The Beatles Films Podcast

Ed Williamson and Matt Looker
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The Beatles Films Podcast Podcast

Two film writers and Fab Four fans discuss movies and TV about, starring, and inspired by The Beatles: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. The Beatles Anthology (DVD special features)

    17 JUN

    The Beatles Anthology (DVD special features)

    One more, then: here's a bonus episode covering the Beatles Anthology DVD extras. We note just how much this disc complements the Anthology series, to the extent that watching it without watching this feels incomplete. It made us rethink some of the assumptions we'd made about the Beatles' interpersonal relationships in the 1990s, in fact. We see in longer form the footage from the Threetles' day at George Harrison's Friar Park home on 23 June 1994, and observe the differences between their behaviour when being interviewed together versus apart. We talk about the making of the Free As a Bird video, and put forward a theory about the nurse selling poppies from a tray (if it turns out it's been on the internet for years, no need to tell us). Thanks for listening to season five. We loved hanging out with you guys. See you again later this year. The Beatles Anthology DVD boxset is available to buy.Watch the Free As a Bird video: https://youtu.be/ODIvONHPqpkWatch the Real Love video: https://youtu.be/ax7krBKzmVIGeorge Martin's Alderney Sailing Club jumper will be from when he owned a house in Alderney, on Guernsey, in the Channel Islands. He also lived on Montserrat, where he had his studio. Here's an article from January 2024 about Guernsey donating instruments to young people in Montserrat in his name: https://www.itv.com/news/channel/2024-01-15/children-of-beatles-producer-receive-guernsey-instrument-donation Meet the Beatles Films Podcast The Beatles Films Podcast is hosted by Matt Looker and Ed Williamson. We're both film writers and Beatles fans. Between us we've written for TheShiznit.co.uk, Total Film, Den of Geek and Virgin Media. But tomorrow may rain, so you'll follow us on: Twitter https://twitter.com/beatlesfilmpodFacebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/304654901827622/Instagram https://instagram.com/beatlesfilmspodYouTube https://www.youtube.com/@BeatlesFilmsPodcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 20m
  2. The Beatles Anthology (episodes 7 and 8)

    10 JUN

    The Beatles Anthology (episodes 7 and 8)

    Beatles: Endgame. We discuss how the documentary gives George Harrison and Ringo Starr the space to craft their own narratives around how they left and then returned to the band, and we go over how it treats the Beatles' breakup, to the extent that it does at all. We talk about All You Need is Love in the context of the Beatles as rabble-rousing religious icons, and about how Yoko Ono is shown mainly in the context of her being a disruptive force. Plus: how the Anthology fails to tell a coherent story around the White Album. Was it a disjointed series of solo performances or a unified and enjoyable creative experience? It's the bloody Beatles White Album, shut up! The Beatles Anthology DVD boxset is available to buy.The Abbey Road songs on which John Lennon didn't perform are Her Majesty, Here Comes the Sun and Maxwell's Silver Hammer. Meet the Beatles Films Podcast The Beatles Films Podcast is hosted by Matt Looker and Ed Williamson. We're both film writers and Beatles fans. Between us we've written for TheShiznit.co.uk, Total Film, Den of Geek and Virgin Media. But tomorrow may rain, so you'll follow us on: Twitter https://twitter.com/beatlesfilmpodFacebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/304654901827622/Instagram https://instagram.com/beatlesfilmspodYouTube https://www.youtube.com/@BeatlesFilmsPodcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 39m
  3. The Beatles Anthology (episodes 5 and 6)

    3 JUN

    The Beatles Anthology (episodes 5 and 6)

