The Rutles - All You Need Is Cash (1978)

Originally hatched in 1978 as a short film parody for Saturday Night Live, this expanded, 70-minute mockumentary on a trend-setting quartet of British mop-tops bloomed into one of Eric Idle's better projects outside Monty Python. Taking the career (and hagiography) of the Beatles and inverting them quite nicely, Idle conjures up four doppelgangers who offer the familiar mannerisms but practically none of the intelligence of their models. If that sounds like the same gag that powered This Is Spinal Tap (which emerged six years later), it is, with the crucial difference that Idle's lampoon is precise where Tap was consciously generic.

In telling the saga of the Rutles, Idle (who doubles as earnest narrator and McCartney-esque Rutle Dirk McQuigley) works from a rich and immediately familiar trove of pop lore, and he has a ball revisiting and reinventing milestones from the Fab Four's fabled history. The attention to period detail helps elevate the gags further, but Idle's real secret weapon is Neil Innes, standing in as Ron Nasty, the Rutles' answer to John Lennon: it's Innes who serves as the musical architect for the wonderful Beatles parodies that give All You Need Is Cash a delicious kick, and Innes, a one-time principal in the legendary Bonzo Dog Band, is gifted enough to capture the band's lyricism and energy as well as their shifting sense of style.

With the blessing and on-camera participation of George Harrison, and wry cameos from Mick Jagger and Paul Simon, All You Need Is Cash is a perfect companion to the Beatles' own glorious screen comedies and a great antidote to sanctimonious pop documentaries. --Sam Sutherland Amazon.com

Take that Beatles!

The Rutles are the funniest parody band ever conceived (Sorry Spinal Tap), and this mock-rockumentary is absolutely hilarious, especially if you are a Beatles fan because then you will get all of the tiny subtleties that are given to you in the Python-esque comedy about four lads. The only other Beatles parodies that are worth a darn is the "Picture" sketch from "Mr. Show" and the "B Sharps" from The Simpsons!
If you are not a fan of the Beatles, you may not get a lot of the film, but there are still some good jokes that you might enjoy. June 4, 2008

The Most Accurate Parody Ever Made

I don't know how they ever did this with such a straight face, this movie parodies the Beatles to a "Tea"(lol). If you havn't seen this film , make sure you see any Docu.. on the Beatles you can get your hands on, you will be in stiches. May 11, 2008

BEST ROCUMENTRY EVER

The Rutles "All You Need is Cash" is the first great Rock documentry parody and there are still few equals. It is better than "Mighty Wind" and Walk Hard" with "This is Spinal Tap" the only real peer. I grew up loving the Beatles, and now I can't take them seriously. This film reminds us how willing we are to heap our adulation on young beautiful people, and how we project greater talent on those people than they really have. Face it, the Beatles can't hold a candle to Mozart, Beethoven or Bach. In the future they will be remembered only as the first commercial global hysteria induced by mass marketing.

You will laugh and laugh and laugh.

The interviews with Jagger are especially hilarious, mainly because they come so close to the truth.

I bought the Soundtrack, and now I listen to it to the exclusion of all Beatles songs. Dirk, Nasty, Stig and Barry are my new pop idols. Stig is my favorite; who's yours? May 2, 2008

Oh, Honestly

The Rutles is a guilty pleasure. It's full of campy jokes and predictable humor, but it's irresistible. The more a viewer knows about the Beatles and the British Invasion, the funnier this film will be. Set aside any critical pretensions and just enjoy. March 26, 2008

It was certainly their tight pants

I love the Beatles and have followed them since 1964
when I saw "A Hard Day's Night" on a double bill with
"Fairy Cross the Mersey". Like Elvis before them, these fellows just sort of fell into it. The movie shows you that the music they started with wasn't all that good or original. Bob Dylan was original.
So why these strange British poor guys made good is
just one of those historical musical wonders.
That they actually did become good is the other... December 31, 2007

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