Backbeat
Iain Softley’s drama reenacts the years before the Beatles got famous, when they were just a bar band hired to keep the customers awake between strippers by playing hard-rocking cover versions of “Be-Bop-a-Lula.”
Ian Hart plays John Lennon as a witty punk around–everything but rock ‘n’ roll is a sham to John.
His true musical comrade is Paul McCartney (Gary Bakewell), yet the one John feels closest to is Stu Sutcliffe (Stephen Dorff), the fifth member of the Beatles, who is sexy, aristocratic, and doomed.
The movie describes how the Beatles learned to unite rock ‘n’ roll with more popular rhythm beauty.
When they finally do, the result, “Twist and Shout,” is exhilarating.
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