    On we go from Shea Stadium to Sgt Pepper. We see how George Harrison, Ringo Starr and Neil Aspinall remember the incident in Manila differently to Paul McCartney, and we put forward the idea that these episodes contain the Beatles' two imperial phases. We ask why George in the 1990s is still annoyed with Paul for making himself LSD spokesman in 1967, and we look in detail at Paul's chipped tooth: did it change everything? The Beatles Anthology DVD boxset is available to buy.Maybe this is Meryl Streep at Shea Stadium, maybe it isn't. Why not spend your valuable time arguing with strangers on the internet in an attempt to resolve the matter? https://youtu.be/x6aNSHLg18YRead more about the idea of a band's imperial phase: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_phaseOf course, only an idiot would confidently claim George won Best Rock Video at the 1988 MTV Music Video Awards for Got My Mind Set On You, not least because that award didn't exist until 1989. He was nominated for both Best Male Video and Best Special Effects in a Video for that song but he won nothing, despite When We Was Fab also picking up several nominations. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_awards_and_nominations_received_by_George_Harrison#MTV_Music_Video_AwardsThe producer at the A Day in the Life session who announced "I just can't believe it ... I give up", was Ron Richards, producer of the Hollies, according to Mark Lewisohn's The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions.John Bishop is a Liverpudlian comedian and presenter: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bishop We tried and failed to find a clip of the question he asked Paul that annoyed him at the Eight Days a Week premiere, but if you ever meet Paul, don't call the Beatles "an overnight success". Meet the Beatles Films Podcast The Beatles Films Podcast is hosted by Matt Looker and Ed Williamson. We're both film writers and Beatles fans. Between us we've written for TheShiznit.co.uk, Total Film, Den of Geek and Virgin Media. But tomorrow may rain, so you'll follow us on: Twitter https://twitter.com/beatlesfilmpodFacebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/304654901827622/Instagram https://instagram.com/beatlesfilmspodYouTube https://www.youtube.com/@BeatlesFilmsPodcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 38m
  4. The Beatles Anthology (episodes 3 and 4)

    27 MAY

    The Beatles Anthology (episodes 3 and 4)

    Into episodes 3 and 4, the bulk of the Beatlemania and touring years, and we get straight to the key issue: why has Paul McCartney suggested he be interviewed while steering a tugboat? We also get into how the Anthology handles John's habit of making fun of disability: why is it addressed, given there was probably no real pressure on them to do so in the nineties, and how would it be received if included in a rereleased Anthology today? Plus: Jimmie Nicol and another example of Ringo Starr's emotional intelligence, as his memory of being temporarily replaced mainly involves taking a 24-hour flight to Australia on his own and how that made him feel.  There's a bit more too on the group dynamics of the Threetles meeting at Friar Park, and we ask whether George Harrison would've been as snarky in his interviews if John Lennon had been alive and participating in the documentary. The Beatles Anthology DVD boxset is available to buy.The Big Train sketch in which George Martin can't stop doing Beatles anecdotes: https://youtu.be/yIA_NVFnXZ8The episode of BBC Radio 4's Front Row in which Samira Ahmed uncovers the previously unheard recording of the Beatles performing at Stowe School on 4 April 1963: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001kpq1 Meet the Beatles Films Podcast The Beatles Films Podcast is hosted by Matt Looker and Ed Williamson. We're both film writers and Beatles fans. Between us we've written for TheShiznit.co.uk, Total Film, Den of Geek and Virgin Media. But tomorrow may rain, so you'll follow us on: Twitter https://twitter.com/beatlesfilmpodFacebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/304654901827622/Instagram https://instagram.com/beatlesfilmspodYouTube https://www.youtube.com/@BeatlesFilmsPodcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 29m
  5. The Beatles Anthology (episodes 1 and 2)

    20 MAY

    The Beatles Anthology (episodes 1 and 2)

