The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash

Introduction

The Rutles were one of the biggest bands in music history - the 'Prefab four' from Liverpool went from humble beginnings to global success with songs like Hold My Hand, Let's Be Natural and Get Up and Go, recorded at the World-famous 'Shabby Road' studios. Their talent extended to movies, with such titles as O-U-C-H!, Yellow Submarine Sandwich and Tragical History Tour.

With contributions from Mick Jagger, Paul Simon and Roger McGough, this 'mockumentary' charts the rise and fall of Stig, Barry, Dirk and Nasty - The Rutles.

Video

The picture quality is alright, nothing spectacular but then it is 30 years old and largely comprised of archive footage - some real, some not, spliced together to put the Rutles in the 1960s and '70s at the height of Beatlemania. Some of the mock-ups are so well done that you could convince someone that The Rutles were real!

Audio

Just a Dolby Digital 2.0 mono track, so no 5.1 option for this special edition and no subtitles either. The latter is a shame as I would have liked to see the lyrics on-screen, to fully appreciate Neil Innes' writing.

Extra Features

The commentary with Eric Idle is disappointing, with far too much dead air - it's a shame he wasn't joined by Gary Weis or someone to moderate and coax more out of him.

'Get Up and Go' - The Making of The Rutles is an interesting and revelatory piece, running at about half an hour. There are contributions from most of the cast and crew, though oddly, not Eric Idle himself.

'Inside Shabby Road' - The Music of The Rutles principally features Neil Innes talking at length about the songs and how close he was able to get them to the real Beatles songs without risking legal action. There are a couple of amusing George Harrison anecdotes and most of the rest of the cast and crew appear along the way.

There is an intro to the original DVD release, by Eric Idle in his narrator character, which is just as at home here and some extended/deleted scenes that aren't crying out for re-insertion.

Conclusion

I haven't watched much post-Python stuff, just Fawlty Towers, Ripping Yarns and Terry Gilliam's films and hadn't even heard of The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash until a review copy became available.

I thought the term 'mockumentary' was coined to describe This is Spinal Tap, but Eric Idle, who wrote, directed and acted, got there first with this loving parody of The Beatles, which includes a cameo by George Harrison! The satire is spot-on, with Neil Innes' songs perfectly imitating The Beatles through their career from The Cavern to Beatlemania, through Psychedelia and their break-up.

The film is full of memorable lines and lyrics and is extremely well put together using real and manufactured archive footage mixed with contemporary interviews and Idle's presenter is a brilliant 'Alan Whicker' style creation, getting left behind by his camera, having interviews that go wrong and crossing to himself in incorrect locations, only to cross to the right place.

I laughed all the way through this and, although I can't comment on the difference between this and the original release, heartily recommend it to anyone who likes Monty Python and/or The Beatles.