1. The Beatles: Eight Days A Week – The Touring Years Documentary
In this essay I will be exploring the fundamentals of what has been added to this Beatles documentary
to make it an effective factual piece which emulates the craze in the 1960’s.
The documentary centres around The Beatles touring various countries, with America holding huge
prominent importance upon society at the time. Beatles interviews from three of the members help
support the documentary as well, along with archival footage which has been preserved and digitally
remastered. Audio reels are presented to further illustrate a specific point in the documentary so that
it all fits in.
The documentary starts off with the unknown members of the band and progresses through the
cultural impact they had in 1960’s. The documentary offers a good illustration as to the origins of what
made the Beatles so popular, for example, their fashion. The Beatles were introduced to their manager
Brian Epstein who took a particular interest in their appearance, turning their battered scruffy leather
jacket look, into fashionable matching suits which helped them compliment them as a singular group.
It references the various places they played starting from the Cavern Club in Liverpool, to Germany,
to their big impact in America. With this documentary centring around the much younger years of the
band it is apparent that it fits more within the coming of age genre. It sticks to the facts; however,
nothing is dramatised for entertainment usage and remains observational throughout the piece.
The documentary also references other popular artists that were competition at the time, such as
George Harrison mentioning that it “must have been hard for Elvis at the time because he worked to
create an image for himself, but the Beatles were a group” and the “Beatles were established figures
contrasting with the everchanging David Bowie”. Another point to add is the reference not only to the
peers of the group but also the cultural impacts they lived through at the time, as it depicts the
Vietnam war, Ford Mustangs, as well as the JFK assassination on 22nd
November 1963 and how that
impacted the Beatles ticket sales at the beginning of their tour.
The newness and freshness of the era is explored. Previously teenagers had just followed the musical
influences of their parents however the sixties brought new bands geared purely towards the teenage
youth culture; something that was specifically for them, that they owned. The youth culture was
illustrated further through the quote that Paul McCartney claimed in an interview stating “culture?
You must be joking it’s not culture. It’s a good laugh.” The documentary exhibits the mischievousness
of the youth in that day and age. Showing two representatives of the upper-class higher chin producer
taking a chance on the band. The documentary shows that George Martin’s fashion blended in with
the Beatles original material. Compromised that it was a successful mix. McCartney stating, “We’d not
been taught its what we heard it’s what we liked.”
The documentary structures itself by going through the Beatle’s journey year by year, in a similar way
to a diary entry. Popping off pictures of the albums with the years highlighted underneath gives off a
quick insight without going too much into depth as to what the albums are about. The music from the
concert archival clips had been digitally restored to be heard in a way that capsulates the energy that
they were giving off at the time to give a better understanding of what the fan craze was like. Using
soundboards which the production company found, Ron Howard stated in an interview, “We got them
digitized and restored them to flesh out some of the concert moments, to add a lot more detail and
bring the viewer in from arms-length, get them up close, intimate.” Whilst all footage had been digitally
restored by Ron and his crew, the majority of the archival footage which had been found was by Giles
Martin the producer of the documentary, who was also the son of George Martin (producer of
Beatles). (Ron Howard, 2016)
2. The documentary is aimed towards a younger demographic as evidenced in how much of an in depth
illustration of the characteristics of the Beatles there is, even down to which member played which
instrument. This can be further shown in that the documentary was released through the streaming
service Hulu, only a couple of days after its theatrical release, evidencing the fact that streaming
services cater more towards the younger demographic. However, there are multiple 1960’s interviews
where swearing has been included in the archival interviews and has not been bleeped out. This shows
that the demographic is slightly older with the documentary not being given a rating of any sorts, it
can rather accurately be pointed towards the late teen demographic.
The documentary contains a lot of information that would be fairly basic knowledge for the average
Beatles fan which is why it’s targeted more towards someone my age who didn’t live through that
decade. In terms of a social demographic, I would point this to being lower middle class. The Beatles
didn’t grow up with a lot of money. They would have known the experience of the mid-50’s tail end
of rationing from the Second World war shortly before, and the poverty of growing up in 1960’s
Liverpool. Lennon himself was born during an air raid. The economy of Liverpool was severely affected
in this decade due to the decline of dock activity and manufacturing.
The social background is shown ever present throughout the documentary. With old footage of Anfield
football crowd chanting “he loves you yeah. Yeah! Yeah!”, with them all being born and growing up in
Liverpool. However, people from other towns weren’t so kind. McCartney stating “All we got in the
early days was prejudice. Where are you from? Liverpool? You will never do anything from there. Too
far away from London”. (McCartney, 2016: 3) Prejudice was rather a heavy issue in the Beatles life but
isn’t highlighted too much. When they toured around different countries, they were still stereotyped
of having what was called ‘the Liverpool sound’ which George described as "More like the old Rock,
it's just everything's a bit louder. More bass and bass drum, and everybody sort of sings loud and
shouts.”
This documentary would be pushed into expository documentary when considering the modes that
are factors in it. It is told within the perspective outside the culture of 1960’s. The documentary is told
from the perspective of the people that had lived during that time and with the target demographic
to consider. You have the older demographic teaching the younger demographic. The lack of narration
makes the viewer feel more intimate towards what is happening in the documentary. They aren’t
being told; they are being shown. Something which needs to be considered though is how much
creative control they had with two of the members in production. McCartney still holding more
respect due to him still touring gigs across the globe today. However, the personal issues between the
band are something McCartney was more concerned about, with McCartney stating “a lot that
happened later that kind of got in the way of John’s and my friendship. But when we’re talking about
this period of time, this was a period of friendship, and I really hope the movie reflects that.”
(McCartney, 2016). In deep analysis this explains it’s self-contained structure and lack of detail into
their later lives and Howard’s respect towards McCartney.
The documentary centres and features the heavy message of how enthusiastic the crowd were. It
displays this from interviews with certain fan members and archival footage of women trying to tear
the members away whilst screaming, grasping at the band members with almost an animal mentality,
police and ambulances sealing off fans to stop them. Even footage of them passing out and being
carried out is painted as if it’s similar to a war scene. A social impact which the Beatles knew they had
is evidenced in the opening scene of ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ where they are chased by a bunch of
characters playing fans; footage which is shown in the film. (Richard Lester, 1964) each archival shot
of a screaming fan could be perceived as terrifying but due all four members craving for fame and
youthful excitement when asked "Are you a little embarrassed by the lunacy you cause?" all four
3. members stated they “loved it.” (The Beatles, 1964) The documentary however does not go so much
into the touring and the performances but more into deconstructing the profile that they were setting
up. The producer. The fashion. These are the key focus points. The band building themselves up to fit
in the 1960’s.
One thing I feel the documentary doesn’t do a good job at, is showing the impact the band left to the
21st
century as a whole, by just containing itself to that decade. At a time when racial segregation was
rife, there are various interviews from the likes of Richard Curtis and Whoopie Goldberg calling the
Beatles “colourless” in a time of the 60’s when they were top of their fame. Evidence to back this up
is shown even further at the beginning of the documentary as they refused to play at a segregated
concert. Ringo Star claim that they played for the people. “We didn’t play for those people or those
people. We played for everyone”.
Looking more towards the biased views that can be seen in the documentary, it’s really lacking. The
documentary is almost told from each perspective of how each member viewed their time as a
performer for the band and all the points are empathised with other celebrity figures, with those
people that they have picked showing a true understanding of what the members of the band were
like. Showing interviews and press conferences where they are running around laughing and
showcasing their age, this type of attitude could be mistaken for immature, but Eddie Izzard backs the
point further away by stating in an interview “It was not aggressive. It was not nasty. It was just
brazen.”
The documentary balances the strengths and weakness of what it was like at the time. George
Harrison stating in the documentary “We hadn’t grown up. We were grown like beetroot.” This shows
that like most celebrities they didn’t have the chance to grow as individuals, or a group of friends,
naturally; they were more grown and moulded into the industry as opposed to growing up for
themselves, much like we saw during the Stock Aitkin Waterman era of the 1980’s, Take That in the
90’s and nowadays with the manufactured bands from programmes such as Pop Idol and X Factor.
One piece of trivia which can be taken from this is in the shot where Ringo Starr isn’t playing and is
substituted by Jimmy Niccol whilst Ringo was hospitalised with tonsillitis. Even if without an interview,
the documentary doesn’t acknowledge or explain why this is, leading much to the viewer’s confusion.
With Nichols still being around perhaps an interview on the insight that he had taking over Ringo’s
position, as all that has been gathered from him is his description that it was just describing it as a
“good experience.” (Nichols, 1964)
Also, whilst the documentary isn’t written as tragedy it could hold more empathise on it and explore
the meaning behind the songs that were being performed. The pressures of Beatlemania and their
meteoric rise to fame must have impacted on their mental health, something which we are very open
about nowadays yet would have been seen as a weakness in the 1960’s. For instance, taking a look at
the song ‘Help!’ it is a song that “Lennon would often refer to as one of his favourites. Because it was
real.” With him claiming “I needed the help. The song was about me.” From this quote alone we have
found a definition of a song and how personal it was to Lennon. An example of two things which could
have been further expanded in the documentary.
