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The Beatles - Help!

The Beatles - Help!

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: its the BEATLES what can i say
Review: well for one, the 12 yr old who wrote his review should stick to SESAME STREET. he has no idea what he is talking about. the beatles are the best thing that has ever happened to music and to the movie industries. check out the acting today, they can't.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: HELP!
Review: An excellent extended music video featuring "The Beatles"
The music is great if you are a fan. I am waiting for an up to date (restored) dvd with a Criterion type treatment. I love this movie it is of my generation and will always be a positive visit to my past. Good luck to the present generation revisiting Rap Videos when they are seniors. Will they let their grandkids watch that mindless "porn for kiddies" like MTV shows continually?

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: the acting is terrible & absolute albern!!
Review: Some die hard fans bought this film because its the Beatles, but the movie here has no story at all.
Similar to A Hard days Night (another black & white film), the acting doesn't work well. As I watched the last scene on the beach when people just chased each other and then......they just chased each other some more, what absolutely a waste of time. Nothing happens and there is no real ending in the film, but there was no coherent story to start with! When it was first released, the british critics & press panned it and with good reason.
It is absolutely a nonsense film and everyone who is a big Beatles fan so there is no bias here.
The only good thing is the music. Buy it, if you re a die hard fans only!...

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Go to the Window...Go to the Window...(you'll get it...)
Review: I saw the Beatles on Ed Sullivan. I bought every record they ever made. And I still sing along with them even in the elevator (curse the Muzak Gods that they should mock the Fab Four!).

Okay. Ringo happens upon a large bloodstoned ring, which will not come off! From London, to Scotland Yard to the Bahamas, Ringo is pursued by the Evil Cult of Kali, for he who wears the Ring, shall be doused in red paint and cut, jolly, with a knife, in sacrifice to the Goddess Kali.

There is so much of the Beatles comedic personality here. You have Ringo pursued by the Cult, a Mad Scientist bent on (Dare We Say It)ruling the world while complaining about British parts in his scientific tools, Paul shrunk into an ashtray and coverd with soda ("ick, I'm all sticky...") and John suggesting Ringo cut his hand off to save the free world. Not to mention George cheating at cards, a channel swimmer emerging in an alpine lake asking directions to the White Cliffs of Dover, and an inept pack of Kali worshippers in a schilling cab equipped with Bond-like accessories.

Did I mention the soundtrack? You WILL stand in front of the telly and sing along with every single song, because each one has comedic scenes, and just because we all know them.

The movie abounds with impromptu humor (mostly from John, oh how we miss him) and sight gags.

This is NOT an easy DVD to find, and it is a must have for any fan or collector, Beatle or otherwise.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: help??
Review: I apologize to the beatles fans, I said no story in this film and the film had no sense at all. The beatles were a good accepted band but they couldn't act in the film.

They never become a huge film star! the whole story in the film is like a story book children and absolutely childish, though bonus with some nice songs too.... need I say more?

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Pleases Me
Review: The first of the Beatles colour cinematic outings, Help actually is quite funny.

Co-starring the late great Leo McKern (better know outside the USA), the Beatles are pursued by a religious sect after a sacred ring which just happens to be on 'you-know-who's' finger.

I'm surprised though that this is so expensive!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: pretty good
Review: "HELP!" is a strange movie, not as good as "A Hard Day's Night," or "Yellow Submarine," but definitely better than "Magical Mystery Tour." It's sort of boring at times, but other moments are unforgettable. Klang, (the leader of the eastern religion) is so funny! Although, I can tell that The Beatles didn't ad-lib as much as they did in "A Hard Day's Night," which gives an uneasiness to their usually carefree attitudes. It's hard to say with this one. Rent it before you buy, and see how you feel.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A Hint of Things to Come
Review: Released only a year after the critically acclaimed "A Hard Day's Night," this film has a subtle edge to it, which in hindsight is quite poignant.

Yes, the boys are gorgeous, so young, so talented, so sexy--and in COLOR this time. The music, as it always was with the Beatles, was innovative for its time, often brilliant. The very silly plot, in which some bad guys want to steal a sacred ring from Ringo's finger, is fun and ridiculous and infectious. But it only takes a close listen to John Lennon's title song, "Help," to know that he was already in distress.

The demands on the Fab Four were getting more and more troubling to each of them. Just on the horizon, if not already begun, was time with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, heavy use of LSD, the John and Yoko saga, Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Heartclub Band, and all that was to come until the inevitable acrimonious disintegration of the group.

Viewed in hindsight, therefore, "Help" makes this reviewer sad. It is so seemingly happy and innocent, so "60s," and yet the viewer knows that it all fell apart. I think for those who did not experience the Beatles firsthand, however, this movie has to be a thoroughly enjoyable and wonderful experience. And for the rest of us, it's a trip down memory lane to a time when all things still seemed possible.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: THE BEST BEATLES FILM!
Review: "Help!" was the greatest film ever made. It has enough action, comedy, music, and spoofing to keep people interested. I find myself quoting this movie everyday, just like I do with "Hard Days Night". Whenever its cold outside, I always say "It's cold, its a cold place". Just like Bhuta says. I think the beach scenes the best when they're singing "Another Girl". I know this movie by heart and glad I do. Everyone should watch this movie at least 10 times. John is such a cutie in this movie!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A successor to the Goon Show tradition
Review: I hate to review a movie that has already received 84 reviews, but I feel the need to add my voice to the cacophany.

"Help!" is one of the finest expressions of the absurdist humor that began with Peter Sellers and the Goon Show (Sellers, Spike Milligan, Harry Secombe and Michael Bentine) and led to Monty Python and its many North American imitators (including the National Lampoon and Second City crews who gave birth to "Saturday Night Live"). This movie was the first large-scale exposure of such humor to the North American masses.

The Beatles idolized the Goons. They were among the handful of people in England who knew who George Martin was before he became their producer ... because he had produced the Goons' records. They were also among the thimbleful of people who knew Richard Lester before he directed "A Hard Day's Night" ... because he directed Sellers and Milligan in the 12-minute silent cult classic "The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film" (included here as an Easter egg). "Help!" was the Beatles' attempt to emulate or even surpass their heroes ... and they succeeded magnificently, since the Goons were never filmed well except in Lester's short.

The plot is a classic "chase" movie theme: Ringo has the sacrificial ring of the goddess Kahili stuck on his finger and ultimately is designated as the next sacrifice, so the Beatles have to run, while a mad scientist and Scotland Yard are also in hot pursuit. But the plot is insignificant. Simply, the Beatles are put in one funny situation after another, with superb comedic support from Leo McKern ("Rumpole of the Bailey"), Tony Award-winner Victor Spinetti, Roy Kinnear and Patrick Cargill. The Goons couldn't have done it better themselves.

As another reviewer noted, "Help!" was also the beginning of the Beatles' most creative period musically, although only John's tunes in the movie stand out ("Help", "Ticket to Ride", and "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" -- Paul's "Yesterday" is on the soundtrack but not in the film). But don't buy "Help!" for the music. Don't buy "Help!" for the Beatles' performances (BTW, George is the best actor). Buy it because it's hilarious, and it looks effortless. (In fact, it looked so effortless that it convinced Paul that the Beatles could make their own comedy film without Lester -- which became the disastrous flop "Magical Mystery Tour". But that's another story.) Buy it to see the REAL Beatles, not the saintly whitewashed version being marketed today.


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