Fresh
There's nothing very profound here, but we do at least get a nice handling of period and milieu, and pretty good performances of the songs.
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
Backbeat
5 guys. 4 legends. 3 lovers. 2 friends. 1 band.
1994 · 1h 40m · R
Drama, Music
Directed by
Iain Softley
Overview
Chronicles the early days of The Beatles in Hamburg, Germany. The film focuses primarily on the relationship between Stuart Sutcliffe, John Lennon, and Sutcliffe's girlfriend Astrid Kirchherr.
Director and cast
- Iain Softley Director
- Stephen Dorff as Stuart Sutcliffe
- Ian Hart as John Lennon
- Gary Bakewell as Paul McCartney
- Chris O'Neill as George Harrison
- Paul Duckworth as Ringo Starr
- Sheryl Lee as Astrid Kirchherr
- Scot Williams as Pete Best
- Kai Wiesinger as Klaus Voormann
- Jennifer Ehle as Cynthia Powell
- Rob Spendlove as Arthur Ballard
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
69%
Tomatometer
Fresh
What pulls you over the bum spots is the electrifying immediacy.
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
Rotten
The early, pre-fame days of the Beatles are a great subject for a film, but the potential has been only partly realized in Backbeat.
Todd McCarthy, Variety
Fresh
The music is loud and raw, but nevertheless evokes the excitement it generated.
Geoff Andrew, Time Out
Fresh
Backbeat, which for all its pretensions can often be impressively canny and affectionate about its subject, is helped enormously by newly recorded versions of Beatle records.
Janet Maslin, New York Times
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