In retrospect, it\u2019s a shame that \u201cHelp!\u201d wasn\u2019t presented as a one-hour TV special rather than as a 92-minute feature film. In trying to one-up the lightning-in-a-bottle success of \u201cA Hard Day\u2019s Night,\u201d director Richard Lester and his mop-topped stars reaffirmed the axiom that bigger is not always better by creating a large-scale romp that only occasionally percolates with hilarity but eventually wears out its welcome long before the closing credits.
\n<\/p>\n
The Beatles themselves were not initially happy with “Help!” \u2013 John Lennon sourly complained the group felt like extras in their own film. Indeed, the biggest laughs don\u2019t go to the Beatles but to Leo McKern as the leader of an eastern cult trying to retrieve a sacrificial rite ring in the possession of Ringo Starr and Eleanor Bron as the mysterious cult member who appears to be working with and against the Beatles. Also getting the funniest bits are several supporting cast members including Victor Spinetti and Roy Kinnear as bumbling scientists, Patrick Cargill as a flustered law enforcement superintendent and Alfie Bass as the unlikely doorman of an Indian restaurant. <\/p>\n
When the Beatles are front and center, the extravagant sight gags involving them \u2013 opening the doors to the four adjoining town homes, the men\u2019s room hand drier that vacuums off their clothing, the ambush in a pub \u2013 is a tribute to Lester\u2019s inventive direction and the Marc Behm-Charles Wood outrageous imagination rather than the Beatles\u2019 comic skills.<\/p>\n
But the screenplay ultimately worked against the endeavor, with endless variations of the attempt to regain the ring on Ringo\u2019s finger \u2013 it becomes tiresome and predictable after a half hour and a bore after a full hour. (Try to imagine a seven-minute Road Runner-Wile E. Coyote cartoon stretched into a feature length film and you’ll understand why “Help!” floundered.) Prolonged on-location sequences at Salisbury Plain and in the Bahamas only added to the cumbersome weight by adding a travelogue feel to the proceedings \u2013 it also made the viewer nostalgic for the low-budget hijinks of \u201cA Hard Day\u2019s Night\u201d which achieved more humor and charm in everyday working-class locations.<\/p>\n
Of course, the music is the main selling point and \u201cHelp!\u201d shines brightest with the Beatles being the Beatles, either in straightforward performances of the title song and \u201cYou\u2019re Going to Lose That Girl\u201d or in the playful shenanigans across the snowy Austrian Alps with \u201cShe\u2019s Got a Ticket to Ride.\u201d But when they weren\u2019t singing, the Beatles were reportedly stoned during much of the production \u2013 this would explain the lack of freshness and enthusiasm compared to their first film.<\/p>\n
In fairness, the Beatles had almost no input in the film\u2019s story or direction, which made them push off other film projects presented to them including the anarchic \u201cUp Against It\u201d penned by controversial playwright Joe Orton. In comparison to \u201cHelp!\u201d, the Beatles’ self-directed \u201cMagical Mystery Tour\u201d was closer to their genuine personalities and sense of humor, even if it was sloppily made and rather self-indulgent at times. And at one hour in length, \u201cMagical Mystery Tour\u201d satisfied viewers\u2019 needs in a compact running time, whereas \u201cHelp!\u201d drove many viewers to checking their wristwatches while wondering when the film would be over.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In retrospect, it\u2019s a shame that \u201cHelp!\u201d wasn\u2019t presented as a one-hour TV special rather than as a 92-minute feature film. In trying to one-up the lightning-in-a-bottle success of \u201cA Hard Day\u2019s Night,\u201d director Richard Lester and his mop-topped stars reaffirmed the axiom that bigger is not always better by creating a large-scale romp that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":46459,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1369],"tags":[1861,219,3624,2778,1051],"class_list":["post-46450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-retro-cinema","tag-1960s","tag-comedy","tag-help","tag-richard-lester","tag-the-beatles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46450"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46450\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46457,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46450\/revisions\/46457"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}