The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash (1978)

Rutland Weekend Television takes a look at the Pre-fab Four: Dirk (Eric Idle), Barry (John Halsey), Stig (Ricky Fatarr) and Nasty (Neil Innes); better known as the Rutles. This documentary follows their career from their early days in Liverpool and Hamburg's infamous Rat-Keller through their first hit singles, their movies A Hard Day's Rut and Ouch, Che Stadium, tea addiction, Sgt Rutter's Only Darts Club Band, Surrey mystics, the Tragical History Tour, the lawsuits, the hilarity ensuing, the marriages, Rutle Corps and the final break-up of the band, with a glimpse of their post-fame lives.

Trivia: Innes, Fataar and Halsey regrouped in 1996 to record "Archaeology", their satirical response to the Beatles' "Anthology". It consisted of tunes not used in the movie, rearranged Neil Innes solo songs and one song penned as a spoof of "Free as a Bird". Idle didn't take part; Dirk McQuickly, the album's press materials explained, had quit the music business to become a comedian. One of the gold discs on the wall of Archie Macaw's office is Red Rose Speedway (1973) by Paul McCartney's Wings. According to the DVD director commentary track, the glider that flies past the policemen on the wall during the "Magical Mystery Tour" Parody was not anticipated. The Rutles originally began as a sketch on Eric Idle's UK show "Rutland Weekend Television" (1975), showing the band (with Idle as Harrison) playing a slower version of "I Must Be in Love" in their movie "A Hard Day's Rut." Lorne Michaels aired the clip on "Saturday Night Live" when Idle hosted, which led to a deal for the TV special. Eric Idle mentions in his "memoir" available on the DVD what the actual Beatles thought of the film. According to him, George Harrison was very supportive and encouraged him, Paul McCartney was disapproving at first but relented when he found that Idle grew up near Liverpool (though his wife Linda always loved it), Ringo Starr said that he enjoyed it "after 1968", and John Lennon (along with Yoko Ono) adored it.

It would be better to watch this if you have an intimate knowledge of the career of the Beatles, but it is by no means necessary, a working knowledge will do. If you like the Beatles or Monty Python or both, you will love this movie. It is a spot on parody of the career of the Beatles told by former Python Eric Idle and includes many cameos by people like Mick Jagger and, since Lorne Michaels produced it, the cast of Saturday Night Live (John Balushi, Dan Akroyd, Gilda Radner, and Bill Murray, even George Harrison gets to be in it as an interviewer. I am by no means a Beatles authority, Anonymous Ken is (he is the one who suggested this to me for correctly guessing one of my Alphabet Project, he even let me borrow his DVD), I was still able to recognise many of the milestones of the Beatles. Thanks Ken, it was a good fun movie.