"BEATLES '64" Review - Disney+ Documentary

[@paulf6973]

A remastered and expanded version of "The First US Visit" would be more than enough for most fans. Peter Jackson already demonstrated that there was an audience out there happy to spend 8 hours 'with The Beatles' in 1969, free from outside voices and footage.

[@FanOfFab4]

One of my favorite parts was hearing the Beatles listening to "I got My mind set on you!"

[@MeanMrMayo]

Short, but sweet

[@neilafacci5833]

@@FanOfFab4 George wanted to record the song on their first album but the others said no

[@ronster58]

Less commentary, more footage would have been better.

[@sunguar]

Having lived through this period, and especially "Beatlemania", one commenter nailed it. The feeling? "It comes from a place no one knows."

[@neilafacci5833]

I felt the same when Ron Howard did the eight days a week seeing lots of same footage

[@machiel5888]

Hey Mayo. I thought this was FANTASTIC! (intro aside) Simply put, there's not enough focus on this period of the band, and the stuff we do have is pretty old and often unavailable. I find it hard to connect with the "electricity" of old Beatlemania documentaries with grainy DVD-quality footage, tinny audio etc. For the first time, this Doc gave me a feeling of being "close" to Beatlemania. The interviews of the young girls are wonderful, and I think it's good to appreicate the role that young girls and women played in taking the Beatles to the moon! This doc really showed how Cool the beatles were, and it's a gift to see the lads in such great quality in their primes. I think the talkiing heads did add quite a bit of context. I love the talk about how black artists reacted to the Beatles. People are sometimes uncomfortable with talking about race when it comes to The Beatles, but this Doc shows how the Beatles stood out from other white artists by respecting the black roots of the genre and giving back to the culture. I believe it's also widely accepted that they called their own album "Rubber Soul" in part as a cheeky, self-derogatory nod at their brand of white boy soul. I thought the intro was the worst part, and it made me cringe a bit. Im 25 and a Billie Eilish fan, and I found it totally out of place. However, the Smoky Robinson cover of Yesterday was stunning and made up for everything. This doc paints a picture of a time, a place, and an incredible band. For a 100 minute doc, I think it is quite good. Thank you for everything you do Mr. Mayo. You are a special person in this fandom, and you do a lot to keep the Beatlemania torch burning. Know that you are appreciated!

[@MeanMrMayo]

@@machiel5888 Thanks

[@georgemusic4all4seasons]

Agreed and great comment. Enjoyed reading.

[@patriksweden9203]

great comment

[@canadianstudmuffin]

Great review! Excellent documentary. I agree there should have been more footage of them on Ed Sullivan and especially Ed introducing them.

[@MeanMrMayo]

Good call!

[@icm65]

Great review as always Joe. Will watch this evening.

[@sharonevans6864]

I was a little disappointed Joe, but realized that like you said the quality is so much better and some of the concert footage was great. It might be like the Get Back movie where they did not want to repeat what has already been out there to view with the original film clips and shows of the Beatles from that time. Hopefully new fans will learn and enjoy and keep the Beatles memories alive. Take care!

[@denniswood1437]

It's important to mention the Maysles Brothers in the same way as it is to mention Michael Lindsay-Hogg with Peter Jackson's Get Back. I can't wait to watch it especially with the improved sound and picture quality. It's good that Joe mentioned the Maysles as the promotional trailers & publicity for Beatles '64 certainly don't.

[@romelovesdan]

AND The Maysles Brothers did the excellent "Gimmie Shelter" film of the Rolling Stones 1969 Tour. Great Documentarians.

[@denniswood1437]

@@romelovesdan Yeah, absolutely!

[@pizzalibrarian]

I did enjoy Beatles ‘64 but was disappointed that they didn’t tell the audience about the Maysles brothers who actually took the bulk of the video. It could have been in a print introduction that could have lasted less than 30 seconds but at least it would have been there. The only way that I saw any reference was in the closed captioning when one of the brothers says something.

[@romelovesdan]

@@pizzalibrarian Rewriting history. Apple Corps Taking credit for works of others.

[@yankees25]

I wanna Hold your Hand is a good film 1978 which is about the Ed Sullivan show Director: Robert Zemeckis Screenplay: Robert Zemeckis, Bob Gale Producers: Bob Gale, Steven Spielberg, Tamara Asseyev, Alexandra Rose

[@70PaulK]

Hi from the UK! I remember watching the First US Visit DVD, but I don't have a Disney subscription so I won't be missing too much. Good to hear that they've got good quality footage from the Washington Concert. Also remember watching the interview with George & Ringo by Michael Aspel- it was a big show in the UK and he did some great interviews.

[@TheCheermeister]

The best example of Beatlemania for me continues to be the film A Hard Day’s Night.

[@joef2468]

Joe, Very comprehensive review. Well done!

[@MeanMrMayo]

Thanks for watching

[@adrianmist6681]

Why is everyone reviewing this documentary being so kind? This film has no continuity, no drama or any sense of direction and no explanation of what is going on. Worst of all there's a serious lack of Beatles performances, for a film that is around 100 minutes long we get at most 20 minutes, most of those performances are incomplete! The director has taken some of the Maysles film, cut it up then stitched it back in a haphazard way. Yes there are some good interview clips, but why does Little Richard appear, talking about Pat Boone with no mention of The Beatles, yet we know he has talked about them many times? This film does nothing for long term Beatles fans, nor does it inspire younger fans. Many things are missing in this story, including Ed Sullivan, did he actually exist?

[@mikeyarugula]

You are 1000% correct - the Beatles which approved this film “let us down”

[@MeanMrMayo]

@@adrianmist6681 I've heard a number of fans criticize this, including me.

[@mikeyarugula]

Great review as usual Joe- looking forward to watching later today with family - I am sure I will agree with you

[@Stewart-ll3lu]

Hi Joe, I enjoyed your review. You said everything I felt when watching it. One strange part is that it starts with another artist’s version of All My Loving. It’s a lovely version but very odd place to include it. Also there is quite a lot of long interviews with people giving their reactions, many of whom are not obvious choices. They just had enough new bits to keep me interested but overall for me, The Beatles First US Visit is a better piece of work.

[@tonyfederici1961]

I believe I saw different footage from the Washington concert. To me this was great. I hope they would release this concert with a different camera angles.

[@jaykenigsberg2162]

I appreciated the contrast with Get Back. While GB was in vibrant color 64 is basically black and white. To me, that places the periods covered in stark contrast. And these periods are so close they almost overlap. In my opinion, 64 and GB tell a very compelling story as to how the Fab Four, grew up, matured, and grew apart, in just a matter of years.

[@josephsirchia65]

Hi Joe Saw Beatles 64 last night. I think it supplements the First USA visit very well like The Beatles Get Back supplements Let It Be. Thanks for your presentation

[@timothyflyte9443]

Nov.13,64 the original film.The Beatles what's happening. was first shown on CBS show The Entertainers. Nice to hear your review ..

[@robbalboni4179]

hi joe, nicely done review on this documentary, i don't think i have seen any of these as of yet. will have to check these out, thanks for sharing. take care, rob

[@jamesyoung1507]

Joe, where did you get that T-shirt of the Avedon group shot of the Beatles?

[@MeanMrMayo]

It was a gift several years ago

[@michaelsvinyls4296]

Just got done watching it . The Washington Coliseum footage was clear and the audio was good . The 64 fan interviews were interesting too.

[@timallen2336]

Hey Joe, while it was very much improved in quality, I was not overly impressed with the film, as I didn't epect to. I do think this is a must-see for newer and younger fans. It is definitely worth you time to watch though. Take care...

[@MeanMrMayo]

@@timallen2336 Thanks for weighing in, Tim.

[@Venusandjupiteinunion6434]

