TeenzTen An action-packed slog

Salubfoto It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Roman Sampson One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

SnoopyStyle A TV reporter (Eric Idle) presents an overview of the Rutles. It's a parody of the Beatles. Dirk McQuickly (Eric Idle) is a parody of Paul McCartney. Ron Nasty (Neil Innes) is a parody of John Lennon. It has a few real life stars like Mick Jagger and Paul Simon playing themselves. It has some 'real' people and uses old footage. It's the history of the Beatles at a different bent.Unlike Spinal Tap which came 6 years later, the band members are not too outrageous. They are the Beatles slightly off-kilter. Maybe they are not crazy enough for the American audience. Eric Idle and Neil Innes have been producing the TV parody band in the 70's. There is lots of SNL involvement. This is great for Beatles fans, Monty Python fans, and early SNL fans.

Dalbert Pringle To fully savor the wildly droll flavor of The Rutles it really helps to have some prior knowledge of The Beatles' career and an appreciation for Monty Python-esque Comedy. Yep. That's what's in order to get into the zany spirit of this one's story.This often-hilarious parody of The Beatles meticulously chronicles (in clever mockumentary style) the rags to riches story of the Prefab 4 (aka. The Rutles).Starting from their early, humble days of tight pants and mop-top hairdos in Liverpool, England to their "scream-o-mania" arrival in America on The Ed Sullivan Show, Nasty, Stig, Dirk & Barry are immediately crowned the undisputed conquerors of Rock'n'Roll and total world domination of Pop Music is the gleaming prize in their box of Cracker Jack.Uproariously written and co-directed by Eric Idle (of Monty Python's), The Rutles is a Musical/Comedy delight that's certain to put a big, happy smile on your face as it royally brings down The Beatles' legend with a resounding "THUD!".Showcasing 16 sound-a-like Beatles' songs that contain some of the funniest, and some of the most mocking and ridiculing lyrics that you're ever gonna hear, The Rutles also features amusing cameos by Mick Jagger, Paul Simon, Ron Wood, George Harrison, to name but a few celebrities.I think it's interesting to note that prior to The Rutles' official release back in 1978, it was first viewed individually by each one of The ex-Beatles for their hopeful approval. It seems that George, Ringo & John were all unanimously amused enough by the film's comic lampooning of their careers to give it an enthusiastic "thumbs up" OK.But, alas, on the other hand, Paul was not in the least bit amused. No, he was not.As the story goes - It was John Lennon who cautiously approached Eric Idle and Neil Innes (the musician/actor responsible for composing the sound-a-like Beatles' songs) and wisely warned them to omit certain tunes from the soundtrack (especially Get Up and Go, which was way too close to Get Back) or else face being sued by the humorless McCartney.And, sure enough, bristling with anger, McCartney did, in fact, make a number of threats to sue Idle over The Rutles' musical content. Eventually, though, he finally did back down when his then-wife, Linda (who thought the movie very funny), diplomatically intervened and convinced Paul to withdraw his charges and allow The Rutles to be released almost totally unscathed and unedited.(Phew! That was a close call!) All-in-all - THE RUTLES was 80 minutes of good, comic, musical fun-fun-fun.... (Goo-Goo-G'Joob!)

pbbuffyhugs Absolutely hilarious spoof of The Beatles. Eric Idle's finest 70 minutes and a spin off of his mid 70's TV show "Rutland Weekend Television" (Please BBC repeat this series). The songs are so clever - "I Must Be In Love' could've been an actual Beatles single it's that good. Neil Innes wrote the soundtrack which was deemed so good it was released as an album and 2 singles were released in the UK. The film follows so closely the actual events of the Beatles and George Harrison was so impressed with the script that he agreed to appear in the film. "Piggy in the Middle" (with absolutely spot on John Lennon-esq lyrics) perfectly recreates "Magical Mystery Tour" or in this case "Tragical History Tour" and the Yellow Submarine cartoon section looks so damn good that it will have you looking out for it next time you watch that film. "Love Life" is a perfect recreation of the television event of 1967 and by this point Neil Innes looks and sounds exactly like John Lennon. Everything is covered here, Lennons infamous "Bigger than Jesus" quote and it even mocks Apple (a pealed banana.) My favourite bit is Eric Idle tracing the musical roots of the Rutles, talking to 'Blind Lemon Pie' and finding out he should be talking to the bloke next door is one of the funniest few minutes of film I've seen - especially when he goes round there... "He's lying, he's always lying. Last week he said he invented the Everly Brothers." It's pant-wettingly funny. Regarded as a cult item now this is right up there with Spinal Tap but this is so much funnier, if you love the Beatles (who doesn't?) then you need to see this, one of the cleverest and most affectionate spoofs ever made. Buy the album too - for a parody the songs are superb.

Tommy Nelson The Rutles was a band in the 60s with members Dirk McQuickly, Ron Nasty, Stig O'Hara and Barry Womb (formerly Barry Womble), and 8 years after the breakup of this "band" this documentary is made. This is actually a very funny movie, but won't appeal to everyone.The thing that stood out most in this movie was how accurate the movie and song parodies were. If you've seen the Beatles films or know the songs that these songs are based on, then you'll find it funny, or if nothing else amusing. Other than the music, there is also a surprisingly amount of hilarious Monty Python like humor from Eric Idle as the interviewer. The only real problem I had with the film was the special guest stars. They tried to fit guests in, and usually they had to extend out cameos that worked better as 20 second roles, which ended up becoming 2 minutes just to give well known people a role. Many members of SNL, Mick Jagger, Paul Simon, and even George Harrison have small roles. Some of them were unneeded, but nonetheless it was nice to see familiar faces.So sit down with a cup of tea and check this one out.My rating: *** out of ****. 70 mins. Not rated, contains mild language.