I don't care what anyone says -- in my mind, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is one of the greatest movies of all time! It's like a live-action comic book. Punctuated with (mostly) great covers of some of the Beatles' greatest songs, the movie features breathtaking visuals (at their correct widescreen aspect ratio), an awesomely elaborate production design and tons of 70s music superstars. And where else are you gonna see George Burns and two little girls singing a song about shooting up? And Alice Cooper growling the Beatles' most serene song? And the Bee Gees gleefully bidding farewell to their film careers? And Steven Tyler being killed by Peter Frampton?(!) And Tina Turner singing alongside a clueless Carol Channing, who has absolutely no idea what the words are? See. You can't name another movie with all this excitement! That'd probably explain why the movie was a ginormous hit in Poland!
Seriously, it's a terrible movie, but that's kind of the point -- it oozes with charm as the glossy, big-budget, all-star campfest that it is. In theory, Sgt. Pepper sounded like a good idea as a movie, but ultimately the film was blamed for ruining the careers of nearly everyone involved (both temporarily and permanently), from the singers and actors to powerhouse music/movie producer Robert Stigwood. And the film even holds the distinction of having a tie-in comic book adaptation that was never released, thus screwing up the numbering of all subsequent issues of Marvel Super Special.
Anyhow, here's "The Official Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Scrapbook" by producers Robert Stigwood and Dee Anthony. It's a fluffy, photo-filled remembrance book that rather conveniently omits any and all information about production problems (the original director was fired, the Bee Gees begged to be let out of their contracts, the film's dialogue was scrapped because the actors couldn't fake American accents, Alice Cooper had to take a brief leave of absence from a mental institution to film his scene, etc.). Still, the book does offer some inisght to the production, and movie fans can see the Sgt Pepper crew erecting new portions of the iconic town square which went on to be used in now classic films like Gremlins, Back to the Future and Escape From L.A.
Seriously, it's a terrible movie, but that's kind of the point -- it oozes with charm as the glossy, big-budget, all-star campfest that it is. In theory, Sgt. Pepper sounded like a good idea as a movie, but ultimately the film was blamed for ruining the careers of nearly everyone involved (both temporarily and permanently), from the singers and actors to powerhouse music/movie producer Robert Stigwood. And the film even holds the distinction of having a tie-in comic book adaptation that was never released, thus screwing up the numbering of all subsequent issues of Marvel Super Special.
Anyhow, here's "The Official Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Scrapbook" by producers Robert Stigwood and Dee Anthony. It's a fluffy, photo-filled remembrance book that rather conveniently omits any and all information about production problems (the original director was fired, the Bee Gees begged to be let out of their contracts, the film's dialogue was scrapped because the actors couldn't fake American accents, Alice Cooper had to take a brief leave of absence from a mental institution to film his scene, etc.). Still, the book does offer some inisght to the production, and movie fans can see the Sgt Pepper crew erecting new portions of the iconic town square which went on to be used in now classic films like Gremlins, Back to the Future and Escape From L.A.
The Official Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Scrapbook
DOWNLOAD LINKS:
PDF, JPG, Gallery
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PDF, JPG, Gallery
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For more information about the film, make sure to check out the Sgt. Pepper the Movie fan site! Unfortunately, the site's not been updated in a million years, but there's still tons of photos and information.
MENTAL HEALTH ADVISORY! If after viewing the film, you get the sudden urge to: engage in kinky bondage games with George Burns, use hot air balloons as your preferred mode of transportation, slip Rohypnol in Peter Frampton's drink, whack the elderly on the head with a silver hammer, or suddenly break into a choreographed song and dance routine in public, seek the advice of an evil rock band immediately! Side effects may include hallucinations that mannequins, weathervanes and/or people on billboards have come to life and/or spontaneously breaking into choreographed song and dance routines in public. Offer null and void in Pepperland and surrounding seas. Heartland residents add 102% sales tax, payable to Mr. Mustard.
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5 comments:
Still have the vinyl myself..and that huuuge poster. We used to play wooden tennis rackets along with this movie.
Vinnie,
Wanna say for a looong time great blog, one the best if not THE best!
Re: BeeGees/Frampton 'Sgt. Pepper's LHCB'- yeah, went to see this theatrically on opening week at the Rivoli on 51st & Broadway in NYC 'back in the day' and the place was empty- only like 10 or 12 patrons like years later with 'Blade Runner', 'TRON', 'D U N E', and 'Howard The Duck', among others which have been re-evalutated by 21st Century audiences as 'cult classics'.
The thing that got to me in viewing this recently is how eerily prescient it was in predicting the 1980s: 'Heartland U.S.A.' (Pepperland stand-in) was all cheery and comfy before 'Mean Mr, Mustard' and his minions 'Father Sun' and 'Dr. Maxwell Edison' arrive and through various nefarious means turn it nto a garish honky-tonk shithouse with whores, billboards, and over commercialization to the Nth degree- not unlike the 'new morning in America' in 1981 of which we're still suffering symptoms of, twitching and moaning all the way.
Then there's the business of 'Strawberry Fields' who sacrifices her life to 'a day in the life'- the 'Heartland Herald' newspaper literally says, 'Strawberry Fields Sacrifices Life To Save Pepperland' -and of course the rest is his story on December 8, 1980.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkQXOskDlKw
Was writer Henry Edwards, a friend of both Chuck McCann's and early talk radio personality Alex Bennett (the guy who Howard Stern ripped his whole act off of) a psychic- or what?!
Used to listen to Bennett's gig late night on WABC-/WPLJ-FM in the early '70s and he had Edwards on several times in the studio (as well as McCann), interesting guy.
Even more interesting was that Bennett when he was on WMCA-AM knew and hung out with John Lennon when John & Yoko were with Abbie Hoffmann & Co.
So after all these years the wanna-Beatles' 'Sgt. Pepper's' turns out to be more than just a guilty pleasure- sure had us fooled, eh?
Its a great movie but not for the shambolic reasons stated.
What this movie IS is one in the tradition of the great musicals of the past (Astaire,Kelly,O'Connor etc-the so called "silly musicals")
Not even the oddball cast of singers could spoil it-and for me that means Earth Wind & Fire,Aerosmith)
True R Stigwood put this one out as a tax hedge-so what.
Along with Give My Regards To Broad Street this is a forever musical.
And how can you beat the walk through at the end-which includes 2 Beatles in a "blink & you miss them" moment.This scene alone cost well over 1000 dollars as each star was paid 100 dollare just to walk past
Its also the film which can now be seen as a memorial to Billy Preston
Yeah, yeah, yeah!
Ummm... how does one scrap the dialogue for a motion picture? And is that Ronald McDonald under Goerge Burns's right arm?
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