A new trailer is offering a first look at Beatles ’64, the upcoming documentary focusing on The Beatles’ historic first visit to the U.S. As previously reported, the film, which was co-produced by Martin Scorsese, will stream exclusively on Disney+ starting on November 29.
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Beatles ’64 follows the Fab Four from their arrival at Kennedy Airport in New York City on February 7, 1964, through their famous appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, their first full U.S. concert in Washington, D.C., and other highlights of their debut trip to America.
The film also looks at the camaraderie of band members John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr as they dealt with the hysteria and media attention they experienced during the whirlwind two-week journey.
The trailer features archival footage of and interviews with The Beatles, as well as new conversations with McCartney and Starr. The clip also includes commentary from various celebrity fans and contemporaries of the band.
Highlights from the Trailer
The promo begins with footage of the band clowning around on a train. It then cuts to the group performing on stage in Washington, D.C.
We then see Starr chatting with Scorsese, as he recalls his and his bandmates’ reaction to visiting the U.S.
“We were just like, ‘We’re in America! America!’” he declares.
The trailer then cuts to footage of Ringo in 1964 talking to the press as he walks through a train station. “It’s great being here in New York,” he says, smiling, then someone off camera tells him he’s actually in Washington.
The promo also features an interview clip with late Ronettes singer Ronnie Spector. The singer, whose group toured with The Beatles, remembered, “They wanted to know everything about America—the food, the groups, the dancing. And they loved it.”
In addition, Motown legend Smokey Robinson appears in a newly filmed segment. He shares, “[The Beatles] were the first white group that I had ever heard in my life say, ‘Yeah, we grew up listening to Black music.”
In an archival clip, Lennon comments about the U.S. trip, “It was like being in the eye of a hurricane. It was happening to us and it was hard to see.”
In another archival segment, Harrison notes, “I think the craziness was going on in the world. And in the band, you know, we were kind of normal and the rest of the world was crazy. Everybody got into the mania whenever The Beatles came to town.”
Later in the trailer, McCartney reflects in a new clip about why his band might have inspired such an intense reaction in the U.S.
“When we came it was quite shortly after [President] Kennedy being assassinated,” he notes. “Maybe America needed something like The Beatles to be lifted out of sorrow.”
More About Beatles ’64
Beatles ’64 was directed by David Tedeschi. It includes previously unseen footage of the band and its rabid fans during those early days of Beatlemania. The documentary also features new interviews with some original fans, who share their recollections of that time and discuss the group’s influence on their lives.
Some of the rare footage featured in the movie was shot by famed sibling documentary filmmakers Albert and David Maysles. The footage was restored by Peter Jackson’s Park Road Post Production company. Audio of The Beatles’ Ed Sullivan Show appearances and Washington, D.C., concert was remixed by Giles Martin.
Along with Scorsese, Beatles ’64 was co-produced by McCartney; Starr; Harrison’s widow, Olivia; and Lennon’s son Sean, among others.
About The Beatles’ Upcoming Vinyl Reissues and Box Set
The Beatles ’64 doc’s Disney+ premiere will take place a week after the release of the recently announced series of vinyl mono reissues of the band’s early U.S. albums.
As previously reported, seven U.S. Beatles albums that originally were released in 1964 and 1965 will be reissued on 180-gram vinyl on November 22. All of the albums, which feature mono audio, have been out of print on vinyl since 1995.
The seven albums will be collected together in a vinyl box set titled The Beatles: 1964 U.S. Albums in Mono. The records are Meet The Beatles!, The Beatles’ Second Album, A Hard Day’s Night (Original Motion Picture Sound Track), Something New, The Beatles’ Story, Beatles ’65, and The Early Beatles.
All of those albums, with the exception of the two-LP The Beatles Story, also will be available individually. The box set and the individual LPs can be pre-ordered now.
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