''Backbeat'' is a 1994

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Iain Softley Iain Declan Softley (born 30 November 1956) is an English film director, producer, and screenwriter. His films include Backbeat (film), ''Backbeat,'' ''Hackers (film), Hackers, The Wings of the Dove (1997 film), The Wings of the Dove'', ''K-PAX ...

. It chronicles the early days of The Beatles in Hamburg,

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

. The film focuses primarily on the relationship between

Stuart Sutcliffe Stuart Fergusson Victor Sutcliffe (23 June 1940 – 10 April 1962) was a British painter and musician from Edinburgh, Scotland, best known as the original bass guitarist of the Beatles. Sutcliffe left the band to pursue his career as a pa ...

(

Stephen Dorff Stephen Hartley Dorff Jr. (born July 29, 1973) is an American actor. Starting his film career as a child appearing in the Cult following, cult horror (genre), horror film ''The Gate (1987 film), The Gate'' (1987), Dorff first rose to prominence ...

) and

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...

( Ian Hart), and also with Sutcliffe's German girlfriend

Astrid Kirchherr Astrid Kirchherr (; 20 May 1938 – 12 May 2020) was a German photographer and artist known for her association with the Beatles (along with her friends Klaus Voormann and Jürgen Vollmer) and her photographs of the band's original membe ...

( Sheryl Lee). It has subsequently been made into a stage production.

Plot

The film follows the Beatles through their pre-fame Hamburg days when

, the band's bassist, meets German photographer

Cast

In addition, brief portrayals of other historical characters in these early days of the Beatles include Paul Duckworth as

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the group, us ...

, Paul Humpoletz as

Bruno Koschmider Bruno Koschmider (1926 – 2000) was a German entrepreneur in Hamburg, best known for employing the Beatles in the early 1960s. He controlled various businesses, such as the Bambi Kino, which was a cinema, the Indra club and the Kaiserkeller. P ...

, Wolf Kahler as Bert Kaempfert and James Doherty as

Tony Sheridan Anthony Esmond Sheridan McGinnity (21 May 1940 – 16 February 2013), known professionally as Tony Sheridan, was an English rock and roll guitarist who spent much of his adult life in Germany. He was best known as an early collaborator of th ...

. Hart had already played Lennon in the 1991 film '' The Hours and Times''. Bakewell later reprised his role as McCartney in the 2000

television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...

'' The Linda McCartney Story''. Williams reprised his role as Best in the 2000 television film '' In His Life: The John Lennon Story''.

Production

Writing

The original script was written by Iain Softley based on a series of 1988 interviews. After failing to secure funding, screenwriter Stephen Ward was brought in to completely rewrite the script in 1993. Ward interviewed Astrid Kirchherr and others who were close to the Beatles during their time in Hamburg. The project was

green-lit In the context of the film and television industries, to greenlight is to give permission to proceed with a project. It specifically refers to formally approving its production finance and committing to this financing, thereby allowing the projec ...

that year.

Soundtrack

Due to the film's focus on the early days of the band, the

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

includes no songs written by members of the Beatles but various songs the group performed in Hamburg, written and recorded by other artists. In this respect, rather than re-create the sounds of the period, iconoclastic, rebellious musicians were recruited (as a producer noted, the Beatles' pre-recording stage act was "the

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

of its day") to better convey the way the music was appreciated by audiences of the time. All musicians were members of contemporary American rock bands: * Dave Pirner ( Soul Asylum): vocals (Paul McCartney) * Greg Dulli (

The Afghan Whigs The Afghan Whigs are an American rock band from Cincinnati, Ohio. They were active from 1986 to 2001 and have since reformed as a band. The group – with core members Greg Dulli (vocals, rhythm guitar), Rick McCollum (lead guitar), and John ...

): vocals (John Lennon) *

Thurston Moore Thurston Joseph Moore (born July 25, 1958) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter best known as a member of the rock band Sonic Youth. He has also participated in many solo and group collaborations outside Sonic Youth, as well as running ...

(

Sonic Youth Sonic Youth were an American rock band formed in New York City in 1981. Founding members Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar), Thurston Moore (lead guitar, vocals) and Lee Ranaldo (rhythm guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of ...

): guitar * Don Fleming ( Gumball): guitar *

Mike Mills Michael Edward Mills (born December 17, 1958) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, and composer who was a founding member of the alternative rock band R.E.M. Though known primarily as the bass guitarist and backing vocalist of R.E.M., hi ...

(

R.E.M. R.E.M. was an American alternative rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and lead vocalist Michael Stipe, who were students at the University of Georgia. One of the fir ...

): bass guitar *

Dave Grohl David Eric Grohl (; born January 14, 1969) is an American musician. He founded the rock band Foo Fighters, of which he is the lead singer, guitarist, principal songwriter, and only consistent member. From 1990 to 1994, he was the drummer of th ...

(

Nirvana Nirvana, in the Indian religions (Jainism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism), is the concept of an individual's passions being extinguished as the ultimate state of salvation, release, or liberation from suffering ('' duḥkha'') and from the ...

