Films That Time Forgot

Beatlemania: The Movie (1981)

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Reviewed by Keith Phipps
April 18th, 2001

In an unnecessary disclaimer, Beatlemania: The Movie opens with the statement, "The musicians appearing in this motion picture are Mitch Weissman, David Leon, Tom Teeley, and Ralph Castelli. They are not the former members of the musical group known as The Beatles." A filmed version of the widely reviled stage show, Beatlemania: The Movie tells the story of The Beatles as only musicians with a vague resemblance to the original group and enough musical competence to fake their way through its songs can. But Beatlemania: The Movie has even grander ambitions, as the same opening scrawl makes clear: "Beatlemania® is a tribute to the turbulent, tumultuous decade of the '60s, which revolutionized pop music." To this end, Beatlemania: The Movie sets its post-Fab Four's performances against a digital ticker filled with such nostalgia-inducing, telegraphically phrased factoids as, "Peyton Place on TV twice a week" and, "Poodle most popular dog for 6th straight year." The innovations don't stop there, however. Viewers of Beatlemania: The Movie are also treated to experimental visual interpretations that shed new light on the famed Lennon/McCartney compositions. After all, can anyone really understand "Help!" unless it's accompanied by stock footage of wingwalkers and mariachi bands? Did "Yesterday" make sense before it was paired with subliminal flashes of a bearded biker shooting the camera the bird? If the original Beatles could have joined "Get Back" to a scene of brawling wrestlers wearing costumes labeled "Mom," "Grandpa," and "Daughter," don't you think they would have? What took Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Starr most of a decade to accomplish, Weissman, Leon, Teeley, and Castelli pound through in little more than 90 minutes. Whether The Beatles truly changed the world may still be open to debate, but one fact certainly isn't: By the time the curtain falls on the bewigged Beatle-esques of Beatlemania: The Movie, a mildly enthusiastic Long Beach has clearly been diverted for a large chunk of its evening.