The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash (1978) (TV)

Directors:

Eric Idle
Gary Weis

Writer:

Eric Idle (conceived and written by)

Release Date:

22 March 1978 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Music

Tagline:

The Rutles, a living legend that will live long after other living legends have died.

Plot:

Charts the adventures of the prefab four, possibly the most famous band of all time.

Plot Keywords:

Beatles | Spoof | Rock Music | Imaginary Band | Fake Documentary

Cast

Eric Idle	...	Dirk McQuickly / Narrator / Stanley J. Krammerhead III,Jr.,Occasional visiting professor of applied narcotics at the University of Please Yourself Ca.
John Halsey	...	Barry Womble
Ricky Fataar	...	Stig O'Hara (as Rikki Fataar)
Neil Innes	...	Ron Nasty
Michael Palin	...	Eric Manchester, Rutle Corp. Press Agent / Lawyer
George Harrison	...	The Interviewer
Bianca Jagger	...	Martini McQuickly
John Belushi	...	Ron Decline, The most feared promoter in the world
Dan Aykroyd	...	Brian Thigh, Ex-Record producer who turned down the Rutles
Gilda Radner	...	Mrs. Emily Pules
Bill Murray	...	Bill Murray the K.
Gwen Taylor	...	Mrs. Iris Mountbatten / Chastity
Ron Wood	...	Hells Angel
Terence Bayler	...	Leggy Mountbatten
Henry Woolf	...	Arthur Sultan, The Surrey Mystic

Also Known As:

All You Need Is Cash (USA)

Runtime:

76 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:G (DVD rating) | Singapore:PG | UK:12 (video rating)

Filming Locations:

Abbey Road Studios, Abbey Road, St. John's Wood, London, England, UK

Company:

Above Average Productions Inc.

Trivia:

Innes, Fataar and Halsey regrouped in 1996 to record "Archaeology", their satirical response to the Beatles' "Anthology". It consisted of tunes not used in the movie, rearranged Neil Innes solo songs and one song penned as a spoof of "Free as a Bird". Idle didn't take part; Dirk McQuickly, the album's press materials explained, had quit the music business to become a comedian.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: In one scene the Pre-Fab Four are in front of a wall with some graffiti in it. The words spell the name of a group that didn't form until 1972: Be Bop Deluxe.

Quotes:

[on manager Leggy Mountbatten's discovery of the Rutles]
Iris Mountbatten: Well, he told me that he'd been to see these young men in a dark cellar.
Narrator: Yes.
Iris Mountbatten: He was always very interested in young men.
Narrator: Oh, yes.
Iris Mountbatten: Youth clubs, Boy Scouts, that sort of thing.
Narrator: Yes.
Iris Mountbatten: But these, he said, were different.
Narrator: In what way?
Iris Mountbatten: Their hair, and... their presence... and their music...
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: Humanoid Woman (#1.11)" (1989)

Soundtrack:

I Must Be In Love

Eric Idle's Finest Hour

"The final impression conveyed by this dismal programme was that of the talentless sneering at the talented" was how one angry Beatles fan summed up 'All You Need Is Cash' in a letter to 'The Radio Times' in 1978. He'd missed the point completely. Eric Idle and Gary Weis' film is not a mickey take of the group themselves, but rather the media circus that surrounded the Beatles. Archive footage is seamlessly blended with new material to create an exhilarating comic portrait of a fictitious '60's super group. Those who saw Tony Palmer's pretentious 'All You Need Is Love' series will appreciate Idle's spoof even more. Special mention must be made of Neil Innes as the Lennon figure, Ron Nasty. So brilliant were his Beatles pastiches that they were eventually released as an album. And as for 'Yellow Submarine Sandwich', well, it takes your breath away! Not all of the film works, for example, the joke made of Brian Epstein's death falls flat, but it remains Idle's best post 'Python' project to date.