My Personal Worst Films: Suicide Squad (2016)

Suicide Squad «½
PG-13, 123m. 2016

Cast & Credits: Will Smith (Floyd Lawton/Deadshot), Jared Leto (The Joker), Margot Robie (Harleen Quinzel/Harley Quinn), Joel Kinnaman (Colonel Rick Flag), Viola Davis (Amanda Waller), Jai Courtney (George “Digger” Harkness/Captain Boomerang), Jay Hernandez (Chato Santana/El Diablo), Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Waylon Jones/Killer Croc), Cara Delevingne (June Moone/Enchantress), Karen Fukuhara (Tatsu Yamashiro/Katana), Adam Beach (Christopher Weiss/Slipknot), Ike Barinholtz (Griggs), Scott Eastwood (GQ Edwards), Ben Affleck (Bruce Wayne/Batman), Ezra Miller (Barry Allen/Flash). Written and directed by David Ayer.

“I feel like I should watch it again. The movie didn't make much sense to me. More like the script was written by someone with ADHD (Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder). I did think it was funny when Harley was telling Batman that he was ruining date night and I thought the Enchantress character was really well done, visually. But the story, overall, left me with more questions. Also, if they are the baddest of the bad, why would they so seemingly easily team up and protect each other?”

While I don't necessarily call that a glowing review from friend, Wendy Potraza Frazer, who I asked on Facebook what she thought of "Suicide Squad" after seeing it, her comments are slightly more positive than my opinion of the film.

"Suicide Squad" was 2016's late summer’s "Fantastic Four" (2015) in terms of being a box office catastrophe. Anyone who claimed the critically lambasted film was a hit was like saying Democratic presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, broke no laws deleting the 30,000 plus emails from her private server. The one and only reason, (ok, maybe two), the film stayed in the number one or two spots when it opened in early August that year grossing over $200 million was because no other new release was able to compete with it, except maybe the R-rated animated "Sausage Party" (2016).

The film’s only selling point, and perhaps the second reason why it did well every weekend had to do with the casting of 2014 Oscar winning actor, Jared Leto, as the Joker. Leto’s appearance, if you believed the entertainment tabloids, totaled up to seven minutes of screen time and not one scene was wasted. Leto’s pale white nightmarish machine- gun toting creation may be everything mass murderer, James Holmes, thought he was when he opened fire on moviegoers at The Dark Knight Rises screening opening night in July 2012 in Aurora, Colorado.

Much like previous Joker incarnations created by Jack Nicholson in "Batman" (1989) and the late Heath Ledger in "The Dark Knight" (2008), Leto made his clown faced villain his own sporting metallic teeth like as though he still has braces from when he was in high school, and a smile tattoo on his hand he uses to cover his mouth when he speaks. Whereas Nicholson’s Joker was a homicidal dancing artist and Ledger’s version promoted anarchy, Leto’s Joker has no real method to his madness, which is what makes him so frighteningly unpredictable. I can’t speak for anyone else but when ex-psychiatrist/girlfriend Harley Quinn (Margot Robie) receives the Joker’s text messages that he is coming for her, I couldn’t wait for the killer clown's oh-so-brief appearance.

Suicide Squad’s best moments occurred during the film’s first hour as intelligence agent Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) unveils plans to the nation's top military commanders to recruit the country’s “worst of the worst” criminals, currently imprisoned to ward off what she perceives an even worse threat following the tragic events in "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" (2016). If only that threat was a true menace, if not a formidable villain worthy enough for the “Suicide Squad” to engage in. More on that in a moment.

As Waller introduces her band of “anti-heroes”, the film literally comes to life as each criminal’s back story is cleverly told through some of the greatest songs from the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s. I say “clever” because each tune fits the personality of each convict. Rick James’ “Super Freak” (1981), for example, plays as sexually suggestive Harley Quinn’s life is shown how she was once a high-heeled, over-the-knee skirted psychiatrist who fell in love with the Joker. “Talk about a workplace romance gone wrong,” Waller says.

When the film opens panning in on the convict's prison, The Animals “House of the Rising Sun” (1964) is heard and, when the group is sent back to continue serving time, Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” (1975) is heard.

