the familiar Beatle guitars (made by Rickenbacker, Hofner, and Gretsch, among others) are conspicuously absent.

Pete Best served as a technical advisor for the production, and many have stated that this film tends to reflect Best's personal account of certain events, and shows evidence of bias. One example is that the movie clearly implies that Best was terminated from the band due to resentment toward Best's popularity in Liverpool at the time, and makes no mention of dissatisfaction with his playing, which has been thoroughly documented, even during the band's early years. George Martin has repeatedly stated that he was not satisfied with the calibre of Best's drumming at the band's EMI audition, and wanted the drum parts played by a studio drummer for future recordings. Ringo Starr, already a longtime friend of the band, proved a better personal and musical match. (Incidentally, Martin also prohibited Starr from playing drums on an early recording session for 'Love Me Do' replacing him with session player Andy White.)

The movie received modest ratings when it premiered on American television, and was repeated in December 1980, as a tribute to John Lennon in the weeks after his murder. It later repeated on CBS, on "The CBS Late Movie" during the 1980s.

A more recent (and less comprehensive, dealing mainly with Stuart Sutcliffe and the band's days in Hamburg, Germany) dramatisation of the early Beatles years is the 1994 movie "Backbeat".

Cast

*Stephen MacKenna .... John Lennon
*Rod Culbertson .... Paul McCartney
*John Altman .... George Harrison
*Ray Ashcroft .... Ringo Starr
*Ryan Michael .... Pete Best
*David Wilkinson .... Stuart Sutcliffe
*Brian Jameson .... Brian Epstein
*Nigel Havers .... George Martin