Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978)

Director:

Michael Schultz

Writer:

Henry Edwards (writer)

Release Date:

24 July 1978 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Family | Musical

Tagline:

A splendid time is guaranteed for all.

Plot:

Small town band hits it big, but they must battle a nefarious plot in the music industry.

Plot Keywords:

Small Town | Music Industry | Beatles | Prologue | Robot

Cast

Peter Frampton	...	Billy Shears
Barry Gibb	...	Mark Henderson
Robin Gibb	...	Dave Henderson
Maurice Gibb	...	Bob Henderson
Frankie Howerd	...	Mr. Mustard
Paul Nicholas	...	Dougie Shears
Donald Pleasence	...	B.D. Hoffler
Sandy Farina	...	Strawberry Fields
Dianne Steinberg	...	Lucy
Steve Martin	...	Dr. Maxwell Edison
Aerosmith	...	Future Villain Band (FVB)
Earth Wind & Fire	...	Themselves
Alice Cooper	...	Marvin Sunk (the 'Sun King')
Billy Preston	...	Sergeant Pepper
Stargard	...	The Diamonds

Also Known As:

Banda de los corazones

Runtime:

113 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby (35 mm prints) | 70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints)

Certification:

Singapore:PG | USA:PG | UK:PG | Finland:K-12 | USA:PG (certificate #25273)

Filming Locations:

Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Robert Stigwood Organization (RSO)

Trivia:

Billy Preston, who sings "Get Back", played the piano on original version with The Beatles.

Goofs:

Continuity: Donald Pleasence's character is called B.D. Hoffler. In the credits, his character is called B.D. Brockhurst.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in When Disco Ruled the World (2005) (TV)

Soundtrack:

I Want You (She's So Heavy)

What Were They Thinking?

Someone must have noticed that "Yellow Submarine" made money. That same person also noticed that the Bee Gees were popular. Put a popular disco group and popular Beatles songs together, and: magic???

Well, not really. This film hurts. It hurts all the more if one likes the Beatles' originals of these songs (OK, Aerosmith did a decent version of "Come Together," but that is not enough to mitigate the damage caused by the rest of the performances).

There are certain films that seem to be made just to put the tolerance of a badfilm watcher to the test. This film has its place in that pantheon, right between "Can't Stop the Music" and "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians."