MOVIE REVIEW: The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years

The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years (2016)

Documentary

Directed By: Ron Howard

By now there isn't much more to learn about The Beatles, having been dubbed one of if not the greatest rock band of all time there are countless documentaries, books, and interviews you can consume to get it all. That didn't stop renowned filmmaker Ron Howard from going out and making another one because, weirdly enough, there isn't as much directly dealing with their touring years. Yeah, we all know the stories of girls screaming so loud that the guys couldn't even hear themselves play, and about how they decided to stop touring after just a few years, but what happened while on the road? What events lead them to stop hitting the road all together? Howard's brilliant new documentary examines this in truly entertaining fashion.

Bringing together a massive collection of footage, photos, and live performances The Touring Years beautifully documents the progression of The Beatles, not only as a band but as individuals from 1963-1966, the small window of time in which they toured the world. Howard was also able to get both McCartney and Ringo to shed some light in present time about what exactly happened in those years. McCartney especially is quite candid with some of his stories and doesn't shy away from telling the honest truth. Ringo is basically just being himself but listening to him talk about how he had found a new family with these guys was a real treat.

Ron Howard and his team made sure that this wouldn't be like every other Beatles documentary you have ever seen, just recycling information we all know in a different framework. Though a good portion of the information displayed throughout this film is stuff you can learn on your own the way in which he presents it is what makes this film so engaging. Compiling tons of photos, interviews, and footage from those years he is able to tell a narrative story where you feel like you really get to know these guys. 

We really feel how young and innocent the four guys were when they first hit it big and came to America to play for the first time. You see them as a group of kids just having a blast playing their music, even if the screaming girls make it so they can't even hear themselves. Getting this feeling is what makes the back half of the film so profound, you see the progression of events that make these guys come to hate this experience. So much so, that when you see the footage of their final performance together, the famous rooftop set, you feel as emotional as the guys clearly are performing it. It really was the end of an era and Howard's film nails that emotion home better than anything else to come before it. 

The documentary grabs at us y bringing in a few iconic celebrities to tell heartfelt stories about their experience with The Beatles growing up. Whoopi Goldberg shares how this band helped shape her life and how a specific experience with them stayed with her for the rest of her life and played a huge role in how her life played out. These personal stories are just another entry point for us as viewers to get sucked into the time. 

Aside from the documentary taking you on an emotional ride with the band, there is also tons of footage and photos that have been cleaned up and restored for the first time ever. What this means is there are  moments where actual footage has been cleaned up with a new 4k scan that actually give us a sight of the young Beatles we have never seen before. It's jarring at times seeing the young guys in high definition when we have always known them in that time with the grain and fuzz. 

This leads to what is easily the most incredible part of seeing this in a theater, as I believe this is not available on the Hulu version. After the film had finished they played the full thirty minute set from the famous Shea Stadium show. This show is so famous for the fact that you couldn't hear any of the audio due to so many screaming teenagers. Well, Howard went out and put the time and money into not only giving it a new 4k scan, but also editing the audio. Somehow they found a way to separate the bands audio from the screaming crowd giving us, for the first time, a clean recording of their performance. 

The Touring Years shows us a side of The Beatles we aren't given as often as others. Rather than focus on the end of the band and what drove them to it this film shows us the relationship they had in the prime of their life. I felt their journey so much that when they played the famous rooftop performance at the end I had a small tear in my eye. I have been listening to their music for as long as I can remember and to see what all went into it is an absolute treat. The documentary is already streaming on Hulu now, but if you want the best experience you can have with this seek it out in a theater, the music really booms. Also, getting to rang out for an extra half hour watching a live Beatles performance is never a bad idea. 

As always, thanks for reading and I am Zach Who Watches Movies. You can find em anytime on twitter @ZachWWMovies, smell ya later!