
Under a rock, perhaps? There’s a thing called Midas Man. It has been a long time coming. I suppose that this came with a good load of delay because of things we all witnessed and prefer to not talk about. Several people have been dubbed the Fifth Beatle and amongst all the contestants, their manager Brian Epstein has been one of them. I can say that I met a musician who met Brian Epstein and described him as a gentleman, which is consistent with all the information that I have ever read about him. There have been several managers of rock bands whom you won’t love and for good reasons, many have mishandled musicians, but it is not the case with Brian Epstein and may be what you think, he deserves the film. Me, as a bisexual person born in a Jewish family, I found Brian Epstein quite amused and somewhat interesting, not that I am gay.
Like so many Jews he was cornered by immigrants into an entrepreneurial family. It makes for a great change of sentences the present day has him in front of the Cavern Club, reminiscing how he once saw the Beatles perform there. The fact is that is not how the story begins, that is simply how his life and the life of the Fab Four transition.
No, his family had a grocery store and until he became a manager of a rock band that is what he did, and like many (grand)children of immigrants, he was to inherit the family business. He is a great salesperson, has a good musical ear, and has helpful ideas such as introducing the sale of pop and rock records which is a great attribute for a rock band manager. For example, one of his exciting innovations was assuring that if NEMS did not have the record, he could get it from somewhere else and that it would reach the shop in not more than five days. This was the era before Amazon Prime which is what this film is streaming on. Now that’s customer service!
But he was not content with just being in charge of one of the biggest record retailers in North West England. There is a whole world out there beyond Liverpool. Oh, and there was some band that had just returned from Hamburg. In November 1961, rumors spread that Ian Stuart went to see this band at the Cavern Club in Liverpool after learning they had a hit single called ‘My Bonnie’ which was popular in Germany.
The man is pleased with what he has come across and goes backstage to call them to talk. Of course, John Lennon has to poke fun and go do some banter. Naturally, a defeatist claimed there was no way he was going to control a rock band without any experience. But then again, someone has to be the first, no?
He contacts their manager Alan Williams and he is a nonbeliever and claims they should be known as The Bootles as they would get nowhere but Bootle. Brian Epstein, however, notes their endless potential is star quality which prompts him to wish to buy out their contract and take charge of them. The Beatles go to his office and it is an understatement to say that they are an utter disgrace. Not on time. A little bit careless. However, he notices a diamond in the rough and knows he has the ability to excite them to suit terms. From there, he takes them to a shop where they can have custom suits and a neat but contemporary and youthful hairstyle. He shows them how to bow the right way. This improves their perception and allows them to be influencers before influencers even appear.
There are infamous history auditions with the label Decca who infamously refused the Beatles because Brian Epstein believed in them. The British rock n roll group Decca’s A&R people saw this as a futile effort on their part and they are severely displeased with him for managing them Brian says remember what I say ‘I think this band shall become greater than the Elvis.’ He returns home to his parents and has disappointed like he lost all the battles. But anger does not bring quench to them cuts across and works in going around pitching the Beatles’ demo tape to several record labels. There are lines of Noes, even more lining up the Noes, but there were at times yes two. The Beatles assume it’s a snide and approach it with some skepticism.
He reaches out to producer George Martin and other people like the Fifth Beatles convincing them to work alongside The Beatles. They record, however they feel that Pete Best’s drumming is holding them back, thus, it is decided that Brian will dismiss him. Meanwhile, “Telstar” went to number one in the charts, while “Love Me Do” reachedthat position.
Brian Epstein tries to make contact with a particular gentleman but finds himself knifed and whilst chasing a watch that belonged to the gentleman’s grandfather. He had no chance of reporting the matter to the police as it was against the law for him to be a homosexual so doing so would be implicating himself.
Still, despite this setback, he achieved a degree of success with yet another band he managed, Gerry and the Pacemakers, with “How Do You Do It?” going to number one in the UK singles chart. He not only managed to sign them but also Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas and Cilla Black (the coat checker from The Cavern). In order to be closer to the heart of the music business, he went to London as the groups he managed started to be more popular. Jobs were created and The Beatles get busy as the complete publicity machine is now working for them.
