Gary Bakewell Movies

Photographer, Beatles wife, tambourine player, purveyor of vegetarian entrees: Linda McCartney led an undeniably remarkable life. The Linda McCartney Story, based on the book Linda McCartney: The Biography, attempts to present this life in all its glory. Scion of the George Eastman photography dynasty, McCartney is first shown as Linda Eastman, aspiring rock photographer. Flirting her way around the transatlantic rock scene with the likes of Jim Morrison and Mick Jagger, she eventually meets Paul McCartney during the heyday of mid-'60s Beatlemania. Thirty years of marriage, the Beatles' break-up, tambourine playing with Wings, and McCartney's ultimately unsuccessful battle with breast cancer follow, illustrating, over the course of 120 minutes, a life lived with both strength and aplomb. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi

The Beatles' early days as a struggling bar band are depicted in this fact-based drama, which tells the little-known story of original member Stuart Sutcliffe (Stephen Dorff). A close friend of John Lennon, Sutcliffe acts as the band's original bassist, accompanying them on their early gigs in Liverpool and Hamburg, Germany. The friendship becomes strained, however, when Sutcliffe falls in love with a German art student and starts to question his commitment to the band. With Sutcliffe's story taking center stage, the stories of the more famous Beatles largely fade into the background. The exception is John Lennon, thanks to a fierce performance by Ian Hart, who had previously portrayed the musician in the more intimate and provocative The Hours and the Times. While Backbeat does provide a new perspective on the band's beginning, and numerous opportunities for a group of modern rock musicians to recreate the band's energetic early performances, it never makes Sutcliffe's story seem more than a footnote to musical history. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi