Rating: 
Summary: Attention All Beatle Fans: BUY THIS!
Review: If you're a Beatle fan, and for some reason you've never heard of this film, immediatley purchase this DVD!
IT is the ultimate parody of Beatlemania. The Rutles was initially released as a made for NBC TV film in 1978. Created by the Saturday Night Live team and Eric Idle (Monty Python), it has a distinct British flavor and Pythonesque sense of humor. It is basically a "mockumentary". Here's an example: after "Nasty" (John Lennon) proclaims the Rutles are bigger than God, the public is outraged, and start burning Rutle records. Record sales soared, people were buying them just to burn them! It turns out that the journalist who interviewed Nasty was hard of hearing. Nasty said the Rutles were bigger than "Rod" (Stewart)!!
The mockumentary covers the entire Beatle phenomenon up to their break-up.
The film gained more fans on video, and is now a bonafide cult classic. The music by Neil Innes (who wrote songs for Python) is superb, and he is perfect as John Lennon. Eric Idle plays McCartney and directs. The songs parodies are also on cd. They are amazingly Beatle-like.
The film is never critical, but made as a tribute with large doses of humor. The harsh aspects of Beatlemania are lightened. For example, Brian Epstein does not die in Rutleland, he accepts a teaching post in Australia.
Even if you are not a Beatle fan, this film is still a lot of fun, although you may not get all of the references.
Rating:
Summary: terrific sendup of Beatlemania stands up well after 25 years
Review: In 1978 it was easy to remember Beatlemania, and this sendup of the mass hysteria was spot-on and hilarious. Starting as a skit for Saturday Night Live, and popular enough to get built into a feature-length film, this Eric Idle project is layered with jokes, spoofs, terrific songs, and great cameos by George Harrison, Mick Jagger, Paul Simon and Idle's wife, and it is still very funny 25 years later.DVD extras are quite good. Eric Idle's commentary is excellent -- informative and entertaining. There are also 4 deleted scenes that last about 18 minutes; a photo gallery with 29 pictures; a "Play Songs Only" option, where you ee only the film's songs (Goose Step Mama, Number One, Between Us, With a Girl Like You, Hold My Hand, I Must Be in Love, Living in Hope, and Ouch!). The look and sensibility of the film are exactly right, the writing is VERY funny, and the songs are surprisingly Beatle-like and quite listenable. If you are a Beatles or Monty Python fan, or if you just love good comedy, you will probably get a real kick out of this.
Rating:
Summary: Side Splitting Hilarious
Review: The movie was made more than 20 years ago, but retains its relevance as the Beatles continue to be a cultural icon. While the Rutles was not originally intended to be a full length movie, the product is great. The project was completed long before John Lennon's murder, so all four members could approve the project. The Beatles are spoofed by the characters in the unique personality traits possessed by each member of the fab four and their scandals. The one-liners and song parodies prove Eric Idle's value to Monty Python and strength as comedic writer. The parody on Yoko Ono being "... a Nazi who's father invented World War II" is hilarious. Look for a scene midway through the song "Ouch!" in which Idle can not even control his own laughter at the monsterous woman in a bikini. I bet it a was too hard to get through a take with a straight face. This is a must for Beatles fans and Monty Python fans.
Rating:
Summary: A must for Python, Beatles fans
Review: What's genius about the Rutles is this: Watch the Rutles, and then watch one of the Beatles documentaries (the Compleat Beatles, etc) - then note that the Rutles was made PRIOR to any of the decent Beatles documentaries, yet looks like a parody of the real deal.
This mockumentary pre-dates Spinal Tap, and takes a different approach - by chronicalling supposed "source" material - news reels, press conferences, etc. The approach works well for Eric Idle, and the music by Neil Innes is perfect - slightly silly, but more Beatles than Weird Al.
The knowledge of the Beatles - their personal history, their tv appearances, their scandals, etc - is so well known by Idle - makes this mockumentary spot-on accurate, and all the more funny. The DVD is worth having. If you have this on VHS, you've got a pretty lousy transfer from the original 16mm film. The film was restored and retransfered for DVD, and it casts the movie in a whole new light of clarity. The bonus material isn't much to write home (or Amazon) about, but it's nice to have the stuff added on such a low priced DVD.
Rating:
Summary: Tragical history tour? More like hilarious!
Review: One of the funniest parodies of a rock band ever, and likely the very first "mockumentary", THE RUTLES: ALL YOU NEED IS CASH is a brilliant send-up chronicling the events of the "prefab four". This 70-minute "semi-feature" film conceived by ex-Python Eric Idle who plays the Paul McCartney-esque character Dirk McQuickly was produced by Lorne Michaels of SNL and includes various cameos from the classic SNL cast (Bill Murray, John Belushi, Dan Ackroyd, Gilda Radner) as well as cameos from Mick Jagger, Ron Wood, Paul Simon, ex-Python Michael Palin and even George Harrison himself as an interviewer! Neil Innes (who plays the John Lennon character Ron Nasty -- quite brilliantly I might add) also contributes some of the greatest Beatles song parodies imaginable -- they are both hilarious and actually quite clever in that they still manage to stand on their own as original songs. Anyone who has seen the later real documentary, THE COMPLEAT BEATLES (or even the ANTHOLOGY), will have to see this to believe it -- the major events of The Beatles twisted around and reapplied to The Rutles! The mock performances will have Beatles fans howling with laughter. For example, a flawless recreation of The Beatles' goofy, surreal "I am the Walrus" performance from the MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR film becomes "Piggy in the Middle", and the "Cheese and Onions" clip exactly imitates the animation from YELLOW SUBMARINE, except now it's YELLOW SUBMARINE SANDWICH! Oh and don't forget the hilarious album covers and their titles: OUCH!, SGT. RUTTER'S ONLY DARTS CLUB BAND, TRAGICAL HISTORY TOUR, LET IT ROT. Now finally available on DVD, the extras include a brief intro by Eric Idle's narrator character some 23 years later ... well not really 23 years if you watch it a year or two from now (you'll get what I mean!), as well as audio commentary and text memoirs from Eric Idle, and a photo gallery.
