The Song Fight Bulletin Board

Last night in the lounge of my dorm, to honor the 64th birthday of John Lennon, some people threw a Beatles movie mini-marathon. We watched Yellow Submarine, then Hard Day's Night. Since this whole thing was scheduled to start at midnight, and of course didn't actually begin till later than that, I sleepwalked out of Hard Day's Night, but the first film was something indeed.

I normally equate rock band/singer movies with marketing tools, but Yellow Submarine had a great deal of art in it. The visuals were fascinating. The guy sitting next to me had never seen it before either, and he stayed hung up on plot the whole time: "Wait, what the hell just happened?"

But clearly it's not about that. No, it's about the crazy cartoon visuals, and the music. How the entire enviorment ticks in rhythm when a song is playing. And that strange little Seussian character Jeremy, the "Nowhere Man." He was a trip.

Who among us has seen it? What did you think?

I've seen YS about 20 times, probably. I've always loved it. The Beatles themselves had almost nothing to do with that movie. They agreed to let this group do a cartoon with their songs and characters, to fulfill some movie contract obligation, but only near the end of production did they actually see any of it, and reportedly only then realized what a cool movie it was and wished they'd been more involved.

Did your copy include the horrible "Hey Bulldog" segment? That wasn't in the original movie, and was only added a couple years ago for a re-release. Should have left it out, IMHO. Did you know that was THE Marc Chagall who did all those paintings for the Lucy in the Sky segment? I used to hate that part, but now I think it's my favorite. But really, the whole movie is awesome. I can't hear Eleanor Rigby without seeing that animation.

And you really should go back and watch Hard Day's Night. It's an amazing movie, if for no other reason than it's about ten times better a movie than it needed to be, given the Beatles' insane level of popularity at the time. Basically they could have sat doing nothing for two hours and people would have watched. But then they went and made an actual good movie, go figure. When you look at the types of movies being made to capitalize on rock groups' popularities at the time (think: Elvis movies), the HDN is positively groundbreaking in comparison. And take note how off-the-cuff improvised much of the movie seems; in reality the entire thing was scripted.

There's a great scene on the train near the beginning where the boys sing "I Should Have Known Better" inside the luggage hold, surrounded by fencing and a bunch of adoring girls. Forgetting for a moment the cool cinematic trick of having them in a cage, showing how the band was caged in by their own success, but the most adoring girl in the scene, a pretty blond they show lots of shots of, is Patty, the girl who eventually married George in real life. A little piece of cool trivia I've always dug.

I remember wanting to watch Yellow Submarine a lot as a kid. It eventually sparked my love of the Beatles too.
But yeah, a very cool and weird movie. There was a point in my young life where I could quite likely recite the movie word for word.

Wow, I only just noticed that people finally responded to this. Anyway, I've already forgotten whether the "Hey Bulldog" segment was in the version of Yellow Submarine I saw. I'm glad to learn that bit about the group wishing they'd been more active in it, though. And also the part about Chagal. I should have pointed that out when the Hillel House through their Beatles party last weekend.

I did finally see Hard Day's Night (at said party, actually), and in the presence of a Beatles pedant who kept on force-feeding us random trivia like the one about George Harrison's wife. Then the guy sitting next to me piped up, "And wasn't that Layla?" Thus, I missed most of the dialog in the scene after it was pointed out. But the film was great. I loved the parts where Ringo is in disguise in the real world.

There's a scene where the grandfather guy talks Ringo out of reading his book and to go out and see the world. I love that scene just because I love the way they pronounce "book" (rhymes with "Luke").

Yellow Submarine is an excellent film. It's hirarious, as is Hard Day's Night.

Jim of Seattle wrote:I've seen YS about 20 times, probably. I've always loved it. The Beatles themselves had almost nothing to do with that movie. They agreed to let this group do a cartoon with their songs and characters, to fulfill some movie contract obligation, but only near the end of production did they actually see any of it, and reportedly only then realized what a cool movie it was and wished they'd been more involved.

Kind of. They realized it was a cool movie and wanted to be more involved, that's why they did the live-action ending sequence where Ringo has a hole in his pocket and all.

Did your copy include the horrible "Hey Bulldog" segment? That wasn't in the original movie, and was only added a couple years ago for a re-release. Should have left it out, IMHO.

It wasn't in the original American cut, but it was in the English cut since its release.

And take note how off-the-cuff improvised much of the movie seems; in reality the entire thing was scripted.

Not the entire thing. It had a script but there was a certain level of improv, too.

Awesome movie. I Loved the "Blue Meanies". Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds was also a favorite moment.

"Hey Bulldog.' On a big screen in a crowded ballroom. LOUD.

I'd rather watch The Magic Christian.

Jim of Seattle wrote:There's a scene where the grandfather guy talks Ringo out of reading his book and to go out and see the world. I love that scene just because I love the way they pronounce "book" (rhymes with "Luke").

AHDN beats the hell out of Yellow Submarine. I hope this is realized by all.