Backbeat
Backbeat (1994) starring Stephen Dorff, Ian Hart, Sheryl Lee and directed by Iain Softley.
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New York TimesJanet Maslin

Backbeat, which for all its pretensions can often be impressively canny and affectionate about its subject, is helped enormously by newly recorded versions of Beatle records.

Aisle SeatMike McGranaghan

Why would anyone would want to see a movie about the pre-fame Beatles when the post-fame Beatles had enough drama and excitement to fill several movies.

Hartford CourantMalcolm Johnson

It is the band, the group - with or without Sutcliffe - that makes Backbeat such a powerfully emotional elegy.

EmanuelLevy.ComEmanuel Levy

The film tells the story of the original, little-known fifth Beatle, Stuart Sutcliffe, a young painter with rock n' roll sensibility who in 1960 forgoes his promising art career to join his best friend John Lennon (nicely played by Ian Hart) in Berlin

Solzy at the MoviesDanielle Solzman

When we have a comprehensive documentary available in the form of The Beatles Anthology, films like Backbeat end up serving as a moot point.

Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten

Historically, we might quibble with the overall sound quality and the fact that the Beatles surely never played their instruments quite this efficiently in 1960 but, once again, what the music captures is its overwhelming appeal.

Film ThreatBrad Laidman

The music, done here by a group of grunge all-stars, doesn't even attempt to sound dead-on, but remains mostly true to the raucous spirit of the time.

NewsweekDavid Ansen

Get back, get back to where you once belonged, you want to shout. But the movie is stuck in the wrong groove.

Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum

There's nothing very profound here, but we do at least get a nice handling of period and milieu, and pretty good performances of the songs.

VarietyTodd McCarthy

The early, pre-fame days of the Beatles are a great subject for a film, but the potential has been only partly realized in Backbeat.

Washington PostRichard Harrington

Working with a time period and two crucial characters probably not too familiar to less-than-avid Beatles or rock fans, Softley needs a great performance, and he gets it from Hart.

Washington PostJohn F. Kelly

Softley is able to enliven a familiar story and famous characters. His cast helps him.