The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash (1978)

Enormously funny and biting mockumentary that owes most of its success to the accuracy of its barbs. The Beatles phenomenon is exhaustively and comprehensively mocked by people who did their homework, and then some. The result is both recognizable and deeply, comically untrue, as in a funhouse mirror. The movie is further enriched by a series of godawful songs which, surely, must rank amidst the best pastiches ever written, both with regard to music and with regard to lyrics. The four Bea.. sorry, the four Rutles themselves give a priceless performance, by playing their parts absolutely straight. Still, the movie is not without its part of injustice, just as it is not without its part of ingratitude. From a musical point of view, the movie pretty much accuses the Fab Four a) of writing bland crap and b) of surfing along on an undeserved wave of public adulation. One may like or dislike the Beatles, individually or collectively, but there is no doubt that these were fine musicians with a genuine love for their craft. Consider the genesis, for instance, of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" : here you've got four young people meticulously, nay obsessively trying for a better, a newer sound. People who spend hours, days, weeks listening to recondite Indian instruments or random fairground noises are not clueless amateurs : such people are devoted perfectionists. Nobody ever left a severed horse's head in the bed of Eric Idle. This fact alone testifies to the high moral character of the Beatles and of their nearest and dearest.

This is not for the younger crowd (unless you are a big Beatle Fan) a very,VERY funny but affectionate spoof of Beatlemania insanity, it's not an actual spoof of the Beatles in fact it pays homage to their enormous talent, just the sleazy side of the music biz.The video and a lot of the jokes are a bit dated but although the costumes and re-creations of the original merchandise are really good the best thing about this parody is the AMAZING music, Neil Innes sounds just like John Lennon and their original songs sound exactly like the Beatles. The lyrics are hysterically funny and I think Lennon gets the worst of the ribbing especially on songs like "Cheese & Onions". George Harrison fully backed the project & makes a few small appearances and put up a lot of his own money to back the project.I used to play Rutles tracks at parties and night clubs and people thought they were bootleg or unreleased songs, I mean they really liked them.

Absolutely hilarious spoof of The Beatles. Eric Idle's finest 70 minutes and a spin off of his mid 70's TV show "Rutland Weekend Television" (Please BBC repeat this series). The songs are so clever - "I Must Be In Love' could've been an actual Beatles single it's that good. Neil Innes wrote the soundtrack which was deemed so good it was released as an album and 2 singles were released in the UK. The film follows so closely the actual events of the Beatles and George Harrison was so impressed with the script that he agreed to appear in the film. "Piggy in the Middle" (with absolutely spot on John Lennon-esq lyrics) perfectly recreates "Magical Mystery Tour" or in this case "Tragical History Tour" and the Yellow Submarine cartoon section looks so damn good that it will have you looking out for it next time you watch that film. "Love Life" is a perfect recreation of the television event of 1967 and by this point Neil Innes looks and sounds exactly like John Lennon. Everything is covered here, Lennons infamous "Bigger than Jesus" quote and it even mocks Apple (a pealed banana.) My favourite bit is Eric Idle tracing the musical roots of the Rutles, talking to 'Blind Lemon Pie' and finding out he should be talking to the bloke next door is one of the funniest few minutes of film I've seen - especially when he goes round there... "He's lying, he's always lying. Last week he said he invented the Everly Brothers." It's pant-wettingly funny. Regarded as a cult item now this is right up there with Spinal Tap but this is so much funnier, if you love the Beatles (who doesn't?) then you need to see this, one of the cleverest and most affectionate spoofs ever made. Buy the album too - for a parody the songs are superb.

I really liked this movie as a teen. In the eighties I was a Beatles freak. I watched this, knowing all about their albums and films. I was very amused. So the years passed and I wanted to see it again. Upon seeing it the second time, I was shocked. I couldn't believe that this was the same movie I once adored. It's boring. There's too much attention on the interviewer played by Eric Idle, who also plays the Paul character. Every segment has a lame joke that falls flat. The songs aren't bad, but get annoying, especially when we have to hear the entire song play out. The guy who played the John character was good. He captured the snide, cynical Lennon quite well. But the others were badly cast. I didn't like this movie. "This is Spinal Tap", which came out a few years later, would do all things this movie failed to do, including making the audience think the band really, truly existed. Watching this spoof, you know just that: it's not real. It seems fake. And gets boring, quick.