Review: “Beatles ’64” Documentary Now Streaming: That Footage!

(L-R) George Harrison, Ringo Starr, John Lennon and Paul McCartney arriving at JFK airport in Beatles ’64. (Photo Courtesy of Apple Corps, Ltd. All Rights Reserved)

The all-new Martin Scorsese-produced documentary, Beatles ’64, is now available exclusively on Disney+. The film, which premiered on the streaming service on November 29, 2024, is centered around phenomenal footage from pioneering documentarians Albert and David Maysles, who traveled with the Fab Four during their nascent, jam-packed visit to America. It’s been beautifully restored in 4K by Park Road Post in New Zealand.

The film, announced on Oct. 14 and directed by David Tedeschi, “captures the electrifying moment of The Beatles’ first visit to America. Featuring never-before-seen footage of the band and the legions of young fans who helped fuel their ascendance, the film gives a rare glimpse into when the Beatles became the most influential and beloved band of all time.”

Thanks to the Maysles’ remarkable footage as Beatlemania unfolded, as well as many interviews conducted expressly for the film, Beatles ’64 successfully rekindles the feeling from that extraordinary era of 60 years earlier. And, yeah, yeah, yeah, there’s plenty of music.

“When we came, it was shortly after [President] Kennedy [was] assassinated,” says Paul McCartney, interviewed for the film in April 2024 on the eve of the Brooklyn Museum opening of his 1963-1964 traveling exhibition of his photography, Eyes of the Storm. “Maybe America needed something like the Beatles to be lifted out of sorrow.”

During the extended time that the Beatles were encamped at New York’s grand Plaza Hotel, it’s clear that the Maysles—and their cameras—were quickly accepted as the four blossoming stars let their guards down while relaxing in their suite. We see the four watching coverage of their legendary JFK Airport press conference on TV’s The Huntley-Brinkley Report and reading about themselves in the New York newspapers. Two of them are just 21 years-old; the older pair are 23. The camaraderie is genuine, as is the constant cigarette smoking.

There’s also plenty of footage of teenage girls serenading the Fab Four outside the Plaza and attempting to catch a peek of them as they depart and arrive from the hotel for various commitments. Some of the more resourceful girls managed to sneak in to the hotel to get oh so close. The filmmakers tracked down Vickie Brenna-Costa, who was among the throng. “We couldn’t contain ourselves. We bought everything. Anything you could find,” she says of the licensed merchandise of the day.

Famed New York disc jockey Murray the K comes off as an interloper who somehow was able to “crash the party,” doing live remotes from their hotel suite for his station, WINS. (In an interview with George Harrison filmed years later, the “Quiet Beatle” essentially exposes the DJ as an opportunist.)

The producers wisely include new interviews with such Black stars of the era as Smokey Robinson and Ronald Isley, as well as a 2014 piece with the late Ronnie Spector, who shares how she visited the Plaza with the Ronettes. “They wanted to know everything about America,” she says, “the food, the groups, the dancing. I got a limousine and we went down the backstairs and I said, ‘I’m taking you to Harlem.’ They loved that because nobody paid them any attention.”

The Maysles and crew joined them on their junket to Washington, D.C., and then Miami.

Watch John Lennon and Harrison in a rare moment of calm during the Beatles’ first visit to America

That visit to the nation’s capital includes footage of the band’s 12-song concert at the Washington Coliseum, including an absolute blow-out performance of Little Richard’s “Long Tall Sally.”

The Beatles had famously covered Robinson’s “You Really Got a Hold on Me.” “They were the first White group… of their magnitude… that I had ever heard say, ‘Yeah, we grew up listening to Black music,'” he says.

Veteran producer Jack Douglas shares a great story of his own visit to Liverpool shortly before Beatlemania reached America. The tale took an unexpected turn nearly two decades later.

From the Disney+ press release, “On February 7, 1964, the Beatles arrived in New York City to unprecedented excitement and hysteria. From the instant they landed at Kennedy Airport, met by thousands of fans, Beatlemania swept New York and the entire country. Their thrilling debut performance on The Ed Sullivan Show captivated more than 73 million viewers, the most watched television event of its time. Beatles ’64 presents the spectacle, but also tells a more intimate behind the scenes story, capturing the camaraderie of John, Paul, George, and Ringo as they experienced unimaginable fame.”

The Beatles’ press conference at New York’s JFK Airport, Feb. 7, 1964. (Photo © Apple Corps Ltd.; used with permission)

The live performances from the Beatles’ first American concert at the Washington Coliseum and their Ed Sullivan appearances were demixed by WingNut Films and remixed by Giles Martin. Spotlighting this singular cultural moment and its continued resonance today, the music and footage are augmented by newly filmed interviews with McCartney and Ringo Starr, as well as fans whose lives were transformed by the Beatles.

“It was so great,” says Ringo to Scorsese. “We were just like, ‘We’re in America! America! New York!'”

Watch the official trailer

Beatles ’64 is directed by Tedeschi and produced by Scorsese, Margaret Bodde, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Olivia Harrison, Sean Ono Lennon, Jonathan Clyde, Mikaela Beardsley, with Jeff Jones and Rick Yorn serving as executive producers.

Related: 1963: When the Beatles 1st landed in America. Yes, 1963!

Coinciding with the film’s Disney+ release, seven American Beatles albums have been analog cut for 180-gram audiophile vinyl from their original mono master tapes for global release on November 22 by Apple Corps Ltd./Capitol/UMe. Originally compiled for U.S. release between January 1964 and March 1965 by Capitol Records and United Artists, these mono albums have been out of print on vinyl since 1995. The Beatles: 1964 U.S. Albums in Mono is available now in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.

Watch the official trailer for The Beatles: 1964 U.S. Albums in Mono

Meet The Beatles!; The Beatles’ Second Album; A Hard Day’s Night (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack); Something New; Beatles ’65; and The Early Beatles are available individually here.

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Greg Brodsky

Best Classic Bands Founder/CEO Greg Brodsky earned his first professional bylines as a reporter for the music trade weekly Record World. He still has all his vinyl albums and enjoys going to flea markets and garage sales to grow his collection.

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