The question which has to be asked is why? Why did Ron Howard make this documentary and for
what purpose? Exhibiting sheer interest in the band through interviews for press material of the
documentary stating that he was “interested in that bubble they were in”. (Howard, 2016) At age 10
Ron saw the Beatles perform at the Ed Sullivan show. Though not stated in the documentary that
particular performance is included in the material, showing how specific and personal the clips are
4. that he has chosen to present. Newly found unseen Super 8 footage. Using modern day technology,
they were able to remaster and digitalise a ton of the footage.
Another point to add is the particular timeframe in which the documentary is based around. Set
around how they started and how the Beatlemania took off in the 1960’s. There isn’t any information
about what they did after they split up in 1970 and this encourages you not only to research more
about them, but its self-contained structure of not leaking anything makes it feel more intimate to the
decade it’s in and show’s how personal the view is to the director, closing the documentary when he
lost interest because of growing up.
From Ron Howard’s perspective this could be considered an experimental documentary, as the
director hasn’t done many documentaries and the one’s that he has done hasn’t been about the
specifics of music. The only one similar is his documentary focusing on Luciano Pavarotti centering
around his works in opera. (Ron Howard, 2019.) However, the genre of music is very creatively different.
More energy is used to show the enthusiasm of the fans at the time. The room is silent when Pavarotti is
playing but when the Beatles are playing it adds to the songs if the fans are screaming. It is clear that’s
Howard’s central point is focusing on the story from it’s insightful look focusing more on what the Beatles
did on their off time. As we learn more from them off stage, Howard states that people “Might love the
Beatles and the music but they don’t really know how extraordinary that adventure is that they went on.”
(Ron Howard, 2016)
Overall, Howard has created a factual piece which illustrates the popularity of Beatlemania through
the 60’s, without drawing on any of his own personal experiences. The story is told strictly from the
four members and the “bubble” they lived in. With this exploring four different people at the height
of their fame throughout a ten-year period, the documentary has an intimate view on how they
perceived their fans; quitting their groups touring days in 1967 due to how dangerous the fans were
becoming; only being allowed to perform at stadiums they decided to stick to performing studios. Paul
McCartney’s interviews are the only thing that paints the emotions properly using words describe
them like “prisoners” showcasing the real emotion behind the closed curtains of the group.
References
1. Dan Stubbs. (14th
September 2016) Director RonHoward onThe Beatles, His Film‘EightDays A
Week’, AndThat Time JohnLennonMet the Fonz– Link: https://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-
blogs/director-ron-howard-on-the-beatles-his-film-eight-days-a-week-and-that-time-john-lennon-
met-the-fonz-765091
2. George Harrison. (24th
January 1964) Beatles Interview: Armed Forces Network, Paris –
Link: http://www.beatlesinterviews.org/db1964.0124.beatles.html
3. Paul McCartney. (9th
September 2016) express article – Link:
https://www.express.co.uk/celebrity-news/709165/Sir-Paul-McCartney-The-Beatles-
interview-music-fame
4. Paul McCartney. (15th
September 2016) Eight Days A Week: Oscar winner Ron Howard on
his revelational new documentary about The Beatles’ brief-but-intense touring years – Link:
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/eight-days-a-week-a-
revelational-new-documentary-about-the-beatles-briefbutintense-touring-years-ron-
howard-film-john-lennon-paul-mccartney-a7307381.html
5. 5. Richard Lester. (6th
July 1964) A hard day’s night – Link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Hard_Day%27s_Night_(film)
6. Ron Howard. (7th
June 2019) Pavarotti – Link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pavarotti_(film)
7. Ron Howard. (18th September 2016) Ron Howard on The Beatles' "Rocketship ride" –
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvVf3MtdQ9E
8. Ron Howard. (20th
September 2016) The beatles on tour – Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMdkYUIq9Gw
9. John Patterson. (13th
September 2016) Eight Days A Week: how Ron Howard brought the
Beatles back to life - Link: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/sep/13/beatles-eight-
days-week-ron-howard
10. Jimmy Nichols. (1964) Beatles and Jimmy Nichol (Interview) – Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWiJqBIse3c
11. Steve Turner. (1994) A hard day’s write – the stories behind every Beatles song – Link:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35666.A_Hard_Day_s_Write
12. The Beatles. (2nd July 1964) Beatles Press Conference: American Arrival – Link:
http://www.beatlesinterviews.org/db1964.0207.beatles.html