The most developed characters whose dialogue almost seem to jump off the screenplay pages are the Joker (“I can’t wait to show you my toys”), and Harley Quinn (“I’m quite vexing") along with Deadshot (Will Smith). As an expert marksman trying to do right by his daughter, Deadshot won’t carry out a hit until he sees the payment wired to his bank account from his employers while checking his cell phone.

If only the rest of the characters were as interesting. It’s as if screenwriter/director David Ayer put so much effort into creating the Davis, Leto, Robie and Smith roles that he lost the desire to do the same for the other antiheroes (Captain Boomerang, Killer Croc, Katana, El Diablo). The rest of whom would not even be worth the $300 plus price tags Hot Toys Limited charges movie collectors when the company produces the latest 12-inch-action figures based on the film, other than maybe the Enchantress (Cara Delevingue) who was once known as Dr. June Moone, a female Indiana Jones type archeologist who’s possessed by a witch goddess.

Therein lies the problem with the film’s second act. Like "Fantastic Four" whose climax reminded me of a couple Star Trek (1979-1991) movies from the ‘80s (which were better), Suicide Squad" brought to mind a similar battle played out in "Ghostbusters" (1984) where when a female entity gets into the minds of the supernatural fighters, Dan Aykroyd’s character recalls his childhood hero, the Stay Puffed Marshmallow Man, and as a result is the toy to bring about the “Ghostbusters” doom.

By comparison, (warning: spoilers), when the “Suicide Squad” arrive at the Enchantress’ lair, located at a downtown railway station, she gets into the minds of the criminals offering them images of how great their lives would be if they join her army. “He married me,” Harley Quinn says upon seeing how good her life would be with the Joker as her husband and raising two kids.

If the Enchantress had created a “Stay Puffed Marshmallow Man” for the “heroes” to shoot at, I’d ponder who the devoted fans would be upset with more. Would their anger be directed towards filmmaker David Ayer for putting in something so lacking in creative license, or still with the critics, the majority of who didn’t give "Suicide Squad" a favorable review?

Then there’s Delevingne’s Enchantress who, as the main foe, isn’t given much to do. The minute Moone becomes the Enchantress, she stands in front atop the steps outside the railway station in a skimpy black looking bikini outfit, her body covered in ancient markings, doing a dance in one place while some blue light from the sky shines down on her as she turns men into her personal alien type warriors. I was not even sure what the Enchantress wanted to accomplish, let alone wonder where all the citizens went the minute chaos erupted. Was the entire city evacuated and if they were, where were the armed forces who helped carry out the evacuation?

Unlike last year’s Fantastic Four where I wrote in my 9/9/15 review calling it “the equivalent of a rough first draft where a group of screenwriters got together and brainstormed some good ideas as to what they wanted to see done on film but it’s never fully developed into a final product,” "Suicide Squad" actually has a great first act, but barely a second. The stories I’ve read on the Internet that reveal a slew of deleted scenes, many of which feature the Joker, along with supposed behind the scenes interference from worried executives at Warner Brothers who wanted a more PG-13 oriented version to bring in more crowds and higher box office earnings from screenwriter/director Ayer brought to mind the rule Chicago Tribune film critic Gene Siskel (1946-1999) used when he reviewed movies.

“I always ask myself, ‘Is the movie that I am watching as interesting as a documentary of the same actors having lunch together,’” Siskel reportedly said.

I asked myself that same question watching "Suicide Squad". The conclusion I came to is I’ll be interested seeing the deleted scenes when the film arrives on disc early next year. I have no doubt the footage will reveal how much great potential the film had. This might well be the first fun bad movie I love to hate to add to my other current list of fun bad movies ("Deal of the Century" (1983), "Dune" (1984), "Firestarter" (1984), "Halloween III: Season of the Witch" (1982), "The Hindenburg" (1975), "The Osterman Weekend" (1983) among them) I never get tired of watching, or have them playing just to listen to while I am doing something else. "Suicide Squad" is so bad it’s almost entertainingly bad, just not in a good way.

©2/22/23

My Personal Best Films: Alien (1979)

Alien «««« (rating for both versions)
R, 116m. (1979 original theatrical version)
R, 117m. (2003 director’s cut)

Cast & Credits: Tom Skerritt (Dallas), Sigourney Weaver (Ripley), Veronica Cartwright (Lambert), Harry Dean Stanton (Kane), John Hurt (Kane), Ian Holm (Ash), Yaphet Kotto (Parker), Bolaji Badejo (Alien), Helen Morton (Mother). Screenplay by Dan O’Bannon based on a story by Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett. Directed by Ridley Scott.

