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

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Admirable film.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Often one goes into a bad movie asking — to borrow the name of a highly entertaining podcast — how did this get made? Or worse, you have to stop and ask yourself, in the case of a film that ends up offending both target audiences, such as 1972s The Pink Angels, who exactly is this movie being made for?Let me reiterate: In 1978, a movie version of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart Band — starring the Bee Gees and Peter Frampton — probably made all the sense in the world.The Brothers Gibb had just come off Saturday Night Fever (1977), a movie that transcended the screen and spawned a movement. Or at least a fad. But between that and Barry Gibb producing Grease's title song (and I just want to throw in that the Bee Gee's also wrote and arranged 1979's Dolly Parton/Kenny Rogers opus, "Islands in the Stream"), the boys from Manchester via the Isle of Man were on the top of the world. It truly does not get any higher a mountain and the fall, we'll soon see, does not get any further.Peter Frampton — after a journeyman career of playing in bands and being seen as a viable solo artist — had finally scored big with Frampton Comes Alive! in 1976. The album spent 97 weeks on the charts, selling 8 million copies. That number today is well nigh impossible to reach today; it equals around 13% of the overall records sold in 2016.So this ersatz Fab Four — if you will or won't — had star power, at least on vinyl. The Bee Gees had also covered the Beatles for a BBC doc in 1976, despite years of critical derision that they were simply clones of the boys from Liverpool.Stars were aligning. Even better, Saturday Night Fever and Grease came out on Robert Stigwood's RSO Label. Stigwood purchased 29 of the Beatles' best songs for use in a Broadway play and then had the brainstorm to create a film, using the aforementioned big music stars. He got Beatles' producer George Martin and Abbey Road Studios on board. And even worked with Paramount — the same studio who launched Saturday Night Fever — to get the movie green lit. Add in what I editorialize was the kind of cocaine mountain that only the '70s and Martin Scorsese could concoct and…ladies and germs, we got ourselves a motion picture!So up until now, until that first shot of the film, this all makes sense. It's when reality allows its ugly head to intrude that we see just what an epic failure of a movie this is. Writer Henry Edwards had never written a script before. And oh, does it show. Whereas the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds directly influenced and made the audio Sgt. Peppers an aural feat, there was no such film to inspire this outing. In fact, there isn't even a story, unlike the Who's Tommy. So to get across the tale — such as it is — George Burns would be the only person to speak (he's the Mr. Kite, he of whom the song For the Benefit of… is about) with every other bit of dialogue being sung.That's right, kids! It's the hip sound of today, as croaked out by the star of Oh God! Meanwhile, the Bees Gees play Mark, David and Bob Henderson. Why those names? Don't ask! And in the starring role, Peter Frampton is Billy Shears (and not the man who took the place of the headless Paul McCartney if you believe in urban legends)!Read the rest of this review at: www.thatsnotcurrent.com/movie-review-sgt-peppers-lonely-hearts- club-band-1978/

Yeah. This is a train-wreck of a movie. But, even the Beatles worst madcap movie, Magical Mystery Tour, is no gem. Their movies had a hand-held, home movie style. What's sad about this one is they seemed to pile on a lot of talent and throw dazzle at it. I doubt anyone can justify the dripping cheeseburger as a centrepiece in the main square? That said, 38yrs later, this does have it's good moments. Singing by the BeeGees, Peter Frampton, Aerosmith, EWF and Billy Preston I enjoyed. I don't usually like to hear other artist do The Beatles songs. Last, where will you ever see Carol Channing singing with Tina Turner? Crappy movie? Yes. Worth a look? Yes, at fast-foreword.

Time & death has a funny way of smoothing over harsh criticism. What was deemed a colossal egg upon its release, certainly hated by discophobes and Beatles purists for its sacrilege back in the late 70s, "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" has since become a historical document on its own. Only 35 years later and after the deaths of 3 Bee Gees are we beginning to chill on our Bee Gees hatred and give this monumental group its due. If you watch this movie not as a Beatles tribute but perhaps as a wacky Bee Gees tribute, you'll enjoy yourself. This movie is a forgotten landmark of the 70s.The Bee Gees are known for their disco hits like "Stayin Alive" and such, but did you know that in the 60s they were a moderately successful psychedelic rock band quite similar to the Beatles? With that in mind, it's not so far fetched to imagine them playing Beatles music, and in fact they do a pretty good job if you can dump all preconceptions. The opening numbers "Sgt. Pepper" and "A Little Help from my Friends" (with Peter Frampton singing) kick the movie off nicely. I thought the best tune was "Nowhere Man" with their silky smooth harmonies. And where else are you going to hear basically the entire Sgt. Peppers & Abbey Road albums in a movie, Beatles or otherwise? Where this movie sags is in the fact that it's barely a movie. It's more like a string of campy music videos loosely stuck together with a somewhat vapid plot. But hey, aren't a lot of musicals like that?The plot revolves the Lonely Hearts Club Band: The Next Generation, 20 years after the original horn blowers left the stage. Now amped up and rockified, the new band tops the charts and is lured away from its hometown to LA with a record deal while an evil villain "Mr. Mustard" takes over their hometown and turns it into a city of sleaze. Mr. Mustard answers to an even eviller entity known as "F.V.B." (the meaning revealed only at the end). What follows is a very flimsy chain of events, each represented by a Beatles song. There is no dialogue in this film; it's all music.Production values are high, and you can expect to see some impressive sets, scenery & costumes as well as decent cinematography. In other words, it's not a cheap production. The style is very tongue-in-cheek, much like The Who's musical "Tommy" released 3 years prior. In fact I had to check to see if both films were directed or produced by the same people. They weren't. But if you were entertained by "Tommy" you'll probably get a kick out of this as well.I recommend getting acquainted with the Bee Gees before watching this movie. There's a good documentary called "The Bee Gees: In Our Own Time" which might open your eyes and prep you for a better experience if you decide to watch this. Only now, decades after the fall of disco and with only 1 Bee Gee still living, the band is finally getting some respectful treatment. Love em or hate em, you gotta admit they took the world by storm for a brief moment in music history.Notable guest musicians Earth Wind & Fire, Peter Frampton, Alice Cooper, Aerosmith, and a hilariously bizarre appearance by fancy-footed soul singer Billy Preston shooting laser beams of love from his fingertips round out this one-of-a-kind experience (Billy played electric piano on the Beatles' original "Get Back" which he sings here). I like to keep this DVD playing at loud volumes while I'm doing household chores to keep me moving. It may scare off some visitors, but then who needs em?

