A Major Disappointment

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

I grew up on the Beatles' music and was therefore delighted to see this captivating biopic about their early days in Hamburg, with Stuart Sutcliffe (bass) and Pete Best (drums) still onboard, in the days even before they fashioned their hair into mopheads and long before Lennon told his aristocratic audience to rattle their jewels. The plot focuses on Stuart Sutcliffe and his relationship with John Lennon. In a way, the movie shows us the Beatles as most of us do NOT know them -- the setting is neither London nor NYC (Liverpool plays a relatively minor role), they're not being chased by hordes of screaming teenagers, their drugs are still beer and tabs (and some amphetamines); most of all, they're still a rock 'n' roll band trying to break through.That's actually one of the movie's biggest assets: it manages to convincingly show the group as a kickass rock band, although they're playing covers of US-American hits for the most part. The actors playing Lennon, Harrison and McCartney are surprisingly convincing.Some fans have criticised the movie for being inaccurate, because, for example, John's later wife Cynthia is shown as a homely girl with a scarf, whereas she stated that she didn't like wearing scarfs. And I'd say it's true that Stephen Dorff's portrayal of Sutcliffe is too aggressive, histrionic, over the top (in scene, for example, he needlessly attacks the Klaus Voormann character in a way that would probably get him an extended stretch for attempted manslaughter in the real world). But as long as you keep in mind that this is not a documentary, the average non-stickler fan should be more than happy with this fare.

Is "Backbeat" a factually accurate depiction of the Beatles' stint in Hamburg? Probably not, to the dismay of pedants who have perused the (by my rough count) 5,000,000 books written about the history of the Fab Four. But the various milieu in which the characters lived -- the bleakness of Liverpool, the sleaze of Hamburg -- is beautifully conveyed and gives you a better sense of what shaped John Lennon's tortured genius than any dry recitation of recording-session dates. You get a nice sense of the Beatles' looming threat to Britain's staid popular culture in an early scene of John Lennon and best mate Stuart Sutcliffe sitting in a trad jazz club, wearing leather jackets and heckling the band. You also get a good idea of Hamburg's sordidness from a quick-cut stripper montage after the lads have departed England for the Reeperbahn. Musically, the band performances don't sound exactly like the early Beatles, but the filmmakers choose wisely when they asked a group of indie-music all-stars like Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth) to play on the soundtrack. The loud, slightly dissonant take on early Beatles classics are as vivid and startling as the Beatles must have been to early 60s audiences. Finally, the film doesn't gloss over any bad behavior -- there's drugs and whoring galore, and Lennon is depicted as an obnoxious if engaging genius. ("How did you get to be such an ***hole?" asks Astrid Kirchherr. "Practice," responds Lennon.) It's a well-made, lively portray of The Artists As A Bunch Of Horny Young Men on Speed, and if a few dates get muddled, well, you're supposed to look those up in books anyway, not get them from movies.What keeps "Backbeat" from being brilliant, sadly, is the central character of Stuart Sutcliffe, who comes off as a wooden, shallow pretty boy. I don't know if that's a fair portrayal of the real Sutcliffe or a side effect of asking Stephen Dorff to play him. Lennon and Astrid are competing for Sutcliffe's love, and their rivalry is a lot more interesting than the relationship either have with Stuart himself, probably because they're stronger characters played by better actors. (Ian Hart is a charmingly snotty Lennon, Sheryl Lee is a sweet and attractive Astrid.) Sutcliffe's tragic downfall would be more compelling if (A) we didn't already know about it, and (B) Dorff wasn't such a stiff. Whatever, you're watching this movie because you're a Beatles fan, you don't need a love story. As for the supporting characters (now legends), Paul McCartney doesn't come off all that well (but he never does on film); Cynthia Lennon gets a surprisingly sympathetic treatment (she's a cipher or a shrew elsewhere); and George, Ringo, Pete Best et al all sort of lurk in the shadow of John Lennon's and Paul McCartney's opportunism, just like in real life.

I really enjoyed this film, but I just had a little trouble with the music. It was truly terrific, but Dave Pirner sounds nothing like Paul McCartney by any stretch of the imagination, nor does Greg Dulli sound anything remotely like John Lennon. I thought it was great that they used such well-known and talented musicians as Thurston Moore and Dave Grohl, but couldn't they have found somebody that sounded a little bit more like Lennon and McCartney? Ok, enough about that. I didn't know the whole story about Stuart Sutcliffe, and I had no idea that *SPOILER* he died. That was awful. But I really enjoyed learning more about one of my favorite bands, especially since I completely missed out on their heyday. (John Lennon died about six months before I was born! Oh, the agony!) I really didn't know much about the early days of the band, so this movie was very informative. I thought all the actors looked incredibly like their real-life counterparts. I had already see Ian Hart portray Lennon in The Hours and the Times, so I knew his characterization of Lennon was awesome, and made me enjoy his performance in Backbeat all the more. I highly recommend this film to all Beatles fans and anyone interested in rock 'n' roll history.

Softley's 'Backbeat' is my favorite movie I've ever seen. I'm a huge Beatles fan and I've watched many biographical films about The Fab Four like 'Birth of Beatles' for example, and I must admit that this production from 1993 is the best of them all. This picture shows us the Hamburg's episode (early 60s) of Beatles career and it concentrates on relationship between John Lennon (fantastic play by Ian Hart) and Stuart Sutcliffe (aka The Lost Beatle). Lots of laughs, lots of tears and above all - great music ! A must seen for Beatles fans.