Hey I just got finished watching this literally 10 minutes ago. You were the first thing on KZbin after I shut off Disney and came back onto youtube. So this a just saw it 10 minutes ago perspective. My first impression was as you said why didn't they just tell the story in a more cohesive manner. One thing I really noticed about it was that it seemed to bring out each of their personalities. And I don't think I had really noticed that before. Like Paul is always a little guarded okay I'm in the camera and I'll talk. But Ringo was just willing to just be part of the party, he just looked like he was having a blast the whole time. His memories are amazing too. And George was seemed kind of relaxed enough, but I didn't realize how uptight John could be. It's almost like the whole thing was going over his head and he was like what is this where am I at least that's the impression I got. He came just my opinion as very shy. He wasn't in a lot of the camera shots, and he certainly wasn't trying to hog the the camera or anything. He just seemed like I mean he was there okay but he seemed like he was there but he wasn't there if that makes any sense to you. Yes the the footage from the Washington Coliseum was amazing. I had seen that before in a KZbin video, but it certainly wasn't as clear. I could have done without the 'Talkng heads,' I'm sorry but and it was just a little disjointed. It's like 1 minute we're talking to Smokey Robinson then we're watching The Beatles do this then we're seeing the Isley Brothers and they're talking about "Twist and Shout" and then we see a little snippet of that but not all of it. It gave me emotional whiplash because you can't follow. But it's really good if anyone is reading this and going well maybe I don't want to see this, it's great but it's a lot of reactions of the fans which is fun, and and a lot of Talking Heads interspersed with bits and pieces of Beatles really. I mean there is a lot of Beatles, but you see the Beatles and then they go to another famous person talking and I think I would have liked a little more continuity. I've seen other documentaries that were better I'm going to be honest with you. But all in all it was absolutely fantastic to see some of those things that even me being almost a 61 year Beatle fan that I hadn't seen. But but I would have liked to have seen them getting ready for the Ed Sullivan and maybe done a little bit more stuff with that, but maybe there just wasn't a lot of interview stuff. And I'm not going to give it away but the funniest part of the whole documentary is the bits on the train. That was funny there's some really funny stuff they did on the train lots of funny stuff. All in all it I'll give it a 7 out of 10 I'm not discouraging anybody, but if you don't know what happened in what order in what sequence and you're watching this for the first time you'd be lost because there are no markers. Like and then they went here, and then they went here, etcetera. Some really cool footage from The Peppermint Lounge I really enjoyed that. God Ringo could really cut a rug as we used to say. All in all a lot of fun yeah it's about an hour and 40 minutes long and it was quite enjoyable just a little bit chopped up. You don't know where you are you don't know what's happening next. It doesn't kind of follow a sequence and that was the only thing I can honestly say was off-putting. That and the fact that there was weird little things that could only be Martin Scorsese things, nothing too weird but, psychoanalysis the fans I could have lived without. I really enjoyed it but I enjoyed the "Get Back" documentary a whole lot more, I enjoyed the Ron Howard documentary the "Eight Days A Week" a lot more. You almost need someone of my age if you're young to sit with you and go oh yeah that's when they did that because if you don't know what's happening. it's kind of mish-mash. And I really could have lived without Billie Elish singing at the beginning. Other than that it was great.

[@tomliverani4562]

Great review, Joe!

[@MeanMrMayo]

Thanks!

[@josephmantineo1376]

Hey Joe, Great review! Happy Thanksgiving and day late. I watched the doc this morning also I liked it the video footage of the Beatles and the fans was my favorite part about the doc. I also likes some of the talking heads and the interviews with the Beatles were good. I wish there was more of the Sullivan show and Washington show. I’ll have to watch the Beatles first US vist it has been a LONG time since I watched that Thanks Joe take care!!

[@samstjohn1994]

Nice take, I really enjoyed it, as I haven't seen the other documentary!

[@MeanMrMayo]

I enjoyed it more a second time

[@david_g_barron]

Enjoyed the film, and it showed what came before and the excitement of their arrival and showing some of the pressures involved in being a Beatle. Although I do find it odd that they never used archive footage of Neil Aspinall and Cynthia Lennon giving their impressions of that first visit. I am guessing it was the first time that Ringo and Martin Scorsese have met since Thanksgiving 1976, and can you imagine if someone tried to cure Rinoo of his hoarding habits, then would we have some of the items that he has kept over the years. Aspel and Company (LWT/ITV) show both George and Ringo was originally broadcast on Saturday 5th March 1988 and on there to promote When We Was Fab.

[@roccogammonesr.8755]

I was disappointed I missed the premier last Sunday in NY. Would someone give me a heads up before,not after the fact.Thnx All the Blest!

[@Visualizemyfuture]

The documentary would have been much better if they had restored and used the footage from the documentary The First Us Visit with the new interviews with Paul and Ringo added. I don't know if it's me but i thought that the sound of the Washington Coliseum concert had a little too much reverb added.

[@gregpaspatis9425]

When all this was first made in the 1960s, wasn't the original title of the (Maysles brothers) documentary called "It's What's Happening Baby", after the common expression used by the then-WINS (1010 AM) radio deejay Murray the K?????

[@MeanMrMayo]

What's Happening In The USA

[@joshua2814]

I felt the same. I liked it, but it’s not a new favorite.

[@leonardfrausto9373]

Thanks for beatle 64 review I to like the Beatles the first u .s.visit keep going

[@trublu71]

I am looking forward to watching it this weekend. But I’m disappointed to hear there’s not enough footage.

