Birth of the Beatles

Birth of the Beatles
Directed by	Richard Marquand
Written by	John Kurland Jacob Eskendar
Starring	Stephen MacKenna Rod Culbertson John Altman Ray Ashcroft David Wilkinson Brian Jameson
Release date	23 November 1979
Running time	104 minutes
Language	English

Birth of the Beatles is a 1979 biopic film, produced by Dick Clark's company (Dick Clark Productions) and directed by Richard Marquand. The film was released into cinemas worldwide except in parts of the United States, where it was shown as a TV film. The film focuses on the early history of the Beatles. It was released only nine years after the announced break-up of the Beatles themselves, and is the only Beatles biopic to be made while John Lennon was still alive. Pete Best, the Beatles' original drummer, served as a technical advisor for the production.

The film opens with the Beatles driving in a car with their manager Brian Epstein and John's wife Cynthia Lennon. It is 1964 and they are heading to America for the first time after already encountering massive success across Europe. They begin to remember the days before they became famous.

The film goes on a flashback to 1959, when the Silver Beatles (as they were called then) consisted of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Stuart Sutcliffe. They need a drummer and a manager, and Sutcliffe cannot play an instrument, only being in it because he is John's friend and none of the others want to play the bass guitar. They go and audition for an agent, where they meet Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, and become good friends with the Hurricanes' drummer, Ringo Starr. The agent at the audition says that if they get themselves a permanent drummer they can have a job in Scotland and then afterward a job in Hamburg, Germany.

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