I’ll be honest, I had no intention of writing a post today. There, I said it. However, I tell you that, dear reader, to underscore the importance of the following topic (and there is a hint of sarcasm on the “importance”).
Over the past few weeks, I have been watching Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Now, I know what you’re thinking, “well, of course you are, there’s a ton of Beatles stuff everywhere right now.” Left me tell you that the only thing the Beatles did to this was write the music.
No, this travesty of music, theatre, and musical theatre is just plain does not have a single Beatle in it (not even the 5th one). Instead, it is a movie that is filled with lots of “stars” from 1978. Who’s in this film you ask?
- Peter Frampton
- The Bee Gees
- Alice Cooper
- George Burns
- Aerosmith
- Earth, Wind, and Fire
- Steve Martin
- Billy Preston
I want you to stop for a second and think about the list above. Read over it and digest the material. That’s right, there are a ton of famous people from then and now.
I wish I could say it was great (or even good)…
Oh, who am I kidding, it’s horrible. It is one of the worst films of all time! It is so terrible that it made Jumper look like a Picture of the Year contender. It was one horrible musician number after another, and it just didn’t stop. It keep coming and coming, punishing both your ears and eyes.
If you like “bad” movies, this one is just about the worst. Let’s face it, it was 1978, people liked the Beatles music and the Bee Gees were huge, but is this the best they could do? I can hear the pitch for it now: “We’ll take Peter Frampton, yeah the kids love him. And we’ll mix in the Bee Gees, because those guys are man’s men. Now, we need music… What to use, what to use? Hey, the Beatles broke up earlier this decade, people will really want to see their music in a new light. Yeah, yeah, that’s the ticket…”
The problem is that someone should have stopped them, and expressed how bad of an idea this movie was. Because of this film, I have lost respect for Alice Cooper and even more for Aerosmith, who plays the “villain’s” band. (Think Steve Vai in Crossroad.) Of course, this is where/why Aerosmith recorded Come Together, which is a great version. The problem is when you see the big finale, it’s hard to forgive them.
Here’s a couple of interesting things, apparently this was Steve Martin’s first role in a feature film. That’s right, this is before The Jerk or even The Muppets. Talk about a blemish on a great career.
So, my warning is this: Stay away, unless you just can’t help but see the train wreck which is Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Watch it but be warned…
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1 response so far ↓
Dan // September 15, 2009 at 6:35 pm |
Well then, you’ve got an iron constitution. Me, personally? There’s no way in hell I’d watch that film from beginning to end, even for the purpose of roasting it to death with savage criticisms. So I salute you for taking one “for the team”.
In all honesty, though, The Beatles themselves made a bad film: 1967’s “Magical Mystery Tour”. Even with the actual Beatles present, MMT is a certified clunker in almost every respect, and the reasons are patently obvious.
First, they were still flailing around in the aftermath of Brian Epstein’s death, trying to figure out what they really intended to do with their careers. They chose a road trip. Ordinarily, that would be the sane thing to do in such circumstances (clear one’s head, get away from it all, maybe grieve over death, and then come back ready to get to work). Except that they chose to film this road trip. Bad idea. Really bad idea.
Second, the album they modeled the film around wasn’t even (excuse me while I duck the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, as well as those of angered Beatles fans, of which I am one myself, but I stand by what I say next) their best album. Sure, MMT has some good songs, “Hello Goodbye”, “I Am the Walrus”, the title song. But it hardly ranks very high in their overall catalog. (In fact, I don’t think I’ve even seen it charted in any of the numerous Rolling Stone / MTV / VH1 “Best Albums” surveys. So
apparently I’m not the only one who thinks MMT isn’t their best work.)
Third, well, to put it bluntly, even by late 1967 the psychedelic thing was kind of wearing thin. At certain points in the movie you can tell that even The Beatles themselves were starting to find it trying to do everything “turned on, tuned in, and dropped out”.
Having said that, though, there’s no doubt that even the film “Magical Mystery Tour” at its worst is far more tolerable than even the best parts of the 1978 film for Sgt. Pepper’s.