If you love The Beatles, their music, or the types of movies they made, please do not watch this. This sorry excuse for a film is a compilation of terrible renditions of Beatles songs performed by the Bee Gees with Peter Frampton (da fuh??)and imitates the quirky style of the Beatles films that you love. It follows the predictable story of a band plucked from obscurity that rockets to fame, and all their misadventures along the way, mostly focusing on retrieving the magical instruments of Sgt. Pepper that were stolen. The film is occasionally narrated by an old man who makes you wonder what John or Paul would say whenever he starts singing their songs.And what is this? Dr. Loomis from Halloween is a perverted old man who slips a roofie or a drugs or something into Framptons glass that is supposed to be funny, or something.For the most part you can follow what is going on in the story, but at times it's unclear what is going on, and why anyone agreed to do the things that the director asks them to do. For example, Alice Cooper drops his face into a cream pie after cheering for himself singing. Cool. Good job.Oh look, an unnecessary hot air balloon ride scene.The Bee Gees do a great job of looking like horny teenagers whenever they see a pair of legs that they can discern as female. With all the flowy hair and skinny jeans, it is quite remarkable if you can identify a man from a woman in this film. The only scenes worth watching are Steve Martin singing Maxwell's Silver Hammer as a crazy Doctor, and Aerosmith serenading a troop of pelvic thrusting boy scouts who apparently have kidnapped the on again off again love interest. Then Peter Frampton and Steven Tyler strangle each other while wearing very shiny spandex pants until Strawberry Fields pushes Tyler to his untimely demise. Then in shock for killing the one guy in the scene who deserved to live, she passes out and falls to her own electrically charged death.It's hard to tell if this film is trying to pay tribute to the Beatles and their work, or if maybe it's just a bunch of people tripping on Acid and singing Beatles songs. The Bee Gees are over the top and annoying as hell in each scene they're in. The Ringo character chews the scenery incessantly, and winks cheekily at the camera looking even more ridiculous than his counterparts.Oh cool, another unnecessary hot air balloon ride.Just when you think this movie couldn't ruin the Beatles for you any more, they go ahead and find a 70's vision of futuristic robots and have them sing She's Leaving Home in a flat, emotionless, robotic voice. Then mean Mr. Mustard, the villain(?) sings an operatic When I'm 64, and ties Strawberry Fields to the top of his creepy child molester van, and they briefly sing a duet.I stumbled on this film on Netflix. I considered it again and again, curious as to what it could possibly be about. After two years of putting off and putting off giving it a try, I finally in a moment of weakness said to myself, "It can't be THAT bad," and pressed play. What followed was worse than I could have possibly imagined, yet, I couldn't turn it off. There HAS to be a redeemable quality in this. People spent money on this movie to get it made. And possibly thousands of dollars just on keeping the Bee Gees hair feathered and flowy. That is a lot of hairspray, my friends. Then I saw it. That moment when you just know, THIS is why the movie was made! Barry Gibb puts a hand on each of his brother's knees, and looks them both in the eye while singing "I want to turn you on". Frampton immediately leaps from the top of a building to commit suicide. The Deuce Ex Machina shows up out of nowhere and uses his magical pointing finger to zap Frampton back to the precipice from whence he leapt, and does a funky rendition of "Get Back". He then proceeds to turn all the people on the street into priests and nuns, which, of course makes all kinds of sense. I mean, if I could go all Bruce Almighty, that's the first and most sensible thing to do. The film ends in the only way that this movie could possibly end, with a Bollywood song and dance with a bunch of random celebrities and has-beens singing and dancing their hearts out with the Bee Gees and Frampton marching in place in front of them. What has been seen, has been seen, and cannot be unseen.