Get Back is a relentlessly fascinating (and yes, relentlessly long) love letter to the Beatles from director Peter Jackson that serves, in a way, as a course correction for the rampant misconceptions of this era about them as a band. It’s January 1969, and Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr have gathered to write and record as many songs as they can for Let It Be as well as perform an unannounced rooftop concert to reacquaint themselves to the groove of live audiences; what ensues is a documentary about a documentary, with Jackson sorting through over 60 hours of film footage to get to the heart of the quartet’s various dynamics. We get incredible moments, like McCartney coming up with “Get Back†on the fly; Starr being nurtured by Harrison to pursue “Octopus’s Gardenâ€; and a bumbling duo of police constables who don’t want “the peace†disturbed. Oh, and Harrison quits for a bit, but he comes back … with Billy Preston.
The final seven-hour cut is also a sartorial feast for the eyes, with the Fab Four and their fellow inner-circle maestros (hello, the dashing Glyn Johns) pretty much putting on a constant Savile Row runway show every time they jam in the studio or take a toast and cigarette break. Drake’s would be smart to capitalize on the Beatles thirst right now; or, hell, we’d