1980 Academy Award 
Nominations

Best Art Direction/
Set Decoration

Best Effects/Visual
Effects - Winner

Seeing "Alien" (1979) again on the big screen is like seeing a new movie for the very first time. The re-released film has been labeled a director’s cut as Ridley Scott has gone back making slight changes to his original version just as did to his 1982 cut of "Blade Runner" years ago.

Unless you’ve seen "Alien" over again on cable or video, however, chances are you’ll barely notice anything different. The DVD version came out a couple years ago and features a slew of deleted scenes which, had they been restored into the film, would have given "Alien" a running time of close to 150 minutes. This “director’s cut” at 117 minutes still falls barely under the two hour running time and is only a minute longer than the ‘79 version.

When I saw first saw "Alien" back in 1980 on cable, I never considered it to be one of my favorite movies and to this day, the series is still my least favorite franchise. The only reason why "Aliens" (1986) worked was because Oscar winning director and screenwriter James Cameron was able to take the character and story of Lt. Ellen Ripley played and made famous by Sigourney Weaver into a different direction. That’s where the scary thrills stopped for me, however.

"Alien 3" (1997), although skillfully directed by first-timer David Fincher; who later went on to do more memorably darker, sinister films like "Se7en" (1995), proved despite what director Cameron did that there wasn’t much that could have been done in continuing Ripley’s story to begin with and brought the franchise to a fitting, tragic close. At least that’s what I thought and had hoped for. I mean how many stories can be done where Weaver’s "Rambolina" goes up against the salivating, slobbering life forms? The powers that be, however, meaning the studio bosses at Fox, had other plans.

What we got was the unnecessary "Alien: Resurrection" (1997), which offered the same formulaic premise of woman battling beast and where the only new characteristic the aliens offered is their ability to swim underwater.

"Alien", though, renews just how original the idea really was. It’s a suspenseful cat-and-mouse monster movie that proves you don’t need to scare or shock someone with unlimited gore, like John Carpenter’s "The Thing" (1982) often did. Just the thought of trying to track down the menace inside a dark vent in the bowels of a ship, not knowing which direction to go as the beeping sound on the scanner is getting closer, is scary enough.

The most graphic the film ever got was the shot of the slimy oozing sets of teeth the creature exhibited before attacking. The only other unexpected gory sequence was the signature shot that had audiences talking, if not laughing, where Kane (John Hurt) goes into violent convulsions. His chest exploding, blood spewing all over Lambert’s (Veronica Cartwright) face as a little sharp-toothed life form peaks its newborn head from Kane’s guts making a mad dash for the nearest exit. The rest of the crew (Tom Skerritt, Weaver, Ian Holm, Harry Dean Stanton, Yaphet Kotto) all look on in shock.



Later science fiction films like "Event Horizon" (1997) and the 2002 remake of "Solaris" (1972) attempted to capture the picture’s visual look. "Alien" owes as much to "Star Wars" (1977) as it does to Stanley Kubrick’s "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968) when it comes to technological eye-candy. The opening shots of the Nostromo, an immense, awkward looking mining ship with looming towers equipped to house just seven crewmen doesn’t even look like a starship. It’s more of an eyesore; an ugly, non-futuristic floating city. You barely hear the hum of the ship’s engines as it moves gracefully through space; hence the notion that you can’t hear anything in space. Or to be more precise with the poster’s advertisement, “In space, no one can hear you scream.”

The scenes and atmosphere echo the way "Star Wars" opened with the sight of a Star Destroyer overtaking the entire screen as it pursued a small ship and the shots of Kubrick’s flying toys in 2001 moving through space at the tune of classical music. All is silent inside the Nostromo as the crew of seven lay in deep sleep. The only thing running is “Mother”, the ship’s on board computer that suddenly springs to life with new orders sent by a nameless corporation as the crew is awakened to investigate life on a nearby planet.

