Which comedy is actress Emma Stone, known for films like “Easy A” and “La La Land,” watching on repeat? It’s probably not one on most people’s radar, unless they’re fans of English rock bands. While speaking with HuffPost in 2011, she confirmed that if she could only have one DVD, it would be a film starring The Beatles. “The only movie I can watch on a loop, over and over, is ‘Help!,’ The Beatles movie,” Stone said. “It’s so funny and irreverent and great.”
Directed by Richard Lester, “Help!” is the second fictional film starring The Beatles, featuring music from their fifth album of the same name. The story follows the members of the band trying to save Ringo, as he’s chased by scientists and a cult that want to take a ring a fan gifted to Ringo. The quartet runs all over London, and eventually parts of Europe and the Bahamas, as they try to avoid the people chasing Ringo and try to cut the ring off before the drummer becomes part of a sacrifice. It’s an outlandish premise that’s fun to watch, leaving audiences guessing until the end.
Help! is credited with influencing music videos
“Help!,” though not particularly well-reviewed upon release in 1965, now fairs much better, holding an 86% on Rotten Tomatoes as of this writing. The original “New York Times” review from Bosley Crowther calls the band members “awfully redundant” and “dull,” noting that the spontaneity people loved in “A Hard Day’s Night” isn’t present, mostly because it felt like they were trying to force it the second time around. Reviews in the decades since its release highlight both the importance of the movie and the strength of the Beatles’ performances, looking at it in a more positive light.
The film is now widely considered influential to the development of music videos. It was The Beatles’ second visual project developed as a companion to an album, and it solidified interest in seeing visual counterparts to music. While no one has come as close to replicating what The Beatles did in having an entire full-length movie with a complete story and the music, many music videos have contained narratives, or even continuing plotlines as the artist releases additional videos, like with Sabrina Carpenter’s “Short n’ Sweet” music videos. Cameos from famous actors and personalities have also become common, like the recognizable faces in Taylor Swift’s music videos, and it all began with a little help from The Beatles.