Quotes About Help!

These are quotes about the movie Help! (from Roy Carr's Beatles At The Movies):

"The film will be a mad, zany comedy thriller and definitely not like the first film." -Walter Shenson, producer

"It was because they were put up against professional actors who were saying these bizarre lines better than they did. The Beatles made no real attempt at them because they were stoned throughout and probably thought "oh, sod this". The Beatles used pot as a continuing device to amuse themselves because film-making didn't amuse them any longer. We had some wonderful times, but it had all become a bit of a giggle. The novelty of being around a film crew had obviously worn off and pot was there to alleviate the bordeom of hanging around between takes." - Richard Lester, director

Paul McCartney:

"We just write songs and they are fitted into the film. That's what we did last time. We're not like other songwriters who get suggestions from certain lines in a script. Often we write tunes first without having a title. We'll get that later. But a lot of people work like that."

"When we began discussing where we were going to film, we said, "can we go away somewhere exotic for this one...like can you write a scene set in the Bahamas?" Then the lawyers thought 'aha, we'll tie that in with tax dodges' which didn't work of course. A guy called Walter Strach spent about a year in a house we were supposed to have bought in the Bahamas. Then, one day, he said, 'sorry I've sold the house you can't go there', it doesn't really work. It was a little bit of a scam that way."

Re: The title:"It's maddening. We must come up with something soon - and it's got to be funny. George is losing his hair with worry over it."

"A lot more vague...but looking back on it, Help! isn't such a bad film. It's more of a fun romp, but I think that A Hard Day's Night is the better of the two."

John Lennon:

"Help! was a drag becasue we didn't know what was happening. In fact, Richard Lester was a bit ahead of his time with the Batman thing but we were on pot by then and all the best stuff is on the cutting room floor, with us breaking up and falling all over the place."

George Harrison:

"Well be making another film in February, but I've no idea what it'll be all about. I hope there are no songs in it. It was all right getting songs in the last one because we had an excuse, they worked into the film all right. But I don't like these films where everybody bursts into song for no reason and you have a full orchestra blasting out from nowhere. Yes, I'd prefer to make a film without any singing."

Re: The title:"We had a couple of ideas, but they just didn't click. It's got to be a title that all four of us will click our fingers at, and say, "This is it!" Like A Hard Day's Night we knew straight away that was the title we wanted."

"I don't mind colour in a film if it doesn't mean dancing about in a red shirt, like in one of Cliff's. I don't like that."

Ringo Starr:

Re: The success of the song Ticket to Ride:"I'm glad it's top - quite honestly I didn't expect it. Of course it makes it even more difficult for the next single. The knockers can't have a go at us just yet but I suppose their day is bound to come eventually. It's got to stop somwhere hasn't it?"