Backbeat

Backbeat is the story of a tortured, sexed-out, sensitive painter named Stuart Sutcliffe (played by Stephen Dorff, 1994’s pre-emptive answer to the fem and pretty Robert Pattinson). He’s the infamous “fifth Beatle.” This is when the Beatles first are together. In Hamburg, they play in stripclubs and sleep with anything that moves. John Lennon (played by the real John Lennon’s total look-alike, and who subsequently played John in other movies, Ian Hart) is the leader and he takes a fancy to Stuart. When someone comments that Stuart isn’t a very good bass player and that he just stands there, John acknowledges this, but counters, “Yes, but it’s the WAY he stands.” And, that pretty much sums up Stuart’s totally sexy charisma.

So, The Beatles continue to play for pennies and they’re just not taking off. Then, Stuart and the boys meet Astrid Kirchherr (played by Sheryl Lee), a photographer who famously cuts their hair into the iconic moptop style. As much as I fell in love with Stuart, I was equally enamored of Astrid. In fact, in order to mimic Astrid, after I saw Backbeat I got my blonde hair cut into a short, 1960s mod crop (and proceeded to be mistaken for a boy for the better part of middle school).

Stuart falls for Astrid and they start a sweet affair, marred only by John’s attraction to Stuart and Astrid’s own on again/off again boyfriend, Klaus. Stu’s love of art and his admittance into art school ultimately lead him down a different path than the one traveled by The Beatles. The movie is good not only because of the cast of characters, but because it oozes style. It’s Hamburg. It’s the 1960s. It’s a bunch of boys from Liverpool. The pants are tight; the hair is cropped; people have dark rooms in their bathrooms; cigarettes are chic; drugs are rampant; and sex is expected. God, I’m salivating just thinking about it. The style is enough, but what is more is the music. Borrowing from the first perceptions of The Beatles, the soundtrack musicians all sort of derive from punk, and even include Dave Pirner from Soul Asylum and Dave Grohl from Nirvana. It’s raw and raunchy—kinda like the Beatles were before they got big.

Backbeat is not really at all a story of how Stuart comes this close to enormous fame and then backs out. He was a gifted painter who never intended on doing rock and roll forever. It was a gig for fun. But, that’s not to discount the beginning fame and struggles of the Beatles. Watching John watching Stuart, one cannot discount the possibility that John started and kept the Beatles going on the hope that Stuart would stay and play forever. Given Stuart’s sexy charm and talent, who could really blame John?