--- title: The Beatles Movie 'Help!' and What TIME's Critic Got Wrong About It description: The Beatles movie was released in the U.K. 50 years ago, on July 29, 1965 canonical: https://time.com/3965234/beatles-help-movie-review/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-29T14:30:42.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:02:23.603Z article:section: History og:title: What TIME Got Really Wrong About the Beatles Movie 'Help!' og:description: The Beatles movie was released in the U.K. 50 years ago, on July 29, 1965 og:url: https://time.com/3965234/beatles-help-movie-review/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt330f3593dee09687/69885bacf887dc94b3e91721/help.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Help! og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: What TIME Got Really Wrong About the Beatles Movie 'Help!' twitter:description: The Beatles movie was released in the U.K. 50 years ago, on July 29, 1965 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt330f3593dee09687/69885bacf887dc94b3e91721/help.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # What TIME Got Really Wrong About the Beatles Movie _Help!_  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jul 29, 2015 2:30 PM UTC  A poster for Richard Lester's 1965 musical film 'Help!' starring The Beatles. A poster for Richard Lester's 1965 musical film 'Help!' starring The Beatles.Movie Poster Image Art / Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jul 29, 2015 2:30 PM UTC It was 50 years ago—on July 29, 1965—that the Beatles movie _Help!_ was released in the U.K., and TIME’s critic had a very cynical guess as to why. “_Help!_ is the Beatles‘ all-out try at carving a new career as a screen team before their long love affair with the squealers dies out,” the magazine surmised shortly after its U.S. release later that summer. “As such, it is a failure, for as actors they are still nothing but Beatles, without enough characterization—or even caricaturization—to play anything but sight gags.” The second half of that paragraph was pretty accurate: even while playing characters, the Beatles were still unmistakably the Beatles. They never quite managed (with the possible exception of Ringo Starr’s turn on _Shining Time Station_) to fully take on roles other than their own. But the idea that the band needed _Help!_ to boost a dimming star is, in hindsight, dead wrong. Today, decades after their run ended, there are plenty of “squealers” who still love the Beatles. And, for that matter, who still love _Help!_ After all, even though the acting was deemed questionable, TIME’s critic found plenty to admire: “The charm and experimental spontaneity of _A Hard Day’s Night_ has here been replaced by highly professional, carefully calculated camera work and cutting,” the review gushed, “plus a story line made out of finely wrought jack-in-the-boxes.” **_Read the full review, here in the TIME Vault:_** [Chase & Superchase](http://time.com/vault/issue/1965-09-03/page/86/) ### See Photos of the Beatles on the Brink of Beatlemania  The Beatles relaxing poolside, February 1964. Bob Gomel—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  George Harrison by the pool in Miami, Florida, February 1964. ©Bob Gomel  The Beatles splashing in the ocean, Miami, Florida, 1964. Bob Gomel—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  John Lennon relaxing on a lounge chair, poolside in Miami, 1964. Bob Gomel—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  John Lennon doing cannonballs, Paul McCartney splashing and Ringo Starr turning away in Miami, 1964. ©Bob Gomel  Ringo gets a hug by the pool, Miami, Florida, February 1964. ©Bob Gomel  George Harrison and John Lennon in a swimming pool, Miami, Florida, February 1964. ©Bob Gomel  Paul McCartney relaxing on a lounge chair, February 1964. Bob Gomel—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  George Harrison eating by the pool, Miami, Florida, February 1964. ©Bob Gomel  Ringo Starr relaxing on a lounge chair, poolside in Miami, Florida, February 1964. Bob Gomel—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  John Lennon with a towel wrapped around his head after emerging from pool, February 1964. Bob Gomel—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  George Harrison by the pool in Miami, Florida, February 1964. Bob Gomel—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  Paul McCartney shakes out his wet hair beside the swimming pool in Miami, Florida, February 1964. Bob Gomel—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  John Lennon, George Harrison, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr in a swimming pool in Miami, February 1964. Bob Gomel—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  John Lennon drinking tea, poolside in Miami, Florida, February 1964. ©Bob Gomel  Paul McCartney in the ocean with fans in Miami, Florida, February 1964. ©Bob Gomel  The Beatles running on the beach in Miami, Florida, February 1964. ©Bob Gomel The Beatles Movie 'Help!' and What TIME's Critic Got Wrong About It ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3965234/beatles-help-movie-review/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3965234/beatles-help-movie-review/"},"headline":"What TIME Got Really Wrong About the Beatles Movie Help!","datePublished":"2015-07-29T14:30:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:02:23.603Z","description":"A last-ditch effort 'before their long love affair with the squealers dies out'","url":"https://time.com/3965234/beatles-help-movie-review/","keywords":["movies","Music","Beatles"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt330f3593dee09687/69885bacf887dc94b3e91721/help.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt330f3593dee09687/69885bacf887dc94b3e91721/help.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Help!","caption":"Help!","creditText":"Movie Poster Image Art / Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3965234/beatles-help-movie-review/","name":"What TIME Got Really Wrong About the Beatles Movie Help!"}}]}] ```