Backbeat (1994)

74% of critics liked it
(34 reviews)
67% of users liked it
(5,296 ratings)

The Beatles' early days as a struggling bar band are depicted in this fact-based drama, which tells the little-known story of original member Stuart Sutcliffe (Stephen Dorff). A close friend of John Lennon, Sutcliffe acts as the band's original bassist, accompanying them on their early gigs in… More The Beatles' early days as a struggling bar band are depicted in this fact-based drama, which tells the little-known story of original member Stuart Sutcliffe (Stephen Dorff). A close friend of John Lennon, Sutcliffe acts as the band's original bassist, accompanying them on their early gigs in Liverpool and Hamburg, Germany. The friendship becomes strained, however, when Sutcliffe falls in love with a German art student and starts to question his commitment to the band. With Sutcliffe's story taking center stage, the stories of the more famous Beatles largely fade into the background. The exception is John Lennon, thanks to a fierce performance by Ian Hart, who had previously portrayed the musician in the more intimate and provocative The Hours and the Times. While Backbeat does provide a new perspective on the band's beginning, and numerous opportunities for a group of modern rock musicians to recreate the band's energetic early performances, it never makes Sutcliffe's story seem more than a footnote to musical history. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 40 min.
Directed By: Iain Softley
Written By: Iain Softley, Michael Thomas, Stephen Ward
Genres: Musical & Performing Arts, Drama

In Theaters: Apr 15, 1994 Wide
On DVD: Aug 12, 2003
Studio: Gramercy Pictures

Critic Reviews

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
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.
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
What pulls you over the bum spots is the electrifying immediacy.
Todd McCarthy, Variety
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.
Janet Maslin, New York Times
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.
Richard Harrington, Washington Post
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.
James Berardinelli, ReelViews
Since director Iain Softley seems more interested in establishing tone and atmosphere than in creating vital personalities, he is unable to harness the full power of his story.
, TV Guide's Movie Guide
First-time director Iain Softley makes the film more visually distinctive than most music bios.
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
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
Mark Bourne, DVDJournal.com
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.
Mark Bourne, DVDJournal.com
Universal's 2005 Backbeat: Collector's Edition ... The pristine print and transfer are as good as they get ... The DD 5.1 audio likewise exhibits superb clarity and strength.
Geoff Andrew, Time Out
The music is loud and raw, but nevertheless evokes the excitement it generated.
Brad Laidman, Film Threat
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.
Dragan Antulov, Draxblog Movie Reviews
points to the tragic irony of immortality being achieved through early death
Angie Errigo, Empire Magazine
Iain Softley directs his feature debut with simplicity and feeling, and you don't have to have been a Beatles fan to get with the beat. Gives you hope for the British film industry.
Devin Faraci, CHUD
The first thirty or so minutes of Backbeat are perfectly raucous, a distillation of everything that made Elvis swivel his hips so obscenely.
Scott Collura, Now Playing Magazine
It's Stu's relationships with Lennon and Astrid that make the movie what it is: alternately uplifting and tragic.
, Film4
All the cast give credible performances.
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice
A raucous film about the Beatles before they made it big

Read all 18 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Cynthia S

This is an admittedly highly fictionalized version of the Beatles early days in Hamburg, but that is not the central theme of the movie. It's really about a love triangle between two best friends, and the woman they both are drawn to. There are a few great characters brought to… More
This is an admittedly highly fictionalized version of the Beatles early days in Hamburg, but that is not the central theme of the movie. It's really about a love triangle between two best friends, and the woman they both are drawn to. There are a few great characters brought to life by a few very good performances by the actors portraying them, and that is what really drew me in. That said, any Beatles fan will also dig the stylized look at their early days. You can't really take it as fact, but you can have a hell of a lot of fun imagining that this is sort of the way it might have been.
Lady D

Not just another film or story about The Beatles, this is the story of Stuart Sutcliffe; the fifth Beatle, his relationship with John Lennona and their time with the rest of The Beatles in Hamberg. Whilst being a fan (although not a die hard fan) of The Beatles, I knew very little… More
Not just another film or story about The Beatles, this is the story of Stuart Sutcliffe; the fifth Beatle, his relationship with John Lennona and their time with the rest of The Beatles in Hamberg. Whilst being a fan (although not a die hard fan) of The Beatles, I knew very little of Stuart Sutcliffe, so this made for interesting viewing and also showed John Lennon in a slightly different light to most portrayals and the obvsious bond between the two of them.
Red L

This is an OK movie. I suspect it had difficulty deciding whether it was made as a documentary about the Beatles early years, or a story about the unfortunate life of Stuart Sutcliffe.
Dean M

Good true life and tragic story of a musician and artist Stuart Sutcliffe in the early days of The Beatles in Hamburg. He was known as the 5th Beatles.
Marion R

Huge Beatles. Overall I thought it was a good interesting watch.