Big news for anybody who still identifies as a fan of The Beatles since Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is about to hit the shelves on Blu- Ray this September to follow the special edition Universal released for the 50th anniversary of the Beatle’s album of the same name.
For those who still do not know about this flick, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is a musical comedy that came out in 1978. While the movie is not really beloved by the critics (in fact, they slammed it pretty hard, with only 15% on Rotten Tomatoes and even the more casual crowd didn’t seem to bite into it too hard as Internet Movie DataBase gave it a 3.9 average), however, it still has a cult following for a number of simple reasons.
For starters: The Beatles.
The always beloved band was the one to originally write and perform all of the songs that found their way onto the soundtrack. It makes sense as the movie was based on McCartney’s idea to give the life to Sgt. Pepper’s band as an alter ego to the Beatles. In fact, the movie didn’t take only two songs from the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album.
In fact, the musical director, conductor, and arranger for the soundtrack was George Martin, a former producer of the Beatles. The tunes are catchy, and, to be frank, simply having any connection to The Beatles is a great plus for the marketing department of any a movie. Not to mention that the actual album that came out in 1967 was a huge commercial success.
The Time Capsule effect:
While the movie itself is not a huge hit, the cult following got one of the things they live for: It is a time capsule of the seventies with over 70 guest stars that have appeared throughout the film like Johnny Winter, Curtis Mayfield, and even Tina Turner. And those were only the guest stars. The movie actually starred a large number of various pop culture legends of the seventies. Steve Martin, Alice Cooper, the entire cast of Aerosmith, Billy Preston, The Bee Gees and many, many others. This is perfect for someone who is trying to commit the seventies to their memories forever.
The Bee Gees
While the songs were originally created and performed by the Beatles, for the soundtrack of the film, it was Peter Frampton and the Bee Gees who stepped up to the plate. And they were still hot after giving the world the tracks for Saturday Night Fever in the previous year. So the disco stars were sure to bring in people and at least earn some of the following for the movie.
The off-Broadway show.
While the film carried over some of the fame from the Beatles, it is actually only loosely based on the album, and the story of its conception is a bit longer than simply adjusting a music album to fit the narrative of the film.
Now late former manager of the Bee Gees, Robert Stigwood, had adapted the songs into a musical for an off-Broadway show which he named Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band on the Road: A Rock Spectacle. it debuted at Beacon Theater in New York in November 1974.
John Lennon and Paul McCartney were the ones to write all of the songs for the show as George and Ringo refused to participate in this undertaking. The movie did make noise as celebrities came in bulk to see its opening night. John Lennon was there, of course, as he watched multiple rehearsals with his then companion May Pang, interestingly, Yoko Ono was also there. The other celebrities that went to see the opening night were Andy Warhol, Bianca Jagger, John Phillips and others. And the opening night was a success, garnering ovation after ovation from the crowd. However, that was short lived.
The crowd was simply excited about the new content related to the Beatle’s which couldn’t last for too long. And the critics had no mercy when it came to this show. After only a couple of months, the show was dead in the water.
The Musical:
The album was beloved enough that they decided to give another chance to adapting it. And they did. Filming began in late 1977 for the movie to open on July 21, 1978. It follows the story of a famed musical group that was insanely successful during World War I (to the point of stopping the fight at one point) thanks to their magical instruments.
However, the leader of the band died and now, Billy Shears (grandson of the band’s leader, played by Peter Frampton) is to carry on in his stead. And soon enough, Billy will have to fight against the Future Villain Band (Aerosmith) to reclaim the magical instruments and stop them from taking over the world.
And now?
Well, it seems that Shout! Factory will release the musical on Blu-ray. The disc is expected to hit the shelves on September 26, and all the true fans are already lining up to buy it. For those among you who still haven’t watched it, this is a great opportunity to do so, and in high quality.