Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978)

Directed by

Michael Schultz

Genre

drama film, adventure film, musical film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 53m

Rated

PG

Rating

4.3 of 10 from 60 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A band from a small town must battle evil forces who steal their instruments. The story is carried by Beatles songs that act as dialogue.

campywhimsicallightheartedchaoticnostalgicmusicalsillyupbeat

What happens

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is a 1978 American jukebox musical comedy film directed by Michael Schultz, written by Henry Edwards and starring an ensemble cast led by Peter Frampton and the Bee Gees. Depicting the loosely constructed story of a band as they wrangle with the music industry and battle evil forces bent on stealing their instruments and corrupting their hometown of Heartland, the film is presented in a form similar to that of a rock opera, with the songs providing "dialogue" to carry the story. George Burns has most of the spoken lines that act to clarify the plot and provide further narration. The film's soundtrack, released as an accompanying double album, features new versions of songs originally written and performed by the Beatles. The film draws primarily from two of the band's albums, 1967's Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and 1969's Abbey Road, with additional selections from other Beatles albums. The production was loosely adapted from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band on the Road, a 1974 off-Broadway production directed by Tom O'Horgan. The film was met with minor box office success, grossing $20.4 million against a budget of $13 million, but overwhelmingly negative reviews from critics for its weak plot and poor acting as well as its musical interpretations. However, some of the musical numbers, particularly Earth, Wind & Fire's cover of "Got to Get You Into My Life" and Aerosmith's cover of "Come Together", were met with high praise, the former earning Earth, Wind & Fire a Grammy, and the latter being a top-25 hit single. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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