Now is the winter of our discontent: or is it? Michael Lindsay-Hogg's Let it Be is widely thought a miserable affair, documenting arguments and the breakup of the Beatles. But watching it afresh after Peter Jackson's Get Back in 2021, it doesn't feel so much like that.
We ask whether the widespread consensus that it's a negative depiction is actually more a failure of collective memory. What was it really set George Harrison off when he told Paul McCartney "Well, I'll play whatever you want me to play"? And what do we make of Lindsay-Hogg's decision not to let you hear any of the songs in full until the end?
Video
The clip we mention of George Harrison talking to George Martin in the studio from the Hey Jude sessions:
Part 2 of this episode on the original 1970 film
Let it Be (original 1970 film) (part 2)
Why did John Lennon say this made the Beatles look like Paul McCartney's sidemen? And why did George Harrison laugh when Ringo Starr debuted Octopus's Garden?
Listen on SpotifyOur episode on the 2024 Disney+ restoration
Let it Be (2024 restoration)
Michael Lindsay-Hogg's arguably misunderstood 1970 film gets a spruced-up version on Disney+ in the wake of Get Back. Does it shift the old narrative?