The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years
The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years
NR | 16 September 2016 (USA)
The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years Trailers

The Beatles stormed through Europe's music scene in 1963, and, in 1964, they conquered America. Their groundbreaking world tours changed global youth culture forever and, arguably, invented mass entertainment as we know it today. All the while, the group were composing and recording a series of extraordinarily successful singles and albums. However the relentless pressure of such unprecedented fame, that in 1966 became uncontrollable turmoil, led to the decision to stop touring. In the ensuing years The Beatles were then free to focus on a series of albums that changed the face of recorded music.

Reviews
Brendon Jones 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.
Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.
Lucia Ayala It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.
Phillipa Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.
Gareth Crook Made mostly of archival footage... most of it recoloured, this is quite a nice documentary... I was expecting a bit more though. Aside a few bits here and there, there doesn't seem to be that much that's new... even if there is... director Ron Howard says there is. What could be more familiar than The Beatles though? Certainly not an easy story to breathe new life into! All that said, 50 years on from the time, it remains quite incredible to watch the furore that they created, just how new, fresh, raw they were. So disregard my initial thoughts, forget pointless analysis, it's The Beatles! The greatest band the world has ever seen. Just enjoy it and lose yourself if only for a 106 minutes.
proud_luddite 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.
Michael O'Keefe This is director Ron Howard's ode to the celebrated band The Beatles in formative years centering on the group's touring years circa 1963-1966. Newly restored footage and sound collected from over 200 concerts and locations to become pieces of musical/Beatles history. Plenty of interview snippets bringing some context to their place in time.Most of the songs imaginable are there in locations like Liverpool, Hamburg, the Netherlands, the Phillipines , Hong Kong, New Zealand, Australia, Hollywood Bowl, The Ed Sullivan Show, The Hullabaloo TV show, Ready, Set, Go TV Show, Shea Stadium and Candlestick Park.Interviews, some by archive footage, help paint a picture of the Fab Four. We hear from the group itself, plus the individuals and other notables like Ed Sullivan, George Martin, Brian Epstein, Muhammed Ali, Neil Aspinall, Sigourney Weaver, Larry King, Richard Lester, Whoopi Goldberg, Harold James and Eddie Izzard.Even the non-Beatles fan can find this documentary amazing!
latinfineart If like me, you were (or are) a fan of the Beatles, this film should be an inspiration. I was growing up at the time of their touring days, yet I was too young to have attended any of those shows. But, by the time the White album came out, I was hooked, and their music was quite iformative, inspiring, and powerful to me at the time. Watching this movie brought back some of that power and charm, and the sense of what an amazing point in history the 1960's were. The film was a bit sketchy in that it did not reveal much about the men. Could have delved into the characters and craziness of the touring a bit more. But, I sense that Howard was bringing a sense of reverence to the project, and did not feel the need for the sordid details. He have certainly seen enough of that in various other documentaries about rock stars over the years.I have to say, I found this film uplifting, and very, very enjoyable to watch. Witnessing the evolution of their music (I never really payed much attention to them until Rubber Soul) was great. What a band. What a bunch of great guys. Gentlemen, spokesmen, sincere, brilliant, and creative as they come. Wow.