Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (film)
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is a 1978 American musical comedy film directed by Michael Schultz and written by Henry Edwards. The film tells the loosely constructed story of a band as they wrangle with the music industry and battle evil forces bent on stealing their instruments and corrupting their home town of Heartland. The film is presented in a form similar to that of a rock opera, with the songs providing "dialogue" to carry the story. Only George Burns has spoken lines that act to clarify the plot and provide further narration.
Michael Schultz
Robert Stigwood
Henry Edwards
The Bee Gees
Frankie Howerd
Sandy Farina
Dianne Steinberg
Owen Roizman
Christopher Holmes
Apple Corps
RSO Records
July 21, 1978 (1978-07-21)
The film's soundtrack, released as an accompanying double album, features new versions of songs originally written and performed by the Beatles. The film draws primarily from two of the band's albums, 1967's Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and 1969's Abbey Road. The film covers all of the songs from the Sgt. Pepper album with the exceptions of "Within You, Without You" and "Lovely Rita", and also includes nearly all of Abbey Road.
The production was loosely adapted from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band on the Road, a 1974 off-Broadway production[3] directed by Tom O'Horgan.[4] The film was released to extremely negative reviews.
The film was produced by Robert Stigwood, founder of RSO Records, who had earlier produced Saturday Night Fever. RSO Records also released the soundtrack to the film Grease in 1978, which had Barry Gibb producing and Peter Frampton playing lead guitar on the title track. In 1976, the Bee Gees had recorded three Beatles cover songs, "Golden Slumbers / Carry That Weight", "She Came In Through the Bathroom Window" and "Sun King", for the musical documentary All This and World War II.
The Beatles' former producer, George Martin, served as musical director, conductor, arranger and producer of the film's soundtrack album. Before the film's release, Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees announced: "There is no such thing as the Beatles now. They don't exist as a band and never performed Sgt Pepper live in any case. When ours comes out, it will be, in effect, as if theirs never existed."[5]
Mr. Kite (George Burns), elderly mayor of the small-yet-wholesome town of Heartland, recounts the history of Heartland's celebrated marching band. Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band brought happiness through its music, even causing troops in World War I to stop fighting. In August 1958, bandleader Phineas Patrick Paul Pepper died in the middle of a performance. Sergeant Pepper left the band's magical musical instruments to the town; so long as they remain in Heartland, its people will live happily ever after. Heartland City Hall, which contains the instruments, is topped with a Magical Weather Vane in the shape of a marching band trumpeter; the vane foresees good and ominous developments. Sergeant Pepper left his musical legacy to his handsome and good-hearted grandson, Billy Shears (Peter Frampton). Billy forms a new Lonely Hearts Club Band with his three best friends: brothers Mark, Dave, and Bob Henderson (The Bee Gees). Billy's charming but avaricious half-brother, Dougie (Paul Nicholas), serves as the band's manager.
Heartland loves the new band (With a Little Help from My Friends), and soon Big Deal Records president B.D. Hoffler (Donald Pleasence) invites them to Hollywood with the promise of a record deal. The band accepts (Here Comes the Sun). Billy bids farewell to his sweet hometown girlfriend, Strawberry Fields (Sandy Farina). Once in Hollywood, B.D. gets the naive band to sign an exploitative contract by plying them with drugs and alcohol. He gets sexy singers Lucy (Dianne Steinberg) and the Diamonds (Stargard) to seduce Billy and the Hendersons. Hitting it off with Lucy, Billy all but forgets about Strawberry. The band quickly succeeds with hit records and sold-out shows.
Meanwhile, villainous Mr. Mustard (Frankie Howerd) and his henchman the Brute drive to Heartland in their computer- and robot-equipped van. Mustard gets his orders via computer from the mysterious FVB, who directs him to steal the magical instruments from City Hall. Mustard is commanded to keep the drum, and to distribute the other instruments among FVB and its affiliates. Without the instruments, Heartland - now under Mustard's control - quickly degenerates into a hotbed of vice and urban decay. Strawberry travels to Hollywood (She's Leaving Home), where she finds Billy and the band at a recording session. She tells them of Heartland's plight. The band and Strawberry steal Mustard's van. They use its computer to locate the stolen instruments. They recover the cornet from the deranged, money-driven anti-aging specialist Dr. Maxwell Edison (Steve Martin). They recover the tuba from mind-controlling cult leader Father Sun (Alice Cooper). They find the drum still in Mustard's van. However, the computer malfunctions before they can locate the final missing instrument...the saxophone, which remains in the hands of FVB.
As Heartland continues to deteriorate, the band plans a benefit concert to save the town (Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!). B.D., Lucy, and Dougie go along with the plan...exploiting the situation for financial gain. Dougie and Lucy, who have bonded over their shared love of money, plot to run off with the show's proceeds. They hide bags of money in Mustard's van while Billy, Strawberry, and the Hendersons are watching Earth, Wind & Fire perform at the benefit. Mustard and the Brute suddenly arrive and take back the van, which also contains the recovered instruments. They also kidnap Strawberry, with whom Mustard has fallen in love from afar (When I'm Sixty-Four). Mustard drives off with Dougie, Lucy, Strawberry, and the money hidden on board. Billy and the Hendersons see the van leave and pursue it in the town's hot air balloon.
Mustard drives to FVB's headquarters, where the Future Villain Band plans to take over the world. This Orwellian hard-rock group (Aerosmith) contrasts the wholesomeness of Sgt. Pepper's band. FVB is described as "the evil force that would poison young minds, pollute the environment, and subvert the democratic process"; they perform in militaristic uniforms on a high platform stage made to look like stacks of money, accompanied by uniformed youth twirling flags. To turn Strawberry into a "mindless groupie", FVB chains her up onstage while the band plays Come Together and lead singer Sal (Steven Tyler) fondles her. Dougie and Lucy are also tied up and forced to watch. Billy and the Hendersons arrive and engage FVB in hand-to-hand combat. Sal gets the upper hand against Billy, but Strawberry pushes him away. In the process, she falls from the stage to her death.
The town of Heartland, now cleaned up, holds an elaborate funeral for Strawberry (Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight). The depressed Billy attempts to get Strawberry off his mind (The Long and Winding Road); when he can't, the Hendersons worry for him (A Day in the Life). Billy attempts suicide by jumping from a rooftop. Before he can hit the ground, in a form of Deus ex machina, the Magical Weather Vane on top of City Hall comes to life as Sergeant Pepper (Billy Preston). Wielding magical lightning bolts, Pepper catches Billy (Get Back). Pepper dances through the town square, transforming Mustard and the Brute into a bishop and a monk. Mustard's van is transformed into a Volkswagen Beetle. Dougie and Lucy are transformed into a priest and a nun. Strawberry is restored to life, and happily embraces Billy. Sergeant Pepper transforms the band members' mourning suits into shiny new uniforms. In the finale, the cast appear with numerous celebrities in a tribute to the original Beatles album cover.
Feature performers
The Bee Gees, Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb, whose music had been integral to Saturday Night Fever (released by this film's international distributor, Paramount Pictures), play Mark, David and Bob Henderson, members of the re-formed Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. They also provide the computerized voices for Mean Mr. Mustard's robots.
Peter Frampton, whose album Frampton Comes Alive! was the biggest-selling live album ever at the time, plays Billy Shears, leader of the re-formed band and grandson of the original Sgt. Pepper character.
Steve Martin's comedy album A Wild and Crazy Guy was released the same year as the film, reaching number two on the music-dominated Billboard 200 album charts.[6] His performance as Dr. Maxwell Edison, singing "Maxwell's Silver Hammer", foreshadows his zany dentist role in the 1986 film Little Shop of Horrors.
The cast also features
British comedian Frankie Howerd as Mean Mr. Mustard (his only major U.S. film appearance; he later quipped about the film "It was like Saturday Night Fever, but without the fever")
Paul Nicholas as Dougie Shears
Donald Pleasence as B.D., referred to as B.D. Hoffler in Burns' narrative voice-over and on a magazine cover in the film, but officially known in the film's credits, publicity materials, and in-film posters as B.D. Brockhurst
Sandy Farina as Strawberry Fields
Dianne Steinberg as Lucy
Aerosmith as Future Villain Band (FVB)
Alice Cooper as Father Sun
Earth, Wind & Fire, appearing as themselves
Billy Preston as the magical Sgt. Pepper golden weather vane come to life
George Burns as Mr. Kite
Stargard as the Diamonds
Anna Rodzianko and Rose Aragon as The Computerettes
Carel Struycken as Brute
Patti Jerome as Saralinda Shears
Max Showalter as Ernest Shears
John Wheeler as Mr. Fields
Jay W. MacIntosh as Ms. Fields
Eleanor Zee as Mrs. Henderson
Patrick Cranshaw as Western Union Manager
Teri Lynn Wood as Bonnie
Tracy Justrich as Tippy
Additionally, the film becomes a time capsule of late 1970s pop culture with the last scene in which the cast is joined by "Our Guests at Heartland" to sing the reprise of the title track while standing in a formation imitating the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper album cover. The scene was filmed at MGM Studios on December 16, 1977; indeed, according to co-star Carel Struycken (Mustard's henchman Brute), Sgt. Pepper was the last film to be made at MGM under that studio's then existing management.
The guests were
Peter Allen
Keith Allison
Stephen Bishop
"Charlotte, Sharon, and Ula"
Jim Dandy
Sarah Dash
Rick Derringer
Barbara Dickson
Yvonne Elliman
Jose Feliciano
Leif Garrett
Adrian Gurvitz
Billy Harper
Eddie Harris
Nona Hendryx
Barry Humphries as Dame Edna Everage
Bruce Johnston
Joe Lala
D.C. LaRue
Jo Leb
Marcy Levy
Mark Lindsay
Nils Lofgren
Bruce Morrow (Cousin Brucie)
Peter Noone
Alan O'Day
The Paley Brothers
Wilson Pickett
Anita Pointer
Helen Reddy
Chita Rivera
Monte Rock III
Danielle Rowe
Seals & Crofts
Sha-Na-Na
Del Shannon
Diane Vincent
Alan White
Lenny White
Jackie Lomax
Margaret Whiting
Hank Williams, Jr.
Wolfman Jack
Gary Wright
The film began as a 1974 live Broadway show[7] called Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band on the Road, which was produced by The Robert Stigwood Organization.[8] Stigwood had purchased the rights to use 29 Beatles songs for the play and was determined to do something with them, so he brought the songs to Henry Edwards to write a script.[9] Edwards had never written a script for a film, but had impressed Stigwood with musical analysis he'd written for The New York Times.[9] "I spread the songs out on my apartment floor and went to work," said Edwards.[9] "Mr Stigwood wanted a concept. I told him I'd like to do a big MGM-like musical. We'd synthesize forms and end up with an MGM musical but with the music of today."
With a script in place, the cast was assembled. In the spring of 1977, Frampton, The Bee Gees, and Martin met to begin work on the soundtrack.[10] Filming started in October 1977 on the backlot of MGM Studios in Culver City, where the set of Heartland, USA was built. Interiors were filmed at Universal City Studios.
