Eight Days A Week -The Beatles – The Touring Years.

A Documentary Directed by Ron Howard

Review by James R Martin — Writer, Director – Filmmaker, Author,Professor

November 29, 2024

Just when you thought you knew everything about the Beatles, Ron Howard created a documentary film focusing on the band’s beginnings, getting underway, and then moving on to their years of touring the world. The band reached crowds so large that, on some occasions, they needed super-big venues, like Shea Stadium, to accommodate 50,000 fans at a time.

Eight Days A Week asks why and how the Beatles became such a huge sensation and success. It explores many possibilities using actual footage of the young Beatles, performances, studio sessions, news footage, film clips with behind-the-scenes footage from Help and Hard Day’s Night, and coverage of events as the Beatles phenomenon grows. Editing in a compilation film is important since footage from many sources must be used. After reviewing the archival footage, it is usual to write a shooting script for additional footage and then an editing script. New ideas may come out during the shooting and editing phases. However, a shooting script gives the director a framework.

Interviews

Some interviews appear to have been recorded in the sixties and pulled from archival sources. However, the film also has good contemporary interviews with Paul McCartney, Ringo Star, and others.

Direction

Director Ron Howard created a well-made traditional compilation documentary, built with restored archival footage, paced and edited to keep an audience occupied and entertained. During the film, he allows the good-natured personalities of the young musicians known as the Beatles to emerge. They are band members and friends. It becomes clear that part of the Beatles’ success is their enthusiasm and passion for their music. They love what they do but do not take themselves too seriously. Compilation documentaries rely on archival footage, including interviews and more recent interviews, to structure the story. Howard creates a documentary that portrays the look and feel of the Beatles.

On the Road

Contrary to how it may have seemed when they became famous, they had spent time slogging away in England and Germany learning performance and writing songs. Brian Epstein’s critical role as the first manager of the Beatles is also apparent in the documentary. George Martin’s music production is another crucial part of the group’s success, highlighted in Eight Days A Week. One fantastic reality covered in the documentary is the reaction of teenage fans to the Beatles. Young girls scream, applaud, cry, and become ecstatic, overwhelmed, and unconscious at the sight of the Beatles. A head shake by John, Paul, Ringo, or George can induce rapture in fans worldwide. It was the early sixties; perhaps these teenage fans needed the joy and happiness the Beatles projected in their performances. Their early songs “Boy Meets Girl” and Love have become classics.

The unassuming, unpretentious performance of the Beatles is something to appreciate in this well-made documentary. Eight Days A Week is an excellent documentary for anyone, beginning with those who experienced those days to others who are just discovering the Beatles and their timeless and now classic music. Eight Days A Week is enjoyable and informative.  Highly recommend! It would be great to see it in a theater with good audio. The theatrical release includes thirty minutes of coverage of the Shea Stadium performance in 1962. The audio is much better than if you were there since it was initially played through the stadium PA system!

Directed by Ron Howard

Produced by Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Scott Pascucci, and Nigel Sinclair

Written by Mark Monroe

Editor: Paul Crowder

Available on HULU

Trailer

Review by James R Martin, Author of Documentary Directing and Storytelling.


Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Shopping Cart