50th Anniversary of “Help!”

So I think July 29th was the 50^th anniversary of the Beatles’ film “Help!” and the album of the same name.

I took this opportunity to rewatch that movie, and my opinion is pretty much the same. It’s literally just the Beatles running around high for 90 minutes.

There are some amusing scenes, such as everyone singing Beethoven’s 9^th Symphony and John pulling out his harmonica for the occasion, and that mishap where Paul shrinks and hides in an ashtray. Yeah, you read that right.

The plot is that a fan has mailed Ringo this ring that marks the human sacrifice for a fictional religion. Ringo now can’t get it off his finger and the religious people are following the Beatles around trying to paint Ringo red and sacrifice him. I have no idea who thought that was a decent plot.

The place where this falls apart is having the plot at all really. “A Hard Day’s Night” works pretty well since it’s literally the Beatles being the Beatles, here they put the focus on some ring and it just gets weird.

I have always found it interesting that most Beatles biopics and documentaries and whatever focus mostly on John (usually to the detriment of Paul particularly, but all of them in general are usually overlooked) but most films made with the Beatles in them tend to focus on Ringo. It’s cute.

Of course, if you are a Beatles fan then I highly recommend watching it since it is THE BEATLES running around high and that’s not to be missed, but just be aware of what you’re getting yourself into here.

The album on the other hand is a very good one. Most of the songs are originals, (the only covers being “Act Naturally” and “Dizzy Miss Lizzie”). It’s also the album that “Yesterday” and “Ticket to Ride” appear in. Not all of the songs are in the film, “I’ve Just Seen a Face” is one of my favorites but is sadly usually overlooked.

So go buy the album, find some method of watching the movie, but make sure you bring some Beatlemania back into your life!