[@matthewstreet1961]

Looked forward to hearing your thoughts! We are pretty similar in our assessments! We’ve heard and seen it all, so this was bound to disappoint on some level. 🍻🎶🎅❤️🎄🎵🎼

[@EricSchultz-zs8hz]

Joe, I felt about the same. I thought it was very good, but it wasn't amazing. Maybe it's just because of having seen Anthology and other documentaries, that I'm used to seeing all this. Someone expressed disappointment that it wasn't a "full immersion" into February 1964, but we already have that with "The 1st US Visit." Plus, we can see the complete performances on the Ed Sullivan Shows on DVD. Knowing that there was new footage of Paul and Ringo and others, I knew ahead of time that it would go back and forth between 1964 and now, and then back again, so I wasn't disappointed. As you said, this might be better for newer fans, or fans who never really saw the footage.

[@samguberman2288]

I don't have the Disney channel but I'm assuming they'll bring out a dvd soon which I'll buy. I have the dvd of The Beatles first.U.S visit which I think is a magnificent film, watching with the commentary by Albert Maysels remarked that if he'd known how huge The Beatles would become he'd have added more scenes. Like me I absolutely loved the extras, especially when you saw the family watching The Ed Sullivan show live is astonishing historic footage. There's extras on music dvds...and then there's Beatles extras.

[@TheCheermeister]

First Ed Sullivan Beatles appearance and a stage hand walks up to McCartney,( according to Paul), and asks “ you nervous kid?” Paul replies “ no, not really,” and the guy replies “ well you oughta be, 70 million people will be watching.”

[@knockedoutloaded279]

Cool. Michael Aspel was UK chat show host, Ringo and george were on in 1988 for about 25 mins, it was very funny and exciting, I watched it at the time, it is on you tube, he also interviewed Paul Mccartney at different times and Yoko with John Cleese at different times; worth checking out. Aspel with a soft P.

[@philmulliner3913]

A snooze fest , the old u s visit dvd was much better. Audio sounded good but just song snippets, give us the full Washington and shea for gods sake !

[@spicystick]

Are you going to do a deep dive sound review of the new mono Capitol reissues of the US LPs?

[@MeanMrMayo]

No, I don't own them.

[@roccogammonesr.8755]

Gr8 review. I accept your opinions from the hip authentic & if youlike it . That's good enough for me as quoted by Pop Abernathy!

[@PeKe999]

Hi Joe I expected much more from Scorsese and this movie. In NY opinion, it is a very boring documentary. There is not a lot of new footage. When I watched the movie, I thought I was near the end, but I was only halfway through. For me me, it's a miss, a flop. Only a one-time watch. Take care

[@johnalello9233]

I really enjoyed it Mr Mayo they did a very good job i just wish we got more Concert footage Washington DC and Ed Sullivan and Miami Beach TV show alot could have been a little better but i enjoyed it Mr Mayo! Beatles '64 nice but i really would have liked to have seen More Brian Epstein and maybe more from Olivia Harrison and Sean Ono Lennon overall really good Mr Mayo i guess there saving some stuff for other projects Thanks Mr Mayo We love you Beatles yes we do!

[@knockedoutloaded279]

Frank Sinatra releaed Japan concerts collection box dvd? The Beatles shud release full concerts with remix sound/picture and docs as extras, as many as possible...for future listeners......

[@tunesdonebyone3428]

Joe had you not seen the Aspell and Co interview with George and Ringo before? I remember it well because Ringo seemed to be drunk! And during the interview he recalls George suing him! ( something to do with It Don't Come Easy ) But George looked good in that one.

[@MeanMrMayo]

Yes, I've seen it many times. Great!

[@tijnonline6807]

What a disappointment that Beatles '64 documentary ! It goes all over the place, and very little music and performances. The dvd The Beatles First US Visit is much better!

[@mjemigh3304]

I like it. As a film, it's better than "Visit," but you do need that for a more complete picture as a fan. I only saw The Beatles live once and that was the Shea show that was filmed. How long do we have to wait to get our hands on THAT one?!?

[@yankees25]

I'll take a look at it tonight just got George Harrison's new CD living in the Material world today Via Walmart Well not new I should have said Remastered

[@kjellwre2240]

The music is out on, Tidal,Spotify,Apple and more. Its just the red album all over again, andwith some songs from Little Richard,and some others. Why could they give out the live show from Ed Sullivan,and other rarities?

[@robinburke3323]

I can't stand talking head documentaries.

[@knockedoutloaded279]

try David Byrne solo...

[@astrosjer822]

I am excited to watch it at some point this weekend. Nowhere near the hype as Get Back two years ago even with Scorcese’s involvement. I am guessing the improved footage and sound will make it worthwhile for me. Otherwise it seems like the Ron Howard movie part 2 😆

[@mikeyarugula]

Watched the show with family - huge disappointment - in the words of George Harrison from AHDN “ A Drag- A Real Drag” - disjointed and hard to follow for newly converted fans -

[@keithbartlett8926]

Sounds like a missed opportunity. I'll still sign up for a month to watch it. Luckily I have the Ed Sullivan shows on DVD and the DVD you showed.

