For Beatles ‘64, now streaming on Disney+, producer Martin Scorsese and director David Tedeschi compiled restored footage of the band’s first arrival in America, back in February 1964, when the quartet played the Ed Sullivan Show on CBS and their first US concert in Washington DC. Originally shot by filmmakers Albert & David Maysles, the footage combines with other archival material of the era to present the mood of America as Beatlemania hit its shores; new interviews with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr are featured, and Beatles ‘64 also includes appearances from Smokey Robinson, Ronnie Spector, Little Richard, and testimonials from fans who remember what the music felt like in the moment.
The Gist: Once the Beatles got here, the Maysles brothers filmed the combo over a period of 14 days, and that footage was eventually released in various forms, including The Beatles: The First U.S. Visit. But while Beatles ‘64 incorporates a lot of it, it also includes nearly 20 never-before-seen minutes. The result is a balance between what feels familiar – like pandemonium at the airport, and John, Paul, George, and Ringo cutting it up in their initial press conference – and entire stretches that, with the value-add of careful restoration, present the quartet in crisp, candid, and completely unstructured moments.
The new interviews with McCartney and Starr in ‘64 aren’t your standard sit-downs, either, but instead feature the surviving Beatles pursuing memorabilia from across their career, such as Ringo’s original Ludwig drum kit from their American performances, and reflecting on the live wire vibe that was America in 1964. “We learned it wasn’t quite the story,” Paul says of their expectations. But the Beatles themselves were discovering things, too, like the stink of classism from upper crust Brits in New York, who treated the working class boys from Liverpool like dirt. (Paul on these “posh” people: “We didn’t give a fuck.”) As the Maysles footage captures them cooped up in the Plaza Hotel, chatting with NYC radio personality Murray the K in what today would feel like a podcast, the documentary cameras also catch extended segments with the fans clamoring outside. There is a lot of screaming, of course. But Beatles ‘64 includes looks at the individual voices, faces, and fashions that were part of the Beatles fan hubbub.
“They were the first white artists of their magnitude to say, ‘Yeah, we grew up listening to Black music,” Smokey Robinson says in Beatles ‘64, and it’s a highlight of how the film ties the band’s arrival in America to how they participated in the country’s changing complexion. For the establishment, the Fab Four represented ideas they couldn’t control; for parents, a boldness that worried them. Technological advances, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and movements for Civil Rights: Beatlemania was a component in all of it as it represented the beat of a transformed world.
What Movies Will It Remind You Of? Whenever it seems like they’ve finally run out of archival Beatles material, a new project comes along. Beatles ‘64 joins Let it Be, a restored version of which was released earlier this year, while back in 2021, Peter Jackson put out Get Back, an exhaustive three-part docu-series that repurposed the stuff filmmaker Michael Lindsay-Hogg had originally shot for Let it Be. But also notable here are the films of Albert & David Maysles, the insightful documentary team whose work included Gimme Shelter and Grey Gardens.
Performance Worth Watching: There are a few standout remembrances in Beatles ‘64 from fans who were there. “Music is a thing,” David Lynch says, “like fire or water or air,” and for him, the Beatles’ arrival was definitely elemental. And recalling the reaction from American parents, writer Joe Queenan says they saw the Fab Four as “The end,” a negative force for subversion. “They’re gonna subvert our youth by encouraging people to have a good time.”
Memorable Dialogue: “They wanted to know everything about America, the food, the groups, the dancing,” the late Ronnie Spector says of the Beatles in an interview included in ‘64. When they arrived at the Plaza Hotel in New York City, they already knew Spector from playing shows together in the UK. “But I’ll tell you the truth: they had to escape. So I got a limousine, we went down the back stairs, and went to Harlem. ‘Nobody’ll notice you up there.’”
Sex and Skin: Nothing here. Lots of John, Paul, Ringo, and George in their shirtsleeves in the Plaza Hotel, though, which feels weirdly intimate since in those days they were always seen in suits.
Our Take: The restoration work that went into Beatles ‘64 really becomes apparent in footage of the quartet as they perform live in 1964. The camera angles aren’t new, and neither are the featured songs. But the material looks and sounds better than it probably ever has before. At the Washington arena gig, everything that matters is forward in the mix – guitar parts, harmonies, Paul’s thumping bass, and Ringo’s nimble drumming, instead of that detail getting drowned in the raging mono clamor of thousands of screaming fans, as it has for decades. While there will probably never be a shortage of Beatles content aimed directly at the hearts and minds of willing and eager heads, ‘64 stands out for its careful, considered approach to presenting these guys as what they were: a kicking rock band with a ton of charisma, especially on stage.
Our Call: Stream It! This is obvious if you’re a completist, as the modern restoration techniques used in Beatles ‘64 are able to present the group with a lot of new verve. But for other curious viewers, ‘64 also presents a critique of American society as it was when the Fab Four arrived to make their first big splash.
Johnny Loftus (@glennganges) is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift.