It turns up on the hand of Beatles' drummer Ringo Starr, which makes him the target of murder attempts by cult leader Leo McKern. His actions are sabotaged by Ahme (Eleanor Bron), who belongs to the cult but wishes to spare Ringo's life. Also after Ringo are mad scientist Victor Spinetti and his hapless assistant, Roy Kinnear. The Beatles turn to Scotland Yard inspector Patrick Cargill for help, but he is as incompetent as the cult.
Through it all, the four Beatles lads keep up a brave face, hamming it up despite the mortal danger they are in. After all, it's only a movie.
How others will see it. Help! was seen as a disappointment in 1965. It was too loose, too silly, even too British. Monty Python was a few years down the road, and the concept of silliness as cinema wore out its welcome with too many lame Jerry Lewis comedies.
Devoted Beatles fans will cherish the film, of course, as they did in 1965. The Establishment regarded the group and the movie with indifference. It received no Academy Award nominations. The 1966 Oscar for Best Original Song instead went to "The Shadow of Your Smile," which beat out equally tame nominations of Henry Mancini and Burt Bacharach.
How I felt about it. It must have been the director's vision. How else could this movie be as good as it is? Granted, the four leads are playing themselves, or at least, how their British audience wanted to see them: madcap outside of a recording studio, and superlative musicians once the microphones are turned on.
Richard Lester understood this, and he was blessed by the quality of the new Beatles songs, which included two chart-topping singles, the title song and "A Ticket to Ride." The remaining songs are virtually as brilliant. Even the George Harrison number holds up its end. Although later Beatles albums are better known today, their 1965 recordings are best, since the group's remarkable cohesion began to decline as early as 1966's "Revolver."
But a great rock 'n' roll soundtrack does not necessarily make a great movie. Elvis' G.I. Blues had already demonstrated that. Lester had to make a comedy, since it was impossible to place the amateur actor Beatles in plausible dramatic roles. It had to be a screwball comedy that took advantage of their celebrity as musicians. And it had to be a lot like A Hard Day's Night, which was a critical and commercial hit.
But there were grievous problems to be overcome. The plot appears hastily contrived. The script little more than a collection of gags and one-liners. Since The Beatles were the world's top-selling group, they were in demand in both the studio and on tour. Thus, the production had to be brief. The Beatles did not take the project seriously, and were allegedly stoned on pot for some of the scenes. Scenes were added in the Alps and the Bahamas simply because The Beatles wanted to vacation there.
Help! could easily have been a disaster, as was their British television special 1967 "Magical Mystery Tour." Only the vision and discipline of director Lester holds it together. He knows what's funny, goes with it, and it works, all of which is vastly more difficult to pull off than you might believe. There are better screwball comedies (A Hard Day's Night is an obvious example), but surprisingly few. I'll even take Help! over W.C. Fields' features, which previously set the bar for inspired ridiculousness.