    In the first of our four episodes covering the 1995 documentary series, we start with some of our own memories of when it aired, when we were teenagers and Britpop had made The Beatles cool again in the UK. We note the vast structural difference between episode 1, which of course covers the bit of their career of which there's the least amount of video footage, and episode 2, which focuses much less on talking head recollections and more on live and TV appearances, often shown nearly in full. We also discuss the practical impact of the three Beatles still alive at the time, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, being interviewed mainly separately, and how much each of them is enjoying the experience. Paul is in full anecdote mode, but is George enjoying himself more than he expected to? Plus: how are Stuart Sutcliffe and Pete Best treated in this, and why? What are the implications of only including a limited core of contributors? And a bit of digging into the idea that they got their name from the Marlon Brando film The Wild One. The Beatles Anthology DVD boxset is available to buy.Watch a TV advert for the Anthology DVD release: https://youtu.be/hlHX8FPqsDMThe tweet from Joe Wisbey of the Beatles Books Podcast, linking to the short doc that aired before the Free as a Bird video premiere on ITV. Thanks Joe! https://x.com/BooksBeatles/status/1631351804335120391Beatles Bible diary entry for 30 October 1963, when the Beatles performed on the Swedish TV show Drop In: https://www.beatlesbible.com/1963/10/30/television-drop-in-stockholm-sweden Meet the Beatles Films Podcast The Beatles Films Podcast is hosted by Matt Looker and Ed Williamson. We're both film writers and Beatles fans. Between us we've written for TheShiznit.co.uk, Total Film, Den of Geek and Virgin Media. But tomorrow may rain, so you'll follow us on: Twitter https://twitter.com/beatlesfilmpodFacebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/304654901827622/Instagram https://instagram.com/beatlesfilmspodYouTube https://www.youtube.com/@BeatlesFilmsPodcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 37m
  6. Let it Be (2024 restoration)

    10 MAY

    Let it Be (2024 restoration)

    A quick bonus episode to discuss Michael Lindsay-Hogg's film, restored by Peter Jackson's team and released on Disney+ on 8 May 2024. We discussed the original film at length in our two-part episode at the end of season four, and you can find that in this podcast feed. But we were lucky enough to get an advance viewing of the restored Let it Be, so we wanted to have a quick chat about the significance of this re-release. In particular we try and answer the question: Why do we need this when we have Get Back? We also talk about Jackson and Lindsay-Hogg's introduction, and how it suggests this has been ready to go for over a year, and about the visual and audio distinctions between this restoration and Get Back. So give it a listen and then scroll back through this feed and check out the original Let it Be two-part episode. Read Dan Rivkin's excellent post about the Let it Be restoration on his blog, They May Be Parted: https://theymaybeparted.com/2024/05/07/tmbp-extra-then-and-now/ Meet the Beatles Films Podcast The Beatles Films Podcast is hosted by Matt Looker and Ed Williamson. We're both film writers and Beatles fans. Between us we've written for TheShiznit.co.uk, Total Film, Den of Geek and Virgin Media. But tomorrow may rain, so you'll follow us on: Twitter https://twitter.com/beatlesfilmpodFacebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/304654901827622/Instagram https://instagram.com/beatlesfilmspodYouTube https://www.youtube.com/@BeatlesFilmsPodcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    31 min
  7. The Concert for Bangladesh

