Laserdisc Title: "BACK BEAT"
Edition: Fullscreen Edition (Single-Disc Set)
Directed By: Iain Softley
Starring: Sheryl Lee, Stephen Dorff, Ian Hart
Production / Year: 1993 PolyGram Film Productions GmbH
Running Time: 100 Minutes / Color
Audio Format: Stereo Surround Sound, CX Encoded
Video Format: NTSC, CLV (Extended Play)
Miscellaneous Features: None
Distributed By: PolyGram Video
Catalog / Spine Number: 800 631 771 - 1

IMPORTANT: This is a 12-inch Diameter Laserdisc, which is NOT the same as DVD and cannot be played on a DVD player!

Cosmetic Condition:
Disc (s): Excellent - Hardly noticeable to very minor hairline surface swirls, if any
Jacket: Excellent - Normal shelf wear, few creases, slightly worn-out corners or edges but no signs of spines splitting

Synopsis:

Ian Hart's second performance as John Lennon (the first was the little-seen The Hours and Times) commands attention in this marvelous musical bio of the Beatles in Hamburg directly before their stardom. The focus is on the "5th Beatle," Stuart Sutcliffe (Stephen Dorff), a bluesy bass guitar player who finds Germany has more interesting things (art and a woman) than music. The woman, Astrid (Sheryl Lee), chronicles the early years of the Beatles, and she falls in love with Stuart, a move that would influence many aspects of the Fab Four. Nearly overpowering the film is Hart in a great, energized performance of an artist on fire. The music was adapted for the movie, rediscovering the raw sound and ballistic energy in the back street clubs. These scenes of rock and genius intermixed with a nervy lead singer evoke similarities to Kurt Cobain and Nirvana.

Iain Softley's movie tells the story of Stuart Sutcliffe (Stephen Dorff), who was John Lennon's best friend at the Liverpool College of Art and, for a short time, the bass player of the Beatles. The picture doesn't quite succeed in turning this obscure sideman into a pop-culture myth in his own right. In the period that the screenplay covers-roughly, from August, 1960, when the group played its first night-club gig in Hamburg, to April, 1962, when Sutcliffe dies of a brain hemorrhage-the Beatles were unambiguously John Lennon's band. And, despite all Softley's efforts to deflect our attention to the tragic ironies of Stuart's brief career, Lennon (Ian Hart) dominates the movie, too. When the picture concentrates on Lennon's edgy wit and on the fierce, joyful music that his band is making, it's terriffc. But when it focusses on its nominal hero and his love affair with a worldly German bohemian (played by Sheryl Lee) it seems very ordinary. The script is by Softley, Michael Thomas, and Stephen Ward. The Beatles' music is re-created by a wonderful group of alternative-rock all-stars assembled by Don Was, including Thurston Moore, Mike Mills, Dave Grohl, and Greg Dulli.

THIS IS NOT A DVD!!! THIS IS A 12" LASERDISC AND WILL NOT PLAY IN A DVD PLAYER

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