When [I'm/]It's '64

Beatlemania may no longer be the dominant cultural phenomenon that it was decades ago... but it's a machine that still functions if you connect power to it. There was Ron Howard's documentary about the Beatles' touring years, Eight Days a Week. There was the monumental efforts of Peter Jackson and his technical wizards to restore the documentary footage behind Let It Be, resulting in Get Back. And now producer Martin Scorsese has thrown his clout behind documentary director David Tedeschi to create Beatles '64.

Like Get Back, Beatles '64 chronicles a very short window in time for the Fab Four -- specifically, their visit to the United States in February of the titular year. But this is a monumental few weeks for the band, including their famous appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show and a wild concert at the Washington Coliseum (essentially played in a boxing ring).

The documentary features extensive footage shot at the time, from interviews with screaming fans to the big performances. A lot of time is spent hanging around hotel rooms; the band has become too big to just go out in public, and so their pent-up energy has no outlet but to call in to radio stations and mug for the documentary crew. It's a reminder that regardless of their celebrity, then soaring to unprecedented heights, they're ultimately four guys in their early 20s.

The classic footage is juxtaposed with modern day interviews. Many are with fans, looking back on Beatlemania with a 60 year remove and trying to find the words to explain it to today's audience. Many fail, yet as you watch them grapple with that, their emotions are on clear display. The feelings are still raw for them.

Some of the interviews are with other performing artists at the time -- and I find these to be a bit of a mixed bag. As the film acknowledges, the Beatles of 1964 were just as well known for their covers of other songs as for their original material. They were among the artists familiar with the black heritage of rock music, and were part of the movement to bring it to white America because they genuinely loved it. It's great that this documentary goes back to to the source, interviewing Ronald Isley, Smokey Robinson, and others, to make sure we all know where some of the Beatles' songs really come from. Yet at the same time, what are these artists going to say other than "I was honored the Beatles played my song," whether that's true or not?

The film also imposes a narrative about February 1964 that I'm not sure fits. It suggests that the intensity of the American response to the Beatles was driven in part by the assassination of John F. Kennedy less than three months earlier. The nation had endured a massive psychological trauma, and going mad for the Beatles was the joyous release. Maybe you had to be there, but I'm not entirely convinced. At least, I find it hard to point to any analogous fads in the wake of tragic events in my lifetime (like the Challenger explosion or 9/11). Or maybe the answer to that is, "well, but no one was the Beatles in 1986 or 2001."

Still, while this documentary wasn't exactly persuasive to me, I'm not sure that was first on its agenda. It is a well-made time capsule of a huge moment in pop culture history -- and that alone makes it an intriguing watch in my eyes. I give Beatles '64 a B-. Fans of the band will certainly want to check it out.