Nice effects though.

Good concept, poorly executed.

Blistering performances.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The Fab Four are the subject of this documentary beginning from the days of phenomenal superstardom during their concerts from 1963-1966.The storyline of this film (directed by Ron Howard) is great entertainment not only as a story of fame and its joys and pitfalls but also as a great trip down memory lane for this beloved group of artists.The pitfalls are few - at least as exposed here. Firstly, these superstars were relatively unscathed compared to rock artists of lesser fame. The film is a good chronology up to the mid-1960s but then it jumps to 1969. It does not delve into the years after 1966. Yes, the title tells us this is just the touring years but the viewer is still left hungering for more story up to and including the eventual breakup - a hunger that is not satisfied.But the footage and interviews do provide wonderful nostalgia for that wonderful decade that was made so great partly (some might say mainly) because of The Beatles. Such moments include the super-high in the beginning, the shift to less enthusiasm due to exhaustion from touring, dealing with a planned segregated concert in Jacksonville, controversy from John Lennon's comment on the group being more popular than Jesus, the magnificent music, and the presence of young men who were mature way beyond their years. A bonus is the unintended laughter caused by some 60s fashion (cat-eye glasses) and the screaming fits of young hysterical female fans. The latter had me howling out loud.

Why are the Beatles still, almost sixty years after they originally formed, the most famous rock band in the world? Partly because they came in at the dawn of (and helped shape) youth culture - Beatlemania was an unprecedented phenomenon. But also because they came in at the dawn of (and helped shape) modern popular music - and did so both initially as purveyors of superior, catchy, but essentially lightwieght music, and then later as genuine artists, who widened the vocabulary of music itself. And they did all this in just ten years. Ron Howard's documentary tells the first half of the story, in which they became the world's biggest touring band, but also began a transition that was to lead them to their greatest works, but also off the live stage. It's not a bad film, with plenty of songs and concert clips, interviews old and new, and it's both interesting and delightful to see the freshness and honesty of the band in their early days: when the road to superstardom was unmapped, they seem human in a way that few of their successors do. The "we all loved each other" story is probably only part of the truth - but it's broadly plausible as an account of the early years in a way it wouldn't be of the later ones. It's hard to imagine there will ever be another group that achieves the same impact on music and the world.

This is running on PBS, and it is worth seeing, even with pledge breaks. Ron Howard really did a great job directing this. The script was well written by a couple of solid writers. The stock footage used is top notch. The facts are as amazing as the group. What did the Beatles Years all really mean?Howard, a baby boomer might have understood the Beatles the best because he was 9 years old in 1963. Kids that age were in awe of what the group did, they grew up with them. The portrait here of how things were done by the group as they started out and grew is really a story that might not ever happen again today. Our society structure is so much different now. How did The Beatles work?Up until the right 4 guys were together, the early Beatles did not get anywhere. To approximately quote Ringo here, "When the 4 of us got together, the chemistry just seemed to fit. It was magic." It sure was, and because it was, the group rose to the highest of heights, and then broke up. This film focus is that rise.The point made late in the film is very true. When anyone gets too successful, the competition comes after you, and you become complacent and grow apart from yourself, losing sight of your original goals. This happens to everyone, who is young enough to live a long time after being this successful. It is not a spoiler to go over their success. This film goes beyond and actually digs into the personal feelings of the band as they got to the top, and then tried not to fall off. The film does note when those falls began, and why. It is told better here, than any other film including the Beatles own films.Rare footage is used here, including the groups last concert together, a unique and totally unplanned event. It is stunning. Even folks who are not Beatles fans should really appreciate this master piece of the telling of this story for what it is and what they were, phenomenal.

I've always been a big fan of the Beatles. That means I'm the target audience for this movie, but it also means that a lot of it was overly familiar. As a chance to see some nice clips of the Beatles and get a better sense of their touring years this is pretty good, but the best documentaries can draw you into a story you have no interest in, while 8 Days a Week feels like it's really only aimed at fans.I felt restless through much of the first half of the movie, but things got more interesting as it progressed. Much of the strength of the movie is it conveys exactly how massive a cultural even The Beatles were; it's hard to get your head around if you weren't a part of it. The crush of the crowds is overwhelming, the way they affected people was startling, and they seemed to be generally decent people, even using their considerable influence to de-segregate an arena. Still, this feels more like some PBS documentary that somehow got a theatrical release. It's good if you like the Beatles, but it is less interesting than it should be, considering the subject.