In the pantheon of eternal questions, ‘why did The Beatles break up?’ is one of the most persistent. What, fans have asked for 50 years, makes four lifelong mates who conquered the world with their boundary-breaking brand of rock and roll decide to pack it all in at the peak of their powers? Ultimately, the answer is: loads of things. But very few people are in a position to tell you exactly which of those things was more to blame than the others.
One of those people is filmmaker Michael Lindsay-Hogg. His legendary movie about the Mop Tops, Let It Be, first hit cinema screens in 1970 – and captured the group during their final days recording that titular last album in Twickenham, west London. For various reasons, the American director’s documentary has been out of circulation for decades – despite fan pressure for a re-release. Until now, that is.
To mark Let It Be’s streaming debut on Disney+, we sat down with the man who was there at the end of John, Paul, George and Ringo’s partnership to try and put an end to debate around their demise. Here’s what we found out.
NME: Hey Michael, did you change anything about the original 1970 Let It Be for this re-release?
MLH: “Hi! The only thing we changed was [how the footage looked]. Peter Jackson had chosen a more digital look when he was restoring the footage for Get Back, so it looked almost contemporaneous. But Tony Richmond, the director of photography on Let It Be, and I wanted to retain some filmic quality because the original source was film.”
You weren’t tempted to tweak the edit at all?
“No, nothing like that… There was very little interference from The Beatles at the time anyway, so it was the picture I wanted to make.”
Let It Be premiered in New York the month after they split – did that sour the atmosphere?
“I think that’s a good way of putting it… I was in Los Angeles when it came out. I know that none of The Beatles attended the London opening either… I think it did colour the perception at the time because people thought of it as the break-up movie – which it wasn’t… It wasn’t promoted that way… it wasn’t really promoted at all because it was collateral damage to the break-up.”
Did that not make people want to see it more?
“No. You have to understand that the break-up of The Beatles in 1970 was a very major event – and a sad event. The Beatles had been with us all through the 1960s. They had represented all that was good about that wonderful decade when so many things were busting out of repression. Their break-up was staggeringly awful for a lot of people.”
You’ve said the rough cut had more of John and Yoko but that the other three members “didn’t want to have a lot of the dirty laundry” in there…
“I would not now call it ‘dirty laundry’. I would say that The Beatles didn’t want distraction.”
Can you tell us what those deleted scenes were?
“From memory, I think there were a few sequences that had John and Yoko maybe on their own, having a cup of tea and chatting together. They were slightly separate [from the band]. Most of the stuff you see in Let It Be is John and Yoko as part of the group. It’s not John and Yoko on their own except for the wonderful sequence at the end of the first part when they dance.”
Did the band have any other problems with the cut?
“No, they had no problem when they saw it at a special screening… I was with them and they said that they liked the movie.”
Why do you think it’s taken so long to get a re-release then?
“I just think life took over for George, and John until he was murdered, and then Paul and Ringo – and they didn’t particularly want to revisit it… There wasn’t any appetite to have it re-released.”
You mention George – do you think the other members could have done more to keep him happy, because he seems quite fed up at times?
“That’s a tricky question. You have to be one of them. Don’t forget, the relationship of John, Paul and George began when they were teenagers. George was the youngest. I think he was playing with them when he was 13 or 14. And certain relationships, when they’re started in your teens, they go on that way…”
Did it ever feel tense during shooting?
“I felt that there was a certain amount of tension. But tension is not unusual in any artistic endeavour… It’s normal and it’s not something that anyone takes unusual notice of. It’s like a little boil or a pimple more than a cancer.”
There’s one scene where Paul and George are arguing about what George is going to play…
“They never asked for that to be taken out of the movie… I think that, for them, that was a normal exchange between two musical artists who are thinking what’s best for the song.”
Who do you think was most invested in keeping the band together?
“Paul had the idea that they should maybe do a concert and the others more or less agreed. I mean, he’s a very strong personality. He’s incredibly smart… And I could completely see how that would focus them all. It seemed like a really good idea. So I would say Paul was the one who wanted that and it made a lot of sense. So that’s my answer to that question.”
When George quit and then came back, he suggested moving to The Beatles’ Apple HQ to finish the album…
“Yes, he said, ‘let’s not worry about performing [the planned concert] and let’s just get out of Twickenham.’”
Do you think he’d decided to get it over with so he could focus on his solo stuff – or because he thought that was what was best for the band?
“That’s a very philosophical question. George was a really thoughtful human being. It could have been a mixture. I think the answer could be both.”
‘Let It Be’ is streaming now on Disney+