Fifty-three years after its component parts were filmed, Get Back looks like the last major piece of historical evidence that we will get to consider in assessing the Beatles, and director Peter Jackson has done a public service in bringing this daunting project to Disney+ in a three-part, eight-hour series.
A word of caution to the casual fan, though: Get Back may be a landmark event in Beatlesology, but it belongs more to the category of archival footage for completists than entertainment. Eight hours of narration-free fly-on-the-wall footage is far more than mere casual fans are likely to find enlightening; non-obsessive Beatles listeners are advised just to skip to the third and final episode, which culminates with the glorious, unannounced January 30, 1969, rooftop jam that proved to be the band’s final concert. “I hope we passed the audition,” John Lennon’s sardonic last lines as heard on the album Let It Be, would be the last words spoken to the public at a Beatles show.
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