Beatles '64 is a documentary film directed by David Tedeschi and produced by Martin Scorsese. It was released on Disney+ on 29 November 2024.

Premise

The film documents the cultural impact of the Beatles on the United States in the aftermath of their first three-week visit to the country in February of 1964, in which their historic first performances on The Ed Sullivan Show occurred. It includes archival footage from the Beatlemania era, and examines the personal dynamics of the group's members during the period.

Production

The film was directed by David Tedeschi, who had first become involved with Apple Corps following his role as an editor on Martin Scorsese's documentary George Harrison: Living in the Material World, with the two directors becoming "very good friends with Olivia Harrison," the wife of the late George Harrison. It was produced by Scorsese, Olivia Harrison, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Sean Ono Lennon, Margaret Bodde, Jonathan Clyde, and Mikaela Beardsley, with Jeff Jones and Rick Yorn serving as executive producers. The film features footage shot by Albert and David Maysles originally for the 1964 documentary What's Happening! The Beatles in the U.S.A., digitally restored in 4K by Park Road Post. New interviews with McCartney and Starr were also filmed. Footage of the Beatles' February 1964 performances on The Ed Sullivan Show and at the Washington Coliseum in Washington, D.C. has also been restored, with audio from these performances remixed by Giles Martin using de-mixing technology developed by Peter Jackson's WingNut Films and previously used for Beatles releases on the 2022 reissue of Revolver and the 2023 reissue of 1962–1966.

Cast

Soundtrack

A soundtrack album from the film was released digitally and on streaming platforms on 22 November 2024, a week prior to the documentary's release. The album contains studio recordings by the Beatles of songs featured in the film, as well as the original versions of tracks covered by the Beatles (e.g., the Chuck Berry recording of "Roll Over Beethoven," the Little Richard recording of "Long Tall Sally"). The compilation also includes a cover of "Yesterday" performed by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1968.

= Track listing

= All tracks written by Lennon–McCartney and performed by the Beatles, except where noted. Note: Tracks 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 12, 16, 18, and 20 utilize the 2023 mixes of songs from that year's re-issue of the Beatles compilation album 1962–1966, while tracks 8, 14, 15, and 17 utilize the 2009 remasters of songs from The Beatles: Stereo Box Set, released that year.

Critical reception

Peter Bradshaw wrote in The Guardian: "Contemporary interviews and amazing archive footage combine in a sublime snapshot of the band’s whirlwind first US visit". On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 94% of 52 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.3/10. The website's consensus reads: "Excavating priceless footage of the Fab Four at the peak of their popularity, Beatles '64 places audiences directly into an unforgettable flashpoint in cultural history." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 78 out of 100, based on 11 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

References

External links

Beatles '64 at IMDb