When it comes to suspense films like this, it’s hard to get excited when seeing them again because you already know what’s going to happen. Seeing Tom Skerritt’s Captain Dallas shedding his flame thrower on the deadly intruder who patiently sits waiting for him in the dark vent with open arms made me jump the first time, but the thrill doesn’t work the second or third time around.

The desire to see "Alien" again, however, is the opportunity to see how it looks on the big screen as opposed to watching it on your DVD player on a 32’ television screen or larger. It’s the only reason why people go see theatrical re-releases like "The Exorcist" (1972), "Scarface" (1983) and the Star Wars Trilogy (1977, 1980, 1983).

"Alien" reminded me of how great a decade the 1970s was when it came to film making. It was a decade full of promising young directors who gave us breakout hits; all of whom started out making low budget, perhaps mostly forgettable films. Before "The Godfather" (1972) and "The Godfather Part II" (1974) and Apocalypse Now (1979), there was "Dementia 13" (1963), a low budget horror movie helmed by Francis Ford Coppola. George Lucas’ first foray into science fiction was "THX-1138" (1971) before giving us "Star Wars" six years later. Steven Spielberg made a little cat-and-mouse, made-for-tv road movie called "Duel" (1971) before making the shark thriller, Jaws (1976). Richard Donner directed television shows before scoring with the anti-Christ hit, "The Omen" (1976) in which Gregory Peck is the adopted father of Satan, and in what is still the best superhero flick to date, "Superman: The Movie" (1978).

By comparison, the first film Ridley Scott did was the sword wielding drama, "The Duelists" (1977). "Alien" put him on the A-list of known directors. Today, his credits not only include science fiction but fantasy like the Tom Cruise flop, "Legend" (1985). He gave Russell Crowe his first Oscar in "Gladiator" (2000), and sent Susan Sarandon and Gina Davis on the run in the controversial feminist-themed buddy road trip, "Thelma & Louise" (1991). He made "Hannibal" (2001), the second follow-up to "Silence of the Lambs" (1991), a nauseating experience to sit through while the bloody, war themed "Black Hawk Down" (2001) was a no-holds-barred, play-by-play account of an American military operation gone horrifically wrong.

I’m sure it goes without saying that the strongest of the seven characters in "Alien" is Weaver’s Ripley. She’s a no-nonsense, strictly-by-the-book officer who isn't afraid to fight back when Lambert slaps her for not letting them on board without going through decontamination first, despite Kane being injured. Walk away from her when she’s trying to get a point across and Ripley will just hit door switch to keep Captain Dallas in the same room with her. She is the kind of person who is frightened by the situation she and her crew are in, but then immediately switches into take charge mode.

The other characters exhibit little traits that aren’t hard to tell them apart. Aside from Hurt’s Kane becoming the first victim, there is Skerritt’s Dallas who listens to classical music alone in a part of the ship. And while the fragile Lambert is always seen smoking a cigarette, Ash (Holm), the ship’s science officer exhibits all the emotion and interest in exploring new life like Star Trek’s Mr. Spock. When Ripley asks Ash about Kane’s condition, he says something I’d expect the pointy-eared Vulcan to say to the irritable Dr. McCoy in the original Star Trek series.

“I’m still collating it, actually, but I have confirmed that he’s got an outer layer of protein polysaccharides,” Ash says.

If McCoy heard such things, he’d throw a fit.

Then there are the ship’s engineers (Yaphet Kotto and Harry Dean Stanton) who complain about how they won’t do anymore work unless they get paid overtime.

The one thing all of Scott’s movies have in common is how the memorable characters exhibit traits and emotions we could identify with. That’s what made "Alien" work.

The way Ripley records her final message before going into deep sleep, reading off the names of her crew sounds almost tragic, if not haunting. It was those same words we heard her say on a recording at the end of "Alien 3", which was one of that film’s best scenes. Seeing her read off the names of her crew in person seems to take on a different meaning though near the end of "Alien." It’s as if, in some way, we really did care about them and the predicament they were all in.

©2/15/23

How I prefer to remember Elvis Presley

Midway through director Baz Luhrman’s lavish spectacle, "Elvis" (2022), chronicling the life of Elvis Presley as played convincingly by Golden Globe winner Austin Butler, is a scene I found to be one of the film’s best moments. The clip had me wishing there had been more of them over the course of the biopic’s 160-minute running time.

