Let It Be (1970) is a documentary directed Michael Lindsay-Hogg, previously a director for the Ready Steady Go! telivision program, produced by Neil Aspinall, former Beatle road manager, and presented by Apple. The film stars John, Paul, George and Ringo, with guest appearances by Yoko Ono, Billy Preston, Heather Eastman, George Martin, and Mal Evans. Distributed by United Artists. 88 minutes.

The final movie in the Beatles deal with United Artists began as a rehearsal for their return to the concert stage after three eventful years, and ended as a meager consolation prize for fans in the wake of the group's breakup.

After the personality clashes that erupted during the White Album sessions, Paul devised a scheme to return the Beatles to their former state of cooperation and comradery: The band would rehearse for a concert featuring all new material rather than tried and true hits, and the rehearsals would be filmed for a television documentary. The show was envisioned as taking place in such exotic locations as a Tunisian amphitheater, the Saraha desert at sunrise, or on a cruise ship in the middle of the ocean--although in the end venues closer to home recieved more serious concideration. The concert would be packaged with a book still photographs from the TV and feature films. Ideally, he planned for the record, book, TV special, and movie to be released simultaneously--a dramatic show of force from the Beatles, the undisputed pacesetters in music, hairstyles, clothing, and poltical opinion.

Paul booked the cavernous Twickenham Film Studio for the first two weeks of January 1969, summoned the Beatles, and hired a film crew. Twickenham, however, proved draftly, impersonal, and uninspring, especially because the cameras peeped over the band members' shoulders from dawn until dusk. The other Beatles weren't sure they wanted to preform untested material; in fact, they weren't sure if they wanted to play at all. They couldn't decide whether to prepare for a concert or develop new songs for an album. Tempers flared; at one point, George walked out on the band. He returned after a few days and pursuaded the others to invite Billy Preston, a friend from the Hamburg days, to sit in on keyboards, thus ensuring their civil behavior.

Facing growing resistance, Paul attempted to salvage the notion of a concert by scaling back the plan to an impromptu performance outdoors on the roof of Apple's offices. In order to record the album, the Beatles moved the production to their own studio, hastily assembled in the Apple bacement. The TV documentary and concert film colapsed into a humble cinema-verite feture, providing a handy way of fulfilling the Beatles' obligation to supply United Artists with a successor to Help! and A Hard Day's Night.

In one month's time the Beatles generated ninety-six hours of film, from which director Michael Lindasy-Hogg was to crreate a documentary of the events. (Meanwhile, George Martin and engineer Glyn Johns were left with ninety-six hours of mono soundtrack and over thirty hours of multitrack tape, which contained take after take of the songs that would appear on the Let It Be album.)

However, it does provide one piece of a puzzle that, when assembled, offers a unique window into a private world of the Beatles, and an oppertunity to examine great artists at work that is, perhaps, entirely without parallel. When the official movie, record, and book are combined with sprawling archival remnants of film and tape that have surfaced in bootleg form, the picture is vivid indeed: four extraordinary talented weary artists who have reached the limit of a historic collabortion and must now carry on as individuals.

Let It Be met with a poor reception from both fans and the press. It did, however, win an Academy Award in 1970 for Best Origional Song Score. On the Apple Rooftop, the Beatles play: "Get Back," "Don't Let Me Down," "I've Got a Feeling," "One After 909," and "Dig A Pony." In the Studio, either in jam sessions or in properly rehearsed performances, the Beatles perform: "Piano Theme" (McCartney), "Don't Let Me Down," "Maxwell's Silver Hammer," "Two Of Us," "I've Got A Feeling," "Jazz Piano Song" (McCartney-Starkey), "Across The Universe," "Dig A Pony," "Suzy Parker" [as "Suzy's Parlor"] (Lennon-McCartney-Harrison-Starkey), "I Me Mine," "For You Blue," "Besame Mucho" (Valazquez-Skylar), "Octopus' Garden," 'You Really Got a Hold on Me" (Robinson), "The Long and Winding Road," "Shake, Rattle and Roll" (Calhoun), "Kansas City/Miss Ann/Lawdy Miss Clawdy" (Leiber-Stoller/Dolphy/Price), "Dig It," and "Let It Be."