[@anthonyquinn7132]

Ringo was drunk on the Aspel interview

[@MeanMrMayo]

He didn't seem bad to me. Either way that interview was 1988, the same year he got sober until the present day.

[@teresabenson6087]

I was disappointed because I wanted more of The Beatles instead of people talking about them, I thought there would be a lot more of the Washington Concert 😢

[@patriksweden9203]

Great review🤩

[@anthonyvigliotti6560]

I think you have nailed it, Joe. Well done.

[@TheProgrammerGuy]

Your camera lens always seems like it needs to be cleaned...

[@neilafacci5833]

Beatles at Shea probably better film to watch

[@resslerartstudios]

Not impressed, however, the visual quality, and audio make it better If Peter Jackson works on anything I'll want to eee it... cool to see Paul at the Brooklyn museum...

[@lengomcharrison8323]

It was so so. A little helter Skelter story.

[@itslikethesamebutdifferent8020]

Idk better quality isn’t that important to me when i get great quality out of my DVD. From what i hear I’ve already seen all this before. It’ll be like watching the same movie with better quality and better audio, don’t matter, i already know how the movie goes. To me, they should focus on releasing the extra hours left on the cutting floor of the get back documentary. Since there’s like 50+ hrs still unwatched, they should release them every year in like volumes 1-4, then next year volumes 5-8 and so on and so forth. Just my 3 cents

[@MeanMrMayo]

New stuff here. Just depends on how important it is to you.

[@salsplace]

Watching it today

[@FMD321]

I thought the product un necessary

[@onlysleeping8934]

I finally got to watch it yesterday & aside from the beautiful sound restoration, it was disappointing. Bad choices of Smokey singing Yesterday from 1965? Little Richard singing Tutti Frutti? No full performances? Very disappointing 👎👎. I'm glad we have it but could've been so much better

[@sundance8744]

No need to pay Disney+ just because of today, just wait for a couple of weeks, gonna be achieved worldwide

[@jltbass56]

Another big trip, stumble and fall by Apple

[@gcrichman53]

This documentary like Ron Howard's Eight Days A Week focuses too much on stupid Beatlemania and it's really wrong and ridiculous to say and portray the early Beatles as being so much more than they appeared in February of 1964, they were a great hard working self made inventive prolific very good musicians,singers and song writers even then!

[@yorkiegirl16]

We just finished watching this documentary and we loved it. The restoration video from the Washington concert was great. It was a documentary of an amazing time in history.

[@MeanMrMayo]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@trevorbrown2813]

It was a disappointment. US dvd is better. On the plus side the clarity and sound of Washington make it worth watching.

[@angiethebeatlesgirl228]

Hello Mr. Mayo Since I got up late, I just finished listening to the Beatles64 documentary and like you, I already knew most of what they showed However, I still enjoyed it, and I love the quality of the sound I also love to relive the old interviews with John and even though I don’t really enjoy Talking Heads I did enjoy them on this documentary because most of the people except for a few. You could tell that are real fans in my opinion, this documentary is more guided to the newer Beatles fans However, I do think that us who have been fans for almost all our life can enjoy it as well because I loved it Anyways, thank you very much for your review Mr. Mayo God bless you and I will catch you on the next video

[@MeanMrMayo]

Thanks as always, Angie!

[@Borella309]

Cash-grab pure and simple. Sure there's more than one way to skin a rabbit, but not the same rabbit over and over again. All this stuff is only slowly tarnishing The Beatles legacy, not adding to it.

[@MeanMrMayo]

@@Borella309 Far from it.

[@robbiedetroitstigermanviny8883]

I forgot it came on. I'll have to watch it. Awesome Joe!

[@brianpattishall774]

I hated this

[@MeanMrMayo]

Ouch

[@johngalt5411]

Not being a Disney+ subscriber I'm thankful they're running a $2.99 promotion through the weekend. The live performances were the highlight for me, otherwise I was a little bored if I'm being honest. I think Get Back spoiled me, could not get enough of that one.

[@romelovesdan]

So sad we have to go to 'that channel' to watch this- Glad there is some new footage....as in Ron Howard's touring years film, many of us have seen 95% of this material. I will go to someone's house to watch this new '64 Doc. Hope a physical release WITH the Washington concert as a bonus eventually sees the light of day.....