The scene happens in 1968 as Elvis is rehearsing the song, "If I Can Dream", in preparation for his television comeback tour. The shot which can be seen on YouTube compares Butler’s performance to the real-life Presley’s 1968 version. The one thing not lost watching those comparisons was how the singer poured his heart and soul into that performance – something he did throughout his lifetime even in his final years where he couldn’t remember the lines to some of his songs. Elvis Presley changed a lot physically while he was alive but the one thing that never evaded him was that commanding voice.

The song, "If I Can Dream", stuck with me long after seeing the film. Even as I write this blog that hit, along with "In the Ghetto" and "An American Trilogy" were among the ones I listened to from "Elvis: 30 #1 Hits", the 2002 two-disc set released on the 25th anniversary of his death along with "2nd to None" released the following year. I am no rock music aficionado, but I don’t think The Beatles, or the Rolling Stones had more than one or two greatest hits albums and if they did, it wouldn’t come close to the combined 61 hits Elvis recorded in his lifetime that were listed on those double 25th anniversary releases.

There is no disputing audiences were captivated by Luhrmann’s film though most of the critics said otherwise. In fact, "Elvis" the movie IS as critic proof as any unnecessary Transformers installment or those "despicable theme park" Marvel movies directors Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola spoke of. 

I went in hoping director Luhrmann’s vision would offer a chance to hear a number of the king’s greatest hits in their entirety from "Kentucky Rain" and "Return to Sender" to his rendition of Frank Sinatra’s "My Way" (which would have been the perfect ending to the film versus the one showing Butler’s bloated version singing "Unchained Melody" before a packed audience two weeks before his death). What I got instead were less than three-minute tidbits of the singer’s hits as if this was another version of Luhrmann’s "Moulin Rouge" (1999) where the lyrics of 80's hits were all cleverly tied together. In short, I wanted "Elvis" the movie to be a celebration of Elvis Presley's life since 2022 marked the 45th anniversary of the singer’s passing. 

While the film was a triumph in visual style it offered nothing new that I didn't know already about Presley. The moments the biopic did offer had me questioning whether they actually happened and wondering if this was just another case of creative licensing (the singer firing manager Colonel Tom Parker during a live performance and Priscilla urging Presley to enter rehab following their divorce reportedly never happened according to Elvis's biographer Alanna Nash).

I’ve always said biopics and those based on historical subjects should not be taken as the gospels. They should be stepping-stones to allow the viewer to look up books about the subject to get the real story. You want proof look no further than "Blonde" (2022) starring Oscar nominee Ana de Armas as Hollywood starlet Marilyn Monroe. The filmmakers along with the distributor and streaming service, Netflix, promoted the 165-minute NC-17 pic as fact when it is based on author Joyce Carol Oates’ best seller which is a complete work of fiction.

Maybe it’s just me (those who know me will likely say IT IS ONLY me) as the older I get the more jaded and cynical I’ve become when it comes to what Hollywood churns out. I no longer see any entertainment value in movies involving terrorism and biopics of singers whose untimely ends were all the result of their out-of-control lifestyles.

Anyone can make a movie about a beloved music icon who went too soon. It’s another if the filmmaker can leave the viewer without the depressing ominous feeling of how that icon’s life ended. I wanted "Elvis" to be like "Bohemian Rhapsody" (2018) which WAS a celebration of the life of Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of Queen, as played by Oscar winner Rami Malek. I am well aware (who isn’t?) that Mercury succumbed to AIDS in 1991 at 45. That biopic, however, went out with a bang. Instead of showing the singer’s remaining years dying from the dreaded disease, the film ended appropriately with his 1985 Live Aid performance with the band.



Compare that to how "Elvis" the movie ends, where two years before his death Presley’s ex-wife Priscilla (Olivia DeJonge) pleads with him to go to a rehab clinic in hopes he can recuperate from his addictions. Elvis tells her he is all “out of dreams.”

“I’m gonna be 40 soon. 40. And no one’s gonna remember me," he tells her. "I never did anything lasting. Never made that classic film I can be proud of.”



This is not how I want to remember the “King of Rock and Roll.”

