![]() ![]() One woman had shot the concert at Candlestick Park-the band’s last stadium performance, in November, 1966-on Super 8 and kept it stashed away ever since. Word went out, partly on social media, that the filmmakers were hunting for fresh evidence of the Beatles on tour: private snaps and home footage, as well as professional fare. So, what does Howard possess that earlier chroniclers don’t? Has he got juju eyeballs, monkey finger, or what? The finale of “Eight Days a Week,” with the Beatles riffing on a rooftop, in 1969, and a wakelike blend of raw elegy and what-the-hell cheeriness filling the January air, echoes the ending of “Let It Be,” a documentary from 1970. Beatles fans, from the maniacal to the merely devout, will be tempted to complain that they know this stuff already-everything from the Cavern Club and the hurly-burly of the Hamburg trips to the pullulating mob in Shea Stadium, in 1965, and so forth. The tale told by “Eight Days a Week” is a familiar one: how the bugs flew, and what sort of buzz they made around the world. The avuncular host-who had once asked Walter Cronkite what he made of “those bugs, or whatever they called themselves”-promised that his audience would “twice be entertained by them.” The first thing they did was not to entertain, however, but to command: “Close your eyes, and I’ll kiss you.” Snow White never had it so good. That heavenly haste is yet more acute in “All My Loving,” which is what the Beatles kicked off with on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” in February, 1964. One reason that they need no introduction, as Howard realizes, is their habit of dispensing with introductions to their songs “She Loves You” gets a short clobber of drums, as if Ringo were tumbling downstairs in clogs, before the rest of the gang proclaims the opening chorus. To be exact, in the ABC in Manchester, England, on November 20, 1963, and the Beatles onstage, smacking into “She Loves You” without ado. Maybe they should just stand there, numbly hold out a credit card, and say, “Help!” What moviegoers should ask for, as they line up to buy tickets, is unclear. It was no less than their songs demanded. ![]() Such blurred indecision is unfortunate, given that the Beatles were masters of, among other things, the crisp and crunchy title. What is the name of the new Ron Howard film? The poster reads “The Beatles: Eight Days a Week-The Touring Years,” but that looks to me like three separate titles jostling for attention. ![]()
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