McCartney-Harrison Fight Was No Big Deal

Let It Be director Michael Lindsay-Hogg said a famous spat between Paul McCartney and George Harrison captured in the 1970 film about the making of the Beatles’ final album was no big deal.

“Nothing was going to be in the picture that they didn’t want,” Lindsay-Hogg told Grammy.com. “They never commented on that. They took that exchange as like many other exchanges they’d had over the years … but, of course, since they’d broken up a month before [the film’s release], everyone was looking for little bits of sharp metal on the sand to think why they’d broken up.”

During the often tumultuous recording sessions for the 1970 album that became Let It Be, Harrison, growing irritated by McCartney, told the bassist, “I’ll play, you know, whatever you want me to play, or I won’t play at all if you don’t want me to play. Whatever it is that will please you … I’ll do it.”

READ MORE: Every Beatles Song Ranked Worst to Best

The restored version of the 1970 film, long out of public view, recently premiered on Disney+. Peter Jackson, who spearheaded the 2021 miniseries The Beatles: Get Back, was instrumental in cleaning up the new edition of the movie, which Lindsay-Hogg originally directed in 1969 as the Beatles prepared to record a follow-up LP to The White Album.

Contrary to the general thinking about the Beatles’ relationship with each other and the film at the time, Lindsay-Hogg said that after he showed them a rough cut of the movie, they were not only friendly with each other but also went out afterward for dinner and drinks: “Nice food, collegial, pleasant, witty conversation, nice wine.

“Paul said he thought Let It Be was good. We’d all done a good job. And Ringo [Starr] and [his wife] Maureen were jiving to the music until two in the morning. They had a really, really good time. And you can see like [in the film], on their faces, their interactions — it was like it always was.”

‘Let It Be’ Director Never Thought the Film Would Be Released Again

Let It Be has been mostly absent since its premiere in 1970, even though there was some talk in the early ’80s about re-releasing it. And then it all but disappeared. Lindsay-Hogg said he feared the film would never be shown again. “I went through many years of thinking, It’s not going to come out,” he noted. “Then suddenly the sun comes out. And someone opens the cell door, and Let It Be walks out.”

In addition to the newly restored version of the movie now showing on Disney+, a new music video for the song “Let It Be” was assembled using clips from the film and previously unseen outtakes from the rushes. You can watch the video below.

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