Backbeat (1993)

Average rating

(68%)

Starring:	Sheryl Lee \| Stephen Dorff \| Ian Hart
Director:	Iain Softley
Studio:	UCA
Run time:	96 mins
Genres:	Drama
Languages:	English
Dubbed:	French, Italian, Spanish
Hearing-impaired:	English
Subtitles:	Croatian, Dutch, French, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish
Released:	June 21, 2004
Also available on:

Set during the Beatles' months in Hamburg in the early Sixties, the story follows the fifth Beatle, Stuart Sutcliffe, who must choose between his best friend John Lennon, the woman he loves, or the biggest rock group in the world.

Rating of 3 stars out of 5

While a huge improvement on the dismal TV movie Birth of the Beatles, Iain Softley's account of the Fab Four's Hamburg days is rather like their music of the time: loud, raw and full of energy. It also betrays a lack of experience, leaving too much to enthusiasm and carrying the audience along on euphoria. Focusing primarily on the relationship between John Lennon and “Fifth Beatle” Stuart Sutcliffe, it descends into tacky melodrama once Stu falls for photographer Astrid Kirchherr, complete with snide tiffs between the spurned Lennon and the woman he considers to be his rival. Ian Hart is solid enough in another of his outings as Lennon (he played the Beatle in The Hours and Times), but Stephen Dorff and Sheryl Lee only occasionally convince as the star-crossed lovers.

Highest rated reviews

1 out of 1 people found the following review helpful:

Great for fans and non fans alike!

Paul Lloyd from Devon, 11th September, 2005

I love this film they went all out not only to find great actors but great actors that look like the real people! This add's to the story and wow those Beatles had a great time in Germany! But it is about the 5th beatle Stuart Sutcliffe and his romance that made him pull away from best friend John and the band and the tragic end to his life. Please rent this DVD you will not be sorry best true story I have watched for years. Enjoy. PS You get to enjoy great music through out to boot!

Read all highest rated reviews

1 out of 1 people found the following review helpful:

HOLLYWOOD GLOSS..

A Customer from Liverpool, England, 13th July, 2005

this is supposed to be the story of Stuart Sutcliffe, the 5th Beatle, the 1 that left the group before they hit the big time, the 1 that died before The Beatles made it big, but it`s not really, although the performances from Stephen Dorff, Sheryl Lee, Ian Hart and the blokes that play the other Beatles are good the movie itself is average, it`s got a Hollywood gloss, it`s not factual enough, it`s more romantic than historical, it`s a known fact that The Beatles time in Hamburg was a hard lesson for the group to learn, it`s what made them so good, but this movie hardly touches on any of that, other than a few scenes showing Lennon & Sutcliffe on bunk-beds, am giving this movie 3 stars because it`s worth a watch and the performances are good.

Read all highest rated reviews

Most recent reviews

authentic but formulaic biopic

maxwurr from , 15th January, 2006

As a huge Beatles fan and member of a Beatles tribute band, I suppose I was always likely to be over-critical about this film, but in fact it is not its authenticity that is lacking. The era is faultlessly reconstructed, but it is ultimately the disappointing performances from everyone but Ian Hart that let the film down. Admittedly the script is not the best either, but some convincing acting might have helped remedy that. As it is, it looks like a biopic by numbers that says nothing much new about this now well-documented story. Point of note, though: the drummer in the 'Backbeat band' that did the soundtrack is Dave Grohl of Nirvana/Foo Fighters and the lead vocals were by Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum. I make no charge for trivia of this quality!

Read all recent reviews