The Beatles' 'Get Back' Preview: Peter Jackson Rewrites The Ending of Rock's Greatest Fairy Tale
In the 50 years since the Beatles split, seemingly every known scrap of their history has been scrutinized and curated for public consumption — every minute of studio tape, every radio broadcast, home and concert recording; every photo and interview and document and snippet of film footage — with one huge exception: the “Let It Be” film.
There are several reasons for this, but only one matters: “Let It Be” is a downer. We see our beloved Beatles breaking up before our eyes.
Originally intended as a spontaneous, “as live as live can be, in this electronic age” documentary of rock as it happens, instead we see the group, who had finished recording the 30-song “White Album” just six weeks earlier, miserably trying to have a jolly ol’ time working up even more tunes for the cameras — in the morning, in a dark and cavernous film studio, during a typically gloomy English winter. We see Paul and George arguing, John and Yoko wafting in from a heroin haze, and Paul trying to liven the tepid sessions by taking the helm — instead he comes off dictatorial — while Ringo looks on dejectedly.
Source: Jem Aswad/variety.com