Instead of being a celebration Luhrmann’s "Elvis" joins that “gone too soon” list of big screen biopics ("Wired" – 1989, "The Doors" – 1991, "Judy" – 2019, "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" – 2022 - along with the upcoming productions chronicling the life of singers Amy Winehouse and Michael Jackson – both of which are drawing negative criticism and rightfully so) designed to make adoring fans not only saddened but angry such cultural icons threw their God given talents away on the evils of addiction and life’s excesses.

I don’t need a depressing two-hour plus biopic to enjoy the music Elvis gave us along with Jim Morrison and Whitney Houston as well as the films audiences embraced featuring Judy Garland and John Belushi to appreciate them. The only question Luhrmann’s "Elvis" leaves are one I have yet to hear anyone who’s seen this movie more than once give me a justifiably good answer.

Where is the joy in watching a film about a rock and roll legend who lived fast, died young and left a good-looking corpse?

©2/8/23

My Personal Best Films: A Hard Day's Night (1964)

A Hard Day’s Night ««««
G, 87m. 1964

Cast & Credits: John Lennon (John), Paul McCartney (Paul), George Harrison (George), Ringo Starr (Ringo), Wilfrid Brambell (Grandfather), Norman Rossington (Norm), John Junkin (Shake). Screenplay by Alun Owen. Directed by Richard Lester.

1965 Academy Award
Nominations

Best Writing, Story 
and Screenplay
Written for the Screen

Best Music, Scoring of
Music, Adaptation or
Treatment

"A Hard Day’s Night" is both a clever mixture of British comedy and a documentary look at The Beatles in England before “The British Invasion” hit America, though The British Invasion had already hit America when the film came out in 1964.

The first twenty minutes was one of the funniest I had seen where the “Fab Four” put up with Paul’s opinionated, temperamental grandfather (Wilfrid Brambell). The lovable old codger, whom the young McCartney refers to as “a villain-a king-mixer”, hates group unity and goes to great lengths getting people who’ve always gotten along into arguments like the band’s two managers.

The picture, shot entirely in black and white, not only spawned a half-hour rock and roll sitcom two years later on NBC called "The Monkees" (1966-1968), but made it possible for future filmmakers to create imaginative music videos for other successful bands and recording artists.

I was amazed watching these four mop tops acting so naturally in front of the camera without making their performances look like they needed coaching.

There is John; the practical joker and smart aleck who often calls his manager (Norman Rossington) a swine. The minute he finds out the train station is swarming with girls, Lennon asks jokingly if he can perform surgery.

Paul is the polite one who answers all questions reporters ask him with either the comments, “I like to keep Britain tidy” or “Actually, we’re just good friends.”

George, on the other hand is the opinionated one; always speaking his mind in situations even when he is not solely involved in a project.

Finally, Ringo: the sensitive one who gets the most fan mail and hates it when other people touch his drums.

The story is like a day in the life of a classic rock band as The Beatles prepare for a television concert where the audience consists of no one but giddy schoolgirls (not a single male member of the audience can be spotted).

Prior to the performance, the band frequent nightclubs where their number one hits like "All My Lovin" and "I Wanna Be Your Man" are played and run around in open fields like kids.

Watching the group smile and sing over the loud cries and cheers of adoring fans in that packed, small auditorium, I can understand why The Beatles didn’t perform that many concerts in the United States. They wanted the audience to hear their voices over all the commotion.

This is where the real joy of "A Hard Day’s Night" comes in though; hearing the soundtrack that includes along with the film’s title song, "Can’t Buy Me Love", "If I Fell, Tell Me Why", "She Loves You", and "I’ll Cry Instead". They are songs that one friend of mine, Greg Hehn, called “feel good hits.” Songs you can dance to, he said, but they are lyrics with not much meaning.

Hehn said he thought the band’s later works he heard on "Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band" (1967), "Abbey Road" (1969) and "Let It Be" (1970) were some of their best and showed how much the group matured.

Those hit albums though came a few years later when the four were no longer the handsome, innocent looking, clean cut gentlemen from Liverpool you see in this film. As they got older and their hair grew longer, the outfits changed, and so did their attitudes.

The rest is history as the band’s personal and creative differences would eventually cause their break-up in 1970.

Seeing them run freely though out England’s yards and kidding around with each other in this movie, however, I got the notion back in the Fab Four’s early days that being a Beatle was as much a joy for them as it was for the fans who embraced their music.

©2/1/23