All You Need Is Cash

All You Need Is Cash
DVD cover
Directed by	Eric Idle Gary Weis
Written by	Eric Idle Neil Innes
Starring	Eric Idle Neil Innes John Halsey Ricky Fataar Michael Palin George Harrison Bianca Jagger John Belushi Dan Aykroyd Gilda Radner Bill Murray
Production company	Broadway Video
Distributed by	NBC (USA) BBC Two (UK)
Release date	March 22, 1978 (1978-03-22)
Running time	76 minutes
Country	United Kingdom United States
Language	English

All You Need Is Cash (also known as The Rutles) is a 1978 television film that traces (in mockumentary style) the career of a fictitious British rock group called The Rutles. As TV Guide described it, the group's resemblance to The Beatles is "purely — and satirically — intentional."

The film was co-produced by the production companies of Eric Idle and Lorne Michaels, and directed by Idle and Gary Weis. It was first broadcast on 22 March 1978 on NBC, earning the lowest ratings of any show on American Prime time network television that week. It did much better in the ratings when it premiered in the UK on BBC2 less than one week later.

The music and events in the lives of the Rutles paralleled that of The Beatles, spoofing many of the latter's career highlights. For instance, the animated film Yellow Submarine is parodied as Yellow Submarine Sandwich, and the song "Get Back" became "Get Up And Go". Songs from the film were released on an accompanying soundtrack album.

All You Need Is Cash was one of the first films of its kind, and an inspiration for the successful Rob Reiner cult comedy This Is Spinal Tap, released in 1984.

The Rutles were played by Eric Idle, John Halsey, Ricky Fataar, and Neil Innes. The band originally appeared in a sketch on Idle's program Rutland Weekend Television. The sketch was later re-broadcast on the American television show Saturday Night Live. For the film, Fataar replaced David Battley as Stig.