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Backbeat
Directed by
Iain Softley
R
1994
1h 40m
[Drama](/on-demand/category/drama), [Biography](/on-demand/category/biography)
6.7
70%
67%
6.1
Add to Watchlist
A dramatization of the Hamburg, Germany phase of The Beatles' early history.
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Where to Watch Backbeat
Amazon Video
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Apple TV
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Fandango At Home
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Cast of Backbeat
Sheryl Lee
Astrid Kirchherr
Stephen Dorff
Stuart Sutcliffe
Ian Hart
John Lennon
Gary Bakewell
Paul McCartney
Chris O'Neill
George Harrison
Scot Williams
Pete Best
Kai Wiesinger
Klaus Voormann
Jennifer Ehle
Cynthia Powell
Marcelle Duprey
Singer
John White
Sailor 1
Bernard Merrick
Sailor 2
Nicholas Tennant
Sailor 3
Finola Geraghty
Model
Rob Spendlove
Arthur Ballard
Charlie Caine
Lord Woodbine
Freda Kelly
Mrs Harrison
Paul Humpoletz
Bruno
Christiana Uriarte
Groupie
Abigail Wrapson
Groupie
Galit Hershkovitz
Groupie
Backbeat Ratings & Reviews
Chicago Reader
Nicole Arthur
The truth often undercuts the film's simplistic notions about true love and about friendship.
Solzy at the Movies
Danielle Solzman
When we have a comprehensive documentary available in the form of The Beatles Anthology, films like Backbeat end up serving as a moot point.
Aisle Seat
Mike McGranaghan
Why would anyone would want to see a movie about the pre-fame Beatles when the post-fame Beatles had enough drama and excitement to fill several movies.
Film Frenzy
Matt Brunson
Despite some meandering moments, this remains a unique experience.
Newsweek
David Ansen
Get back, get back to where you once belonged, you want to shout. But the movie is stuck in the wrong groove.
Hartford Courant
Malcolm Johnson
It is the band, the group - with or without Sutcliffe - that makes Backbeat such a powerfully emotional elegy.
Chicago Reader
Jonathan Rosenbaum
There's nothing very profound here, but we do at least get a nice handling of period and milieu, and pretty good performances of the songs.
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
What pulls you over the bum spots is the electrifying immediacy.
TV Guide
First-time director Iain Softley makes the film more visually distinctive than most music bios.
Variety
Todd McCarthy
The early, pre-fame days of the Beatles are a great subject for a film, but the potential has been only partly realized in Backbeat.
EmanuelLevy.Com
Emanuel Levy
The film tells the story of the original, little-known fifth Beatle, Stuart Sutcliffe, a young painter with rock n' roll sensibility who in 1960 forgoes his promising art career to join his best friend John Lennon (nicely played by Ian Hart) in Berlin
DVDJournal.com
Mark Bourne
You can't miss the affection and sincerity Backbeat carries from start to finish.... Softley bottles the attitude and energy, the excitement of the new, that were as integral to the Beatles' success as their songs.
Film Threat
Brad Laidman
The music, done here by a group of grunge all-stars, doesn't even attempt to sound dead-on, but remains mostly true to the raucous spirit of the time.
New York Times
Janet Maslin
Backbeat, which for all its pretensions can often be impressively canny and affectionate about its subject, is helped enormously by newly recorded versions of Beatle records.
Austin Chronicle
Marjorie Baumgarten
Historically, we might quibble with the overall sound quality and the fact that the Beatles surely never played their instruments quite this efficiently in 1960 but, once again, what the music captures is its overwhelming appeal.
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
At the end, I felt cheated.
Washington Post
Richard Harrington
Working with a time period and two crucial characters probably not too familiar to less-than-avid Beatles or rock fans, Softley needs a great performance, and he gets it from Hart.
Washington Post
John F. Kelly
Softley is able to enliven a familiar story and famous characters. His cast helps him.
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