The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash (1978)

How sad is this?

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Somehow my brother and I got hold of the soundtrack album before we actually saw the TV special. The funny thing is that while the comedy bits are really funny (most of them) the songs are actually much better and stick in my mind to this day. The songs from the early period, like "Ouch!" and "Hold My Hand" are okay, but they really can't capture the excitement and energy of the Beatlemania period. But as the story continues, the darker, sadder, more pessimistic songs are actually better than what the Beatles were doing at that stage in their careers. Case in point: "Living In Hope," a late-period Ringo song, of the type you might hear on the White Album. "I grew up in the country/beside a chicken shack/then I left for the city/and I didn't look back." Really gets Ringo trying to write a country song and sounding silly, yet somehow knowing he's silly and having the time of his life! "Got no woman/or a steady job/feeling like a cowboy/and looking like a slob!/But I'm living in hope . . ." This was such a great song I had it on tape for years. Then again there was "Love Life," which totally captures the silly side of the "All You Need Is Love" type of statement. The fade of the song is just "Love is the meaning of life/Life is the meaning of love/Love is the meaning of life/Life is the meaning of love." Fall over laughing as they repeat about 100 times!Even the sad songs, like "Cheese and Onions" really capture the fall of the Beatles, as you hear the weariness and disgust creeping in. "I have always thought in the back of my mind/cheese and onions/I have always thought that the world was unkind/cheese and onions." Totally captures John Lennon at his most bitter and cynical, but still with the odd touch of humor. "Man and machine/Keep yourself clean/Or be a has-been/Like the dinosaurs."The music was so great it didn't even seem like a parody, but more a meditation on the genius of the Beatles.

Oh I love this film. It is very very silly indeed, with plays on words that no longer seem original, but somehow it just doesn't matter. I love Eric Idle. His take on Paul McCartney is gorgeous and he is also wonderful as Stanley J Krammerhead the third, and the presenter himself. Wonderful comedy performances like Gwen Taylor's mother of Leggy Mountbatten, and Jerome Greene's Blind Lemon Pye arguing with his wife - wonderful! I love the songs, which almost seem not like pastiches at all sometimes, and rather wonderful in their own right. Am I dead - or alive? Will my poor heart - survive? I just love it. Wonderful wonderful wonderful! (yes that word again). The perfect cheer-you-up film. And my, wasn't Mick Jagger beautiful once.

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.

When I first saw this about 25 years ago, I had only recently discovered Monty Python and was captivated by the mature, wry humor prevalent in their work.The Rutles, a mockumentary which takes a rather satiric look at the phenomenon known as the Beatles, is an excellent vehicle for Eric Idle with a stellar supporting cast from some of his Monty Python pals as well as cameos from the likes of John Belushi and Gilda Radner. These two cameos alone make it worth the price of admission.It is obvious that the Beatles are the object of Idle's scorn but it is by far one of the funniest parodies to come along in a long time. I was thrilled to see it has been released on DVD and if you are a fan of wry, British, humor coming from the likes of Idle, you are definitely in for a treat! A must have!!