Paul McCartney’s 1984 movie ‘Give My Regards To Broad Street’ was universally panned in its day. The production, 100% funded by Paul, became a money pit. It lost him millions, had hideous reviews and now both the movie and soundtrack album have been long out of print. But was it that bad? Actually no. I thought it was much better than The Beatles ‘Magical Mystery Tour’.
In 1984 the top three movies were the Hollywood big budget flicks 1. Ghostbusters 2. Beverly Hills Cop and 3. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. ‘Give My Regards To Broad Street’ premiered the same day as ‘The Terminator’ and a week after Talking Heads ‘Stop Making Sense’. Everything around it and before and after it drowned it out.
The movie itself was an ego trip for Paul but it had stars galore. Paul wrote the screenplay, was the main actor and scored the soundtrack. He should have hired a screenwriter, promoted some of its big stars and stuck with the soundtrack. It had some big names like Australia’s Bryan Brown, iconic comedian Tracey Ullman and Shakespearean actor, the legendary Ralph Richardson (who died before the release of the movie).
McCartney also surrounded himself with his family (Linda McCartney) and friends (Ringo Starr, Barbara Bach, Dave Edmunds, Eric Stewart, John Paul Jones, Chris Spedding and George Martin).
The plot was simple. Paul had just recorded an album but the tapes go missing and an ex-con employee is suspected of the theft. Simple dialogue glues the plot together but the movie is basically one giant music video showcase for McCartney music … and that’s why it is must see today if you are a McCartney fan.
The soundtrack album was a reinvention of Paul’s Beatles songs, some early and recent Wings and three band new songs including ‘No More Lonely Nights’, one of Paul’s last great hit songs. ‘No More Lonely Nights’ is worth listening to again just for the guitar solo from David Gilmour of Pink Floyd.
Paul revisits The Beatles ‘Good Day Sunshine’, ‘For No-One’, ‘Yesterday’, ‘Here There and Everywhere’, ‘Eleanor Rigby’ and ‘The Long and Winding Road’ for the movie. All of these songs were released after The Beatles stopped touring.
The solo McCartney tracks are a treat. ‘Ballroom Dancing’ with Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones on bass, the trippy ‘Silly Love Songs’ video and ‘So Bad’ from his most recent album at the time ‘Pipes of Peace’ makes these three parts worthy of their own music clips.
And guess what, the entire movie is streaming on YouTube and its excellent quality.
There was an added bonus at the time for McCartney fans. Before the movie the short that played was Paul’s 14 minute kids story ‘Rupert and the Frog Song’ featuring another new McCartney song ‘We All Stand Together’. That is also on You Tube in full.
With the 40th anniversary of the ‘Give My Regards To Broad Street’ movie and soundtrack and ‘Rupert and the Frog Song’ short film, I’m gobsmacked McCartney’s company MPL has not re-issued a 40th release. They have been long out of print for decades.
McCartney has been fixated on Beatles’ 60ths. There is a ‘Beatles 64’ coming soon to Disney. We recently saw ‘One Hand Clapping’, an unreleased documentary from 50 years ago with Wings in the studio. The McCartney archive releases just stopped with no mention of ‘London Town’ or ‘Back To The Egg’ reissues.
There is a lot more work to be done in the McCartney empire but it appears whoever drives the bus is asleep at the wheel.
Meantime, go to YouTube and check out the full length ‘Give My Regards To Broad Street’ and ‘Rupert and the Frog Song’. You may be surprised.
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