These restored films offer beautiful firsthand insight into the boys’ characters and thoughts as America embraced them and a whirlwind of instant fame engulfed them. Beatles ’64 is now streaming on Disney+.
On February 7, 1964, a Pan Am flight from London landed at New York’s renamed JFK Airport to scenes that four boys from Liverpool could hardly believe. As they stood on the stairs that led down to the tarmac, looking out at the three to four thousand screaming fans, press, and onlookers, a slightly bemused but radiant John, Paul, Ringo, and George waved and smiled. But what was going on behind the scenes, and how did these British boys feel as a country, still in mourning for President John F Kennedy, fell under their spell?
David Tedeschi’s stunning documentary Beatles ’64, produced by Martin Scorsese, is years in the making, taking 16mm Maysles brothers’ footage, much of which has never been seen before, an intricately restored performance film and interviews past and present to create a portrait of four Liverpool boys thrown into international stardom that must have felt a world away from the Cavan Club.
As John, Paul, Ringo and George touched down at JFK, “I Want to Hold Your Hand” had just hit number one in the US charts, following five weeks at number one in the UK charts in December 1963. Little did they know then that they would have a further nineteen US number ones as a band, more than they achieved here in the UK.
Their manager, Brian Epstein, who unfortunately largely remains in the shadows of Beatles ’64, had negotiated something unheard of for a British band at the time: two nights on The Ed Sullivan Show, and it could be argued that it was their first televised performance on February 9, 1964, that truly ushered in Beatlemania, as kids tuned in to hear a beat that was optimistic, loving and gentle, from four boys who defied the traditional image of the all-American crewcut jock.
Themes of the new rock-n-roll image introduced by The Beatles thread through Tedeschi’s documentary, from writer Joe Queenan talking about how The Beatles coupled high energy rock’n’roll with a new image of what it meant to be a man, to discussions on how John Paul, Ringo and George challenged American masculinity, and in turn paved the way for a very British invasion of the American pop industry throughout the sixties and seventies.
There are also fascinating discussions on racism, segregation and oppression. The Beatles proudly covered many tracks first laid down by Black-American groups, from “Twist and Shout” to “You Really Got A Hold On Me.” But unlike American crooners like Pat Boone, The Beatles honoured the Black artists they covered, embracing their sound while adding their own unique energy. Here, interviews with Smokey Robinson and Ronald Isley explore how Black music inspired John, Paul, Ringo and George and how, unlike many white American groups, they were proud of that fact.
But, for all the fascinating interviews, including fresh thoughts from Paul and Ringo and archive material from John and George, the beating heart of Beatles ’64 is the direct-to-camera 16mm films from Albert and David Maysles, who followed The Beatles for 14 days in the US while interviewing the fans who lined streets and the bewildered older adults who didn’t know what to make of these fresh-faced Liverpudlian lads.
These restored films offer beautiful firsthand insight into the boys’ characters and thoughts as America embraced them and a whirlwind of instant fame engulfed them. What’s beautiful in these films is how grounded the boys were despite the circus surrounding them, from their instant, unguarded reactions to journalists and the questions they were asked to their playful, creative conversations in the privacy of their hotel rooms. Add to that some genuinely fantastic interviews with fans and delicately and painstakingly restored live performances, and Beatles ’64 comes alive as a living, breathing portrait of four boys attempting to navigate a brave new world in a country searching for hope and positivity in the wake of one of its darkest days.
Harry Benson, a photographer who worked with The Beatles, speaks of how John, in particular, was nervous about travelling to the US following Kennedy’s assassination. He recounts how John felt that America could turn from admiration to hate in the blink of an eye. Of course, John would later experience how volatile American love was when, in March 1966, he said, when discussing religion, “It will vanish and shrink…. We’re more popular than Jesus now.” It was a thoughtful comment on British attitudes to Christianity in a British interview, but in the US, it caused outrage. That was The Beatles’ first experience of the volatility John was worried about in 64. That worry often seems etched on John’s face in the private moments captured by the Maysles brothers while Paul, Ringo and George bounce around the hotel rooms with boundless youthful energy.
Mariah Rehmet had a challenging task in editing the footage available into a documentary that covers one of the most significant moments in modern music history. She creates a genuinely beautiful love letter to four boys from Liverpool, the fans who loved them and the music that made them great. The exquisitely restored performances in Beatles ’64 bring to life the energy, vibrancy, and downright brilliance of The Beatles in capturing hearts around the world. It is the story of four unassuming working-class boys who changed the musical and cultural world in the winter of 64, ushering in a new era on both sides of the Atlantic.
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