Disney+ is set to debut Beatles '64 on Friday, a documentary offering a behind-the-scenes look at The Beatles' first U.S. tour through rare, restored footage.
The film captures the English band's profound impact on American culture during a turbulent time, months after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison first took to the States in February 1964 to complete a packed schedule of concerts and press work.
Interspersed with interviews from the band's two surviving members, the documentary features moments of levity and charm in displaying their career's relative infancy.
The band's first album, Please Please Me, was less than a year old at the time of the trip––though several other LPs followed in quick succession, as was the norm for groups of that time.
'Beatles '64': A Big Budget Restoration Project
Pan Am Flight 101's descent upon New York's JFK Airport on February 7, 1964, is considered by some to be the official beginning of Beatlemania.
Unseen, playful moments from the 14-day trip include McCartney feeding seagulls from a hotel balcony and Harrison messing with Woody Guthrie riffs on guitar.
"It's so fun to be the fly on the wall in those really intimate moments," says Margaret Bodde, who produced alongside Martin Scorsese. "It's just this incredible gift of time and technology to be able to see it now with the decades of time stripped away so that you really feel like you're there."
Directed by David Tedeschi, Beatles '64 incorporates 11 hours of footage filmed by documentarians Albert and David Maysles during the band's first U.S. tour.
"It's like it was shot yesterday," said Tedeschi. "It captures the youth of the four Beatles and the fans."
The restoration process was completed by Park Road Post in New Zealand.
That same team was also responsible for bringing Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson's own Disney+ Beatles project Get Back to life, which spanned almost eight hours across three installments.
'It Was Like a Crazy Love'
During their 1964 U.S. visit, the Beatles performed at Carnegie Hall, played a show at Washington, D.C.'s, Washington Coliseum, and traveled to Miami, where they met Muhammad Ali.
Their performance on The Ed Sullivan Show drew an audience of over 73 million viewers.
In addition to candid footage of the band, the project explores their encounters with fans, including teenagers outside their New York hotel, and their adventures at the Peppermint Lounge disco.
Ronnie Spector recounts sneaking the band out of their hotel to enjoy Harlem barbecue. Archival interviews with musicians like Smokey Robinson and Sananda Maitreya highlight the Beatles' appreciation of and inspiration from Black music.
"It was like a crazy love," fan Vickie Brenna-Costa recalls in the documentary. "I can't really understand it now. But then, it was natural."
The documentary coincides with the aptly-timed release of a vinyl box set featuring seven U.S. albums from 1964–1965, out of print since 1995.
Beatlemania's Generational Divide
The film also delves into the challenges the foursome faced. Despite their rapid, widespread popularity among young people, history often eclipses the initial skepticism and ridicule received from older generations.
Renowned broadcaster Eric Sevareid even likened Beatlemania to an outbreak of the German measles during a broadcast on CBS.
At a New York press conference, one reporter quipped, "You're nothing but four Elvis Presleys," prompting the band to jokingly gyrate in response as drummer Starr screamed, "It's not true!"
"Why the establishment was against them is sort of a mystery to me," said Tedeschi. "I think older people believed that music would go back to the big bands."
Tedeschi suggests that Beatlemania provided an emotional lift for a grieving nation. "Everything was dark. And 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' lit them up," he said.
The film shows Paul McCartney reflecting on this in hindsight: "Maybe America needed something like the Beatles to lift it out of mourning and just sort of say 'Life goes on.'"
"Beatles '64" will be available on streaming on Disney+ from Friday, November 29.
This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.
English (US) ·