Although Universal had high hopes for the movie — anticipating "this generation's Gone With the Wind " — it worked out differently. According to film historian Leonard Maltin's TV, Movie & Video Guide, the picture "just doesn't work" and "ranges from tolerable to embarrassing. As for the Bee Gees' acting, well, if you can't say something nice..." On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 12% score based on 26 reviews with an average rating of 3.04/10. The site's critical consensus reads "I thought you might like to know that the Beatles (aka the act you've known for all these years) are ill-served by this kitschy, aggressively whimsical fantasy film that's most certainly not a thrill".[11]
In Rolling Stone, Paul Nelson ridiculed virtually every aspect of the production. He said that Frampton had "absolutely no future in Hollywood" while Schultz "would seem to need direction merely to find the set, let alone the camera". Nelson commented on the musical soundtrack: "The album proves conclusively that you can't go home again in 1978. Or, if you do, you'd better be aware of who's taken over the neighborhood."[12]The New York Times's Janet Maslin wrote that the "musical numbers are strung together so mindlessly that the movie has the feel of an interminable variety show", also adding that "conceived in a spirit of merriment, ... watching it feels like playing shuffleboard at the absolute insistence of a bossy shipboard social director. When whimsy gets to be this overbearing, it simply isn't whimsy any more."[13] Similarly, David Ansen of Newsweek dismissed Sgt. Pepper as "a film with a dangerous resemblance to wallpaper".[14]
A more positive review came from The Valley Independent, whose Ron Paglia called the film "Good, campy fun", citing Steve Martin's performance as "a high point" and the celebrity-filled finale as "something special" before concluding "there's much to enjoy."[14] The Intelligencer's Lou Gaul described the production as "A sort of modern Fantasia for today's teens".[15]
The film was ranked No. 76 on VH1's 100 Most Shocking Moments in Rock and Roll.
Band response
When asked about the film in a 1979 interview, George Harrison expressed his sympathy for Stigwood, Frampton and the Bee Gees, acknowledging that they had all worked hard to achieve success before making Sgt. Pepper. He said of Frampton and the Bee Gees: "I think it's damaged their images, their careers, and they didn't need to do that. It's just like the Beatles trying to do the Rolling Stones. The Rolling Stones can do it better."[16]
At the 1978 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards, the film received a nomination for Worst Picture. When the ballot was revised in 2003, it kept that nomination while also receiving nominations for Worst Supporting Actress (Dianne Steinberg, who played Lucy in the film) and Worst On-Screen Group (Lucy and the Diamonds).[17]
The film was a minor commercial disappointment as it earned $20.4 million against the production budget of $13 million.
All This and World War II, a 1976 musical documentary that also used the concept of using covers of Beatles songs to tell a story.
Across the Universe, a 2007 musical film that also used the concept of using Beatles songs to tell a story.
List of cover versions of Beatles songs
Other films released during the late 1970s disco and jukebox movie musical craze
Thank God It's Friday (1978)
Skatetown, U.S.A. (1979)
The Apple (1980)
Xanadu (1980)
Can't Stop the Music (1980)
"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (U)". British Board of Film Classification. August 24, 1978. Retrieved August 16, 2015.
'Sgt. Pepper': Marching to Schultz's Beat: 'Sgt. Pepper' and Schultz Come Together Lee, Grant. Los Angeles Times (1923-Current File) [Los Angeles, Calif] 23 July 1978: v23.
"The Theater: Contagious Vulgarity". Time. December 2, 1974. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
According to IMDb, one of the credits for the film is "Stage production conceived and adapted by Tom O'Horgan."
Doggett, Peter (2011). You Never Give Me Your Money: The Beatles After the Breakup. New York, NY: It Books. p. 256. ISBN 978-0-06-177418-8.
Billboard.com – Biography: Steve Martin
Stigwood, Robert (1978). The Official Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Scrapbook. Pocket Books. p. 6. ISBN 0-671-79038-2.
"RCA & Col Will Share Show Album". Billboard. November 9, 1974.
"Beatles Tunes Star in New Film". The Capital. January 24, 1978.
"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved June 19, 2019.
Nelson, Paul (October 5, 1978). "'Sgt. Pepper' gets busted". Rolling Stone.
Janet Maslin's review of the film from The New York Times
Paglia, Ron (August 30, 1978). "'Pepper' fun even without Beatles". The Valley Independent.
