SoftInloveRox
Horrible, fascist and poorly acted
Borgarkeri
A bit overrated, but still an amazing film
Orla Zuniga
It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review
Edwin
The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.
D P
Help! is the unloved Beatles movie. It's not as witty as A Hard Day's Night or as cute and dazzling as Yellow Submarine. Magical Mystery Tour has developed an IMHO unearned reputation as an "experimental" classic, and even the dour Let It Be is seen as a bracing look at the "real" Beatles. Help!, however, is remembered as the movie where the Beatles got really stoned and didn't seem to care how the movie turned out. This is a rare occasion where the Beatles were wrong in their assessment of their own work. The plot, while a tad manic, isn't the disjointed mess people claim it is, but a fairly standard MAD magazine-style parody of James Bond movies in which our heroes are chased around various exotic locales. The musical numbers are full of the quick non sequitur cuts that would become the stock-and-trade of The Monkees the following year, while the action parodies would influence both Get Smart and Batman. The Beatles complained that they felt like extras in their own movie, but if so the supporting cast carried the weight just fine. Leo McKern (who would soon play an equally bizarre antagonist in The Prisoner) is hilarious as the high priest of Kali (a character played seriously in Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom) and the gorgeous Eleanor Bron is charming as Ahme. Even better is Victor Spinetti, seen briefly in A Hard Day's Night and here given full reign as a mad scientist. It's a shame that the Beatles, all lovers of comedy, never made another dramatic feature, as they might have suggested working with the likes of Spike Milligan or even Monty Python.How are the Beatles themselves? Not bad, actually. The scenes where they were high out of their minds must have been relegated to the cutting room floor, because while slightly heavy-lidded they nonetheless deliver their lines with wit. What raises Help! above the other Beatle movies other than A Hard Day's Night, however, is the movie's visual style. Art director Ray Simms creates a mod look for the group's wonderful shared house, and cinematographer David Watkin makes sure the audience knows the movie is in COLOUR. The Beatles may have never *looked* better than they do in the recording session scene for "You're Going To Lose That Girl."(Note: the one aspect of the movie that has not aged well is the use of "brownface" for Indian characters. It's especially troubling considering George's later embrace of Indian spirituality. However, in both a very funny scene involving "experts" and the later scenes in the Bahamas the writers do get a few digs at colonial British prejudices. Still, these scenes may be troubling to modern audiences)
eve-63311
Please leave your brain at home before you go to the movies if you're planning to watch "Help!". The plot, if it's worth saying there's one, is downright nonsense. It looks like the scriptwriter wrote random actions and places on a few pieces of paper and wrote the whole story according to the order he picked them out. Thereby, you'll enjoy watching the Beatles being chased from England to the Bahamas, passing by the Alps, by the fanatic members of a mysterious and ridiculous sect, trying to rob Ringo's sacrificial ring. And yet, if until here the storyline doesn't seem to overwhelm logic, the end helps. Because even though logic was somehow maintained through the Fab Four's adventures, even if it swayed a lot, it collapses with the final scene, when every single character, probably guided by a drunk scriptwriter, meets at the beach and tries to obtain what one wants by stabbing whoever one sees. And whatever you may think after you read this, I liked it! Because it was really relaxing to see it. I had a good laugh, thanks to its fantastic British sense of humor. I see it as a feel-good movie.About the film itself, I'd say the image looks quite modern because its very colorful, that's another good thing, and the music is, of course, the work of talented artists, though I don't like the Beatles style of music (please don't murder me).As a conclusion, on a scale of 0 to 10, I give this movie a seven, because it's funny and relaxing, but it can't be considered a masterpiece. Go watch it with friends or with your family, have fun! But please don't watch it on a date, it'll be awkward.
Jennifer Lawrentson
"Help ! I need somebody Help ! By Jenniferlawrentson1803, in 2015 in Nîmes, FranceRate: 5/10Help is a film directed by Richard Lester, it was released in 1965. It tells us the story of the Beatles, one of them, Ringo Starr wears a ring, which is used for sacrifices. But a man is trying all along the movie to kill, sacrifice Ringo. But he doesn't want to be sacrificed and want to take off the ring, but he does not manage to do it. Do the Beatles try to do everything possible to help Ringo to not be caught and killed by the man. This film is interesting, quite funny though. The actors, the Beatles play very well. We could believe that they are actors for real, but they aren't. The soundtrack is also very good, it adds rhythm to the movie and makes it sound better. I recommend this movie to people who like the Beatles and also like nonsense movie. There are also a lot of songs in the film, so if you love Beatles' songs, this is a movie for you ! I personally did not really enjoy it. It was great but I prefer comedy or action movie. Help! is a little bit too weird !
Dalbert Pringle
Because it stars The Beatles, Help! is the one film that you simply wouldn't dare give a low rating to (or, would you?), even though, aside from a few good moments, it wasn't all that funny, nor was it entertaining enough to hold my interest for very long.In fact, a lot of the time, I found Help! to be downright stupid, its juvenile mentality specifically geared to the non-thinking, Beatle-crazed teens of that screwed-up era of Pop Music History.Naturally, Help! was just another opportunity to showcase The Beatles and promote their latest album of #1 hit songs, which included such tunes as Ticket To Ride, You're Gonna Lose That Girl, and, of course, the film's title tune, "Help!".The truth of the matter is - As hopelessly inferior as it was, had this film starred any other Pop group, other than the likes of The Beatles, then you can surely bet that it would've probably killed those band member's careers as musicians, like, pronto! Besides having a really weak script that, at times, bordered on pure nonsense, I understand that a lot of Help!'s problems came directly from The Beatles, themselves.At this early point in their music/movie careers The Fab 4 had just discovered the wonders of "marijuana". Since the boys were constantly engulfed in such a thick haze of dope smoke during filming, they couldn't remember their lines and were forever going into convulsions of uncontrollable tittering and giggling.As you can well-imagine, the film crew came close, many times, to blowing their tops when scene after scene was botched by more fits of incessant "Beatle" laughter and another retake had to be done. Naturally, since this was "The Beatles" that we're talking about here, the crew kow-towed to every whim of Pop Music's new-found royalty, kept their mouths shut, and continued filming at a literal snail's pace.Help!'s story revolves around Ringo getting a certain ring of special significance stuck on his finger, which sends the ring's owner and his followers chasing after the poor bloke. Moving around from London, to the Swiss Alps, to the Bahamas, John, Paul, and George do what they can to keep their pal from coming to any harm, as everything going on around them gets crazier and more blown out of proportion by the minute.