): drums *

Henry Rollins Henry Lawrence Garfield (born February 13, 1961), known professionally as Henry Rollins, is an American singer, writer, spoken word artist, actor, comedian, and presenter. After performing in the short-lived hardcore punk band State of Alert in 1 ...

( Black Flag): vocals (Stuart Sutcliffe) The film's distributor happened to be

PolyGram Filmed Entertainment PolyGram Filmed Entertainment (formerly known as Filmworks, Casablanca Record & Filmworks, PolyGram Films and PolyGram Pictures or simply PFE) was a film production company founded in 1975 as an American film studio, which became a European co ...

which was then under common ownership with

Polydor Records Polydor Limited, also known as Polydor Records, is a British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in ...

, the label that owned the rights to the Beatles' music from the Hamburg days.

Release

The film opened on one screen in the

West End of London The West End of London (commonly referred to as the West End) is a district of Central London, Central London, England, in the London Borough of Camden, London Boroughs of Camden and the City of Westminster. It is west of the City of London an ...

on 1 April 1994 and was planned to expand to 59 screens in the UK the following week but ended up expanding wider to 211 screens. It was given a limited theatrical release in the United States, opening on 15 April. A DVD version was released by Universal in 2005.

Reception

Critics

''Backbeat'' holds a rating of 68% based on 40 reviews on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the review aggregator site. The site's consensus states, "Its overly pretentious and melodramatic leanings notwithstanding, ''Backbeat'' explores the beginnings of the Fab Four with striking authenticity, soaring rock 'n' roll verve, and a strong admiration for its subjects."

Peter Travers Peter Joseph Travers (born June 27, 1943) is an American film critic, journalist, and television presenter. He reviews films for ABC News and previously served as a movie critic for ''People'' and ''Rolling Stone''. Travers also hosts the film i ...

of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' liked how the film captured the early 60s period through its visual style and use of music. Film critic

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

gave the film two out of four stars; although he thought the "dialogue has real wit", he felt the film is "never able to convince us there's a story there".

The Beatles and others

At the time of the film's release,

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

commented:

One of my annoyances about the film ''Backbeat'' is that they've actually taken my rock 'n' rollness off me. They give John the song " Long Tall Sally" to sing and he never sang it in his life. But now it's set in cement. It's like the
Buddy Holly Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known as Buddy Holly, was an American singer, songwriter, and musician who was a central and pioneering figure of rock and roll. He was born to a musical family in Lubbock, Texa ...
and
Glenn Miller Alton Glen "Glenn" Miller (March 1, 1904 – December 15, 1944) was an American big band conductor, arranger, composer, trombonist, and recording artist before and during World War II, when he was an officer in the United States Army Air Forces ...
stories. '' The Buddy Holly Story'' does not even mention
Norman Petty Norman Petty (May 25, 1927 – August 15, 1984) was an American musician, record producer, publisher, and radio station owner. He is considered to be one of the founding fathers of early rock & roll. With Vi Ann Petty—his wife and vocalist—he ...
, and '' The Glenn Miller Story'' is a sugarcoated version of his life. Now ''Backbeat'' has done the same thing to the story of the Beatles. I was quite taken, however, with Stephen Dorff's astonishing performance as Stu.

praised the accuracy and detail of her relationship with Sutcliffe and the Beatles. The film received further positive responses from

Julian Lennon Julian Charles John Lennon (born John Charles Julian Lennon; 8 April 1963) is an English musician, photographer, author, and philanthropist. He is the son of Beatles member John Lennon and his first wife Cynthia; Julian is named after his pate ...

, Pete Best, and Sutcliffe's sister, Pauline, who said, "I still think the director did a fabulous job. It's a good movie. If you like movies, it's a great movie."

Box office

The film grossed £25,912 in its opening weekend from one screen in London, finishing in seventh place at the London box office. It expanded to 211 screens in the UK the following week and grossed £433,669, finishing in fourth place at the UK box office. It went on to gross £1,870,001 ($3 million) in the United Kingdom. In the United States, it opened in 10 theatres and grossed $126,740 in its opening weekend. The following weekend it expanded to 209 theatres and moved up to 18th place at the US box office with a gross of $617,993. It went on to gross $2.4 million in the United States and Canada. In its opening week in Australia, it grossed $136,000 from 50 screens.

Stage adaptions

The film's original writer and director, Iain Softley, turned the screenplay of ''Backbeat'' into a theatrical production. It premiered at Glasgow's Citizens' Theatre on 9 February 2010 featuring a live band. In 2011 another stage version opened at the

Duke of York's Theatre The Duke of York's Theatre is a West End theatre in St Martin's Lane, in the City of Westminster, London. It was built for Frank Wyatt and his wife, Violet Melnotte, who retained ownership of the theatre until her death in 1935. Designed by ...

in London.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Backbeat (Film) 1990s biographical drama films 1990s British films 1990s English-language films 1994 directorial debut films 1994 drama films 1994 films 1994 independent films Biographical films about musicians British biographical drama films English-language biographical drama films English-language independent films Films about the Beatles Films adapted into plays Films directed by Iain Softley Films set in Hamburg Films set in Liverpool Films set in the 1960s Films set in West Germany Gramercy Pictures films Music in Hamburg PolyGram Filmed Entertainment films