Gaul, Lou. "Sgt. Pepper's a 'Fantasia' for teens". The Intelligencer.
Brown, Mick (April 19, 1979). "A Conversation With George Harrison". Rolling Stone. Retrieved March 6, 2019.
https://web.archive.org/web/20070816031103/http://theenvelope.latimes.com/extras/lostmind/year/1978/1978st.htm
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band on IMDb
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band at the TCM Movie Database
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band at Box Office Mojo
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band at Rotten Tomatoes
Theatrical Trailer on YouTube
"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"
"With a Little Help from My Friends"
"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"
"Getting Better"
"Fixing a Hole"
"She's Leaving Home"
"Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!"
"Within You Without You"
"When I'm Sixty-Four"
"Lovely Rita"
"Good Morning Good Morning"
"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)"
"A Day in the Life"
Non-album single
"Strawberry Fields Forever"
"Penny Lane"
"Only a Northern Song"
"Carnival of Light"
Tribute albums
Easy Star's Lonely Hearts Dub Band
Sgt. Pepper Knew My Father
Sgt. Pepper Live
Sgt. Petsound's Lonely Hearts Club Band
With a Little Help from My Fwends
The Beatles discography
Sgt. Pepper's cover
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (soundtrack)
It Was Twenty Years Ago Today
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band on the Road
Yellow Submarine (film)
"Tina in the Sky with Diamonds"
The Beatles (White Album)
The Beatles filmography and videography
Filmography and videography
The Beatles: 1+
Around the Beatles
The First U.S. Visit
At Shea Stadium
A Salute to the Beatles
The Compleat Beatles
Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years
Promotional films (music videos)
"Rain"
"Paperback Writer"
"Hello, Goodbye"
"Lady Madonna"
"Hey Jude"
"Revolution"
"Something"
"Free as a Bird"
"Real Love"
Fictionalised Beatles
Birth of the Beatles
Beatlemania
Give My Regards to Broad Street
John and Yoko: A Love Story
Backbeat
The Hours and Times
The Linda McCartney Story
In His Life: The John Lennon Story
The Killing of John Lennon
Lennon Naked
Snodgrass
Inspired by Beatles
The Girls on the Beach
All This and World War II
I Wanna Hold Your Hand
All You Need Is Cash
The Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch
Films directed by Michael Schultz
Together for Days (1972)
Honeybaby, Honeybaby (1974)
Cooley High (1975)
Car Wash (1976)
Greased Lightning (1977)
Which Way Is Up? (1977)
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978)
Scavenger Hunt (1979)
The Jerk, Too (1984)
The Last Dragon (1985)
Krush Groove (1985)
Timestalkers (1987)
Tarzan in Manhattan (1989)
Livin' Large! (1991)
Day-O (1992)
Shock Treatment (1995)
Killers in the House (1998)
L.A. Law: The Movie (2002)
Woman Thou Art Loosed (2004)
The Most Exciting Organ Ever
Early Hits of '65
Wildest Organ in Town!
Greazee Soul
That's the Way God Planned It
I Wrote a Simple Song
Everybody Likes Some Kind of Music
The Kids & Me
It's My Pleasure
A Whole New Thing
Late at Night
Billy Preston & Syreeta
The Way I Am
Pressin' On
Live European Tour
"That's the Way God Planned It"
"All That I've Got (I'm Gonna Give It to You)"
"My Sweet Lord"
"I Wrote a Simple Song"
"Outa-Space"
"Slaughter"
"Will It Go Round in Circles"
"Space Race"
"Nothing from Nothing"
"Get Back"
"With You I'm Born Again"
"Sing One for the Lord"
"The Duck"
"You Are So Beautiful"
"Get Back" (Beatles single)
The Concert for Bangladesh
George Harrison and Ravi Shankar's 1974 North American tour
The Rolling Stones' Tour of the Americas '75
Concert for George
Book:Billy Preston