    6 MAY

    The Concert for Bangladesh

    George Harrison of the Beatles and Ravi Shankar organised two concerts on 1 August 1971 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, as relief for refugees from East Pakistan after the Bangladesh Liberation War-related genocide. The gigs featured Ringo Starr, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Billy Preston, Leon Russell and Badfinger. We talk here about both the concert film released to cinemas in 1972, and the 2005 documentary on the DVD, The Concert for Bangladesh Revisited with George Harrison and Friends. We discuss how this set a template for the benefit concert as we know it today, and talk about the white saviour complex and how acknowledging the culture of Bangladesh through Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan's performance arguably sets the concert apart. We also talk about the performances; and the challenges of, and comically rookie errors made while, filming it. And! Is Clapton's lacklustre performance down to choosing a hollow-bodied guitar, or the fact he was boxed on methadone? We use clips of the film and concert in this episode, so we've made a donation to the George Harrison Fund for UNICEF, and you can do the same here if you'd like: https://www.unicefusa.org/about-unicef-usa/partnerships/foundations/george-harrison-fundThe concert on George's official site, with links to buy the DVD: https://www.georgeharrison.com/films/the-concert-for-bangladeshJohn Lennon's benefit gig for Willowbrook State School was released as Live in New York City: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6cgunrThe Greatest Night in Pop is the Netflix documentary about the recording of We Are The World: https://www.netflix.com/title/81720500The documentary we were thinking of is not called “Clapton” or “Slow Hand” but 2017’s Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars: https://g.co/kgs/hAKZ9TkAfter recording we confirmed that, uncharacteristically, Ed was right: Setlist.fm shows that If I Needed Someone is the only song written by George ever performed live by The Beatles. https://www.setlist.fm/stats/the-beatles-23d6a88b.html Meet the Beatles Films Podcast The Beatles Films Podcast is hosted by Matt Looker and Ed Williamson. We're both film writers and Beatles fans. Between us we've written for TheShiznit.co.uk, Total Film, Den of Geek and Virgin Media. But tomorrow may rain, so you'll follow us on: Twitter https://twitter.com/beatlesfilmpodFacebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/304654901827622/Instagram https://instagram.com/beatlesfilmspodYouTube https://www.youtube.com/@BeatlesFilmsPodcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 22m
  8. Scot Williams interview: playing Pete Best in Backbeat, and directing Two Of Us, a play

    29 APR

    Scot Williams interview: playing Pete Best in Backbeat, and directing Two Of Us, a play

    Scot Williams is best known to Beatles fans for playing Pete Best in Backbeat, and In His Life: The John Lennon Story. Scot's been a successful actor, director and writer for 30 years, and having grown up in Liverpool the Beatles have always been a big part of his life, and have featured in lots of his projects. Scot is about to direct a play, Two Of Us, adapting Michael Lindsay-Hogg's 2000 film about John Lennon and Paul McCartney's final meeting. We covered it in our first episode, which we were delighted to hear Scot listened to, and which informed his interpretation of the script. As well as Two Of Us, we talk about how he came to be in Backbeat, Stephen Dorff and the dynamic of British actors alongside Hollywood stars, and his friendship with Pete Best. We also get his take on the upcoming Sam Mendes Beatles films. Note: through our own fault we had some problems recording Scot's voice, so we've cleaned it up with an AI tool (yes, just like John's voice on Now and Then). If the odd word sounds a bit funny, that's why! Two Of Us runs at the Watford Palace Theatre 13–21 September 2024. Tickets: https://watfordpalacetheatre.co.uk/events/two-of-us/Then at HOME Manchester from 26–28 September. https://homemcr.org/production/two-of-usHear our episodes on Two Of Us and Backbeat in this podcast feed.Watch Two Of Us: https://youtu.be/nOGgmsDbx-UScot's IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0931656/Barry Sloane will play John in Two Of Us: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1289351/Richard Short will play Paul: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2095375/ Scot's Beatles/Shakespeare musical A Bard Day's Night, cowritten with Backbeat co-star Chris O'Neill: https://abarddaysnight.com/ The Conversations with McCartney audiobook where Scot read Paul's bits: https://open.spotify.com/show/61RgyFASIKjzbP6OrgZOlI Meet the Beatles Films Podcast The Beatles Films Podcast is hosted by Matt Looker and Ed Williamson. We're both film writers and Beatles fans. Between us we've written for TheShiznit.co.uk, Total Film, Den of Geek and Virgin Media. But tomorrow may rain, so you'll follow us on: Twitter https://twitter.com/beatlesfilmpodFacebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/304654901827622/Instagram https://instagram.com/beatlesfilmspodYouTube https://www.youtube.com/@BeatlesFilmsPodcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 1m
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About

Two film writers and Fab Four fans discuss movies and TV about, starring, and inspired by The Beatles: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Information

  • Creator
    Ed Williamson and Matt Looker
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2024
  • Episodes
    64
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Ed Williamson and Matt Looker
  • Show Website
    The Beatles Films Podcast

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