Rating:
Summary: Tragical history tour? More like hilarious!
Review: One of the funniest parodies of a rock band ever, and likely the very first "mockumentary", THE RUTLES: ALL YOU NEED IS CASH is a brilliant send-up chronicling the events of the "prefab four". This 70-minute "semi-feature" film conceived by ex-Python Eric Idle who plays the Paul McCartney-esque character Dirk McQuickly was produced by Lorne Michaels of SNL and includes various cameos from the classic SNL cast (Bill Murray, John Belushi, Dan Ackroyd, Gilda Radner) as well as cameos from Mick Jagger, Ron Wood, Paul Simon, ex-Python Michael Palin and even George Harrison himself as an interviewer! Neil Innes (who plays the John Lennon character Ron Nasty -- quite brilliantly I might add) also contributes some of the greatest Beatles song parodies imaginable -- they are both hilarious and actually quite clever in that they still manage to stand on their own as original songs. Anyone who has seen the later real documentary, THE COMPLEAT BEATLES (or even the ANTHOLOGY), will have to see this to believe it -- the major events of The Beatles twisted around and reapplied to The Rutles! The mock performances will have Beatles fans howling with laughter. For example, a flawless recreation of The Beatles' goofy, surreal "I am the Walrus" performance from the MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR film becomes "Piggy in the Middle", and the "Cheese and Onions" clip exactly imitates the animation from YELLOW SUBMARINE, except now it's YELLOW SUBMARINE SANDWICH! Oh and don't forget the hilarious album covers and their titles: OUCH!, SGT. RUTTER'S ONLY DARTS CLUB BAND, TRAGICAL HISTORY TOUR, LET IT ROT. Now finally available on DVD, the extras include a brief intro by Eric Idle's narrator character some 23 years later ... well not really 23 years if you watch it a year or two from now (you'll get what I mean!), as well as audio commentary and text memoirs from Eric Idle, and a photo gallery.
Rating:
Summary: Idle and Innes compliment each other perfectly
Review: This little treasure is something that all Beatles fans, Python fans and early SNL fans should own. It's the one thing that Idle says he is most proud of, and for good reason. His little bits, which perfectly parody the Beatles that Idle so adored, fit seamlessly into Innes' fantastic songs. Idle comments that Innes' songs added another dimension to the Beatles songs they're based off of rather than becoming shameless parodies (are you listening Weird Al?) and he is quite right. The film contains moments of comic genius, but mind you they're mostly subtle moments of comic genius. The people I've run into that didn't think this film is funny at all tend to like the blatant, loud, American-style humor. So be patient with the humor, enjoy the music and discover the true genius of the Rutles.
By the end of the film, I almost cared more about the fictional Rutles than I did about the actual Beatles. (And I'm a huge Beatles fanatic) It's just a fantastic, fun film for those who can appreciate the true, witty humor.
Rating: 
Summary: great songs; moderately funny film
Review: Beatle fans tend to regard The Rutles very warmly--and no wonder: the whole project is plainly a love letter to the Beatles phenomenon. It should be said, though, that the best thing about the whole thing is the brilliant and funny musical pastiche by Neil Innes--not the film itself, which some will find a little tepid. The problem is that the film is just not as funny as it wants to be. So, you feel like all the cues are there for you to laugh: there's Eric Idle's goofy face, there's the pause before the punchline, there's the inevitable joke. But the clever touches are somehow only halfway clever enough, so there's very little oomph to the laugh. The overall concept is fine; one can only wish that Idle had put the script and gags through a couple more drafts to get the most out of his material. So, my advice, for what it's worth, is to buy the first Rutles CD (which is wonderful). But rent the film before you buy it. -
Rating: 
Summary: Fake 5.1 Surround Sound
Review: I LOVE this sendup of the Beatles. I also love great surround sound music, so this title was highly anticipated. The soundtrack is the mono soundtrack reprocessed into 5.1, which is truly unfortunate. Rhino has the multitracks to the songs, why weren't they used to create a great soundtrack? I would have been happy even to have the music in stereo, as it is on CD!!! Why not??? It's obvious a lot of care was put into the picture quality, and that it was reedited. This strongly implies they had to reedit the soundtrack as well, so I'm surprised we got such a dissapointing soundtrack. Maybe next time...
Rating:
Summary: Better in conception than in reality.
Review: This was...okay, you know? Not hilarious, at least not in the way that I found other "music mockumentaries" like SPINAL TAP or A MIGHTY WIND hilarious. Not even hilarious in the way that Monty Python were hilarious when they really let fly. The best parts of ALL YOU NEED IS CASH are the song parodies--Neil Innes managed to capture each stage of the Beatles musical history and give it the proper send-up. But the visual jokes are not enough to sustain the show for the whole length and I found myself looking at my watch a lot of the time. I'm glad I saw it, but I'm also glad I only rented it and I'm planning to stick with the soundtrack album and ARCHAEOLOGY whenever I need to get "rutled."
|
