marieinkpen Oh I love this film. It is very very silly indeed, with plays on words that no longer seem original, but somehow it just doesn't matter. I love Eric Idle. His take on Paul McCartney is gorgeous and he is also wonderful as Stanley J Krammerhead the third, and the presenter himself. Wonderful comedy performances like Gwen Taylor's mother of Leggy Mountbatten, and Jerome Greene's Blind Lemon Pye arguing with his wife - wonderful! I love the songs, which almost seem not like pastiches at all sometimes, and rather wonderful in their own right. Am I dead - or alive? Will my poor heart - survive? I just love it. Wonderful wonderful wonderful! (yes that word again). The perfect cheer-you-up film. And my, wasn't Mick Jagger beautiful once.

Dalbert Pringle To fully savor the wildly droll flavor of The Rutles it really helps to have some prior knowledge of The Beatles' career and an appreciation for Monty Python-esque Comedy. Yep. That's what's in order to get into the zany spirit of this one's story.This often-hilarious parody of The Beatles meticulously chronicles (in clever mockumentary style) the rags to riches story of the Prefab 4 (aka. The Rutles).Starting from their early, humble days of tight pants and mop-top hairdos in Liverpool, England to their "scream-o-mania" arrival in America on The Ed Sullivan Show, Nasty, Stig, Dirk & Barry are immediately crowned the undisputed conquerors of Rock'n'Roll and total world domination of Pop Music is the gleaming prize in their box of Cracker Jack.Uproariously written and co-directed by Eric Idle (of Monty Python's), The Rutles is a Musical/Comedy delight that's certain to put a big, happy smile on your face as it royally brings down The Beatles' legend with a resounding "THUD!".Showcasing 16 sound-a-like Beatles' songs that contain some of the funniest, and some of the most mocking and ridiculing lyrics that you're ever gonna hear, The Rutles also features amusing cameos by Mick Jagger, Paul Simon, Ron Wood, George Harrison, to name but a few celebrities.I think it's interesting to note that prior to The Rutles' official release back in 1978, it was first viewed individually by each one of The ex-Beatles for their hopeful approval. It seems that George, Ringo & John were all unanimously amused enough by the film's comic lampooning of their careers to give it an enthusiastic "thumbs up" OK.But, alas, on the other hand, Paul was not in the least bit amused. No, he was not.As the story goes - It was John Lennon who cautiously approached Eric Idle and Neil Innes (the musician/actor responsible for composing the sound-a-like Beatles' songs) and wisely warned them to omit certain tunes from the soundtrack (especially Get Up and Go, which was way too close to Get Back) or else face being sued by the humorless McCartney.And, sure enough, bristling with anger, McCartney did, in fact, make a number of threats to sue Idle over The Rutles' musical content. Eventually, though, he finally did back down when his then-wife, Linda (who thought the movie very funny), diplomatically intervened and convinced Paul to withdraw his charges and allow The Rutles to be released almost totally unscathed and unedited.(Phew! That was a close call!) All-in-all - THE RUTLES was 80 minutes of good, comic, musical fun-fun-fun.... (Goo-Goo-G'Joob!)

MartinHafer I think that your age will most likely strongly affect what you think of this film. If you grew up during the era of the Beatles, then I am pretty sure you'll appreciate what they've created in "The Rutles". However, I think younger generations will just look at it and wonder what they are missing. As for me, I don't quite fall in either group. The group broke up when I was 7 and I never really was caught up in the whole Beatlemania but I still could understand the many Beatle-like references in the film."The Rutles" is a mockumentary--one that debuted well before the more recent spate of such films. And as a fake documentary it's much more the style that tries to imitate the original--and it does a great job of creating the look and sound of the Beatles in the fictional group The Rutles. But if you are looking for laughs, this does not appear to be the main purpose--it's more imitation and a homage to the original instead of a laugh out loud film. This isn't a criticism--more just an observation of the overall effect.The main force behind this project were apparently Eric Idle (who plays three different roles) and Neil Innes. Idle was pretty much what you'd expect. I was very impressed by Innes, as I know he was the musical mind behind the film and his John Lennon-like character was spot-on. In addition to these two, the film was blessed to have the cooperation of various celebrities (though some of the cameos were pretty unimpressive--especially those by most of the Saturday Night Live alumni who just seemed a bit wasted). Of note are the many times you see Mick Jagger, a nice cameo by George Harrison as well as Ron Wood).As I said above, whether you'll like this probably has a lot to do with when you grew up, as younger crowds won't get the many Beatles references and much older audiences will probably want to turn it off and listen to some Sinatra music! For me, it was worth a look but didn't change my life. Very clever...but not full of a lot of big laughs.

Andy Howlett A very clever film, but watching it again all these years later it seems a bit strained. Many of the jokes are pretty poor and the Python influence is very noticeable, but it is saved by the music and Mick Jagger's extremely natural 'interview'. The music was written by Neil Innes of the Bonzos, and he has perfectly captured the Lennon/McCartney style, so much so that some of the songs sound more like the Beatles than the Beatles ever did! To get the most out of this film, it is necessary to have a knowledge of the real story of the Beatles - their rise from the Cavern and the Bier Kellars of Germany to international stardom, their conquest of America, the 'God' incident, the Apple fiasco etc, and then you can watch the film with a knowing grin while you enjoy the music. All in all great fun, but you'll have to wear your 1978 head while you watch it.