The Beatles are now mingling with the elite, performing at the Royal Variety Performance and feeling out of place as working-class Liverpudlians playing for royalty, aristocrats, and other wealthy people. From there, there is the conversation between Brian Epstein and Ed Sullivan, played by a former late-night TV show host, Mr. Jay Leno. Sullivan seems to have reservations about The Beatles performing on his show, however, Epstein manages to convince him to feature them on the show.
Having fame can guarantee you a lot of privileged things but with it come a lot of sacrifices, one of the most unfortunate is being under criticism. The Beatles have come under the camera yell for the most ridiculous occurrences such as the venues they played in Japan, or for not taking time with Imelda Marcos in the Philippines while on tour, or even John Lennon’s comment about The Beatles getting more attention from children than Jesus. The Beatles’s response to fans is quite divergent and mostly divided by generations. Besides, this constant touring motivation of the band members is no longer a starry-eyed ideal but an unrelenting show that turns people’s lives into that of puppets whereby they can’t even listen to themselves they give up touring altogether. Meanwhile, Brian Epstein’s partner, Tex has fraudulently stolen twenty thousand dollars in cash and absconded with it. Due to his sexuality, he fears being compromised. He comes out as gay to his parents and then gets his father to ask if they have physically abused him in any way.
Brian Epstein had just lost his father he barely knew and was anxious that somewhere in the cosmos, his deceased father had some disgust toward him while he was living. In comes Queenie, she tells Brian his father loved him and that he was proud of him. He wasn’t a disappointment to anyone.
Founder of the Beatles Brian Epstein together with the band sang All You Need Is Love during a live satellite transmission taken from London. Brian makes his last walk across the zebra crossing of Abbey Road the sign of his death, which happened in 1967 soon after the transmission, that saw him deceased aged 32. That come death really touched The Beatles and most probably, the reason why they all parted ways.
A nicely put film with impressive editing and writing along with a decent cast, though I appreciate how the filmmakers did not use well-known faces for The Beatles but thought the casting of John Lennon was poor as the actor seemed rather short: Pretty much merely one minor annoyance (it is absolutely impossible finding actors for the biopic of legendary figures and it is much easier to criticize such actors). All the same, whether any actor is good enough for the role definitely shouldn’t be Jay Leno playing Ed Sullivan. There is one thing which I find to be very interesting, Brian Epstein’s Fig was played by an actor called Jacob Fortune-Lloyd. He is a Jew and that is cool.
I thought it was an entertaining movie even though I was already familiar with a good part of the information and the plot. However, it is nice to witness its entertainment being reproduced in the form of a film. The comedy was quite effective, and I also appreciated the wit and banter that The Beatles were famous for, particularly John Lennon. All in all, I had a good time, and I believe fans of the Beatles will have a good time as well. I appreciate the fact that the cuts were new, entertaining, and aesthetically pleasing, but not over-the-top bohemian Rhapsody style. I give it a B.
My principal regret regarding the movie is that I think that the blame should not be placed on the filmmakers, as it is quite unfortunate that they could not obtain the rights to use the songs by The Beatles, and thus could only feature the band’s self-recorded covers or the other songs by Merseybeat. I will concede that “You’ll Never Walk Alone” used over the final credits was a good selection, however. This is what I believe makes the movie underwhelming in some places like the sequence where The Beatles are shown performing. There is no doubt that the movie would have been better had they been able to secure the rights to The Beatles’ music. I also think that there could have been a bit more discussion of his year’s techniques before joining the Beatles. Since I am not one of those biopic viewers who has an obsession regarding the peak in popularity, I did not find anything about his early life, his childhood and his drama school training. That is a shame, I think, particularly for a true fan who would expect something more than the average storyline many people know. I am thankful for his portrayal as a Jew, but I would have appreciated more story about his sexual orientation about what difficulties he faced in the sixties and more stories about his love life.
Before The Beatles became famous, he got arrested just for being gay, and you cannot ignore how this must have an effect on personality just as it did with all those gay celebrities arrested, which I feel might have been something that could have been looked upon in the film. But, this is just me speaking as a member of the LGBT movement. I do not know if it was possible that there could have been some defamation issues or probably it was just too dramatic, but I think as regarding The Krays, if they allegedly blackmailed Brian Epstein, then there was no need to talk about it. Still, that is just my opinion.
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