“Get Back” is the name The Beatles wanted as the title of their second to last album, however, the album ended up being called “Let It Be.” (As many people know, the “Let It Be” album was the final studio album released by The Beatles, however, it was recorded prior to “Abbey Road,” which was released first.) I saw the documentary movie, also titled “Let It Be,” on May 13, 1970, the day it was released in the U.S.A. Both the movie and the album were released after the sad news came out about The Beatles break up. My friend and I cried all the way home from the movie, as it represented, to us, the end of an important era in our lives. Although the album received accolades, the movie was widely criticized for its negative portrayal of The Beatles. In fact, it was never re-released and has been difficult to find. Needless to say, I was thrilled, absolutely thrilled, to find out that the master recordings of the documentary had been preserved and would be released as a movie titled “Get Back” in August of 2020, 50 years after the original movie came out. Alas, it was not to be due, to the viral scourge that infected our planet in 2020. The movie’s director ultimately decided to release the new/old movie on Thanksgiving weekend in 2021, not in theaters, but in a 3 part series consisting of 8 hours of footage that had never been seen. Upon learning of this, I asked David if we could cancel our plans to spend Thanksgiving with his family and began planning my entire Thanksgiving weekend around this, to me, huge event. (I don’t know how many people have waited 51 years for something to happen, but I couldn’t wait another day to watch “Get Back”!) My brother, Park, sent me some interesting articles prior to the release of the movie that contained facts of which I was unaware. He is always careful to say “In case you didn’t already know this” because he is well aware that, if it concerns The Beatles, I might have known about the content of the article for a long time. Other well meaning people, in contrast, know I love all things pertaining to The Beatles (and have done so since 1963), but they act as if I am unaware of the latest happenings involving The Beatles. One of my friends sent me a nice email detailing the “plot line” of the new documentary; another friend sent me a nice email about The Beatles channel on satellite radio (that I have been listening to since the exact moment it went on the air); and others have given me thoughtful Beatles related gifts, never realizing that I bought the items for myself the day they went on sale. Suffice it to say, I love The Beatles! To be on the safe side, it’s best to be like my brother; ask me if I’ve heard the latest information, or if I have the latest John Lennon album re-lease. Or, you can always buy me a new Beatles t-shirt, like the one my friend Roger bought me, because I will never have too many of those. Get Back!
I had not seen Melissa as excited about anything as she was anticipating and then watching Get Back. Well, that is since going to Abbey Road Studios and Liverpool a couple years ago that is! Anyway, it was fascinating to observe how this televised event played out. As changes were made in the movie production, each change became news in the world of Beatles fans. Things changed with the network (Disney+) along the way as well. But, thanks to the internet, we knew the plan and planned accordingly. There were rules – no talking was #1! Our world has changed so much in terms of technology – watching this as a streaming event was mostly convenient, but it is not like owning the DVD/Blue Ray. It worked well and two things were striking. First was the quality of the film – the video. Much effort was spent cleaning up the film from all those years ago; the result was visually spectacular. Watching footage from 16mm or even 35mm movies has never looked so good. Similarly, the efforts cleaning up the audio, not just the music, were stellar. The dialog was cleaned and enhanced such that we could hear and understand conversations that were otherwise previously obscured. (That is, when the Liverpudlian accents didn’t overwhelm!) I never had an opportunity to see the movie 51 years ago but, while the wait seems excessive, the result was a wonderful production that I’m glad I watched all 7+ hours of it!
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