guitar parts and suggesting lyrics in a casual and
understated manner, as if just one of countless
favors exchanged over the years.
OUT OF THE PAST
Time is the film’s unspoken theme. The
Beatles were all 28 and under, but they seem
unrecognizable from the fresh, cheerful
“Mop Tops” of five earlier. The whole project
was a self-conscious effort to “get back,” and
free themselves from their own legend. They
chase an unreachable past, telling war stories,
jamming on oldies such as “Shake, Rattle and
Roll” and “Rip it Up.” They resurrect an early,
obscure Lennon-McCartney song, “One After
909,” and shout out an old Liverpool folk
number, “Maggie Mae.” (Not to be confused
with the Rod Stewart hit). But they are still
“The Beatles.” John’s wry closing words as they
finished their fabled rooftop concert: “I hope
we’ve passed the audition.”
INTO THE FUTURE
Part of the tension in watching “Get Back” is
knowing what will come next.
“Get Back” was filmed soon after John had met
the notorious music manager, Allen Klein, whose
other clients included the Rolling Stones. The
Beatles have been leaderless since Brian Epstein
died suddenly in 1967, and Lennon is smitten
with the profane (and unscrupulous) American,
heartened that he seems to know his music
better than Lennon himself does. By the spring of
1969, Klein will have signed up the Beatles, over
McCartney’s well-founded objections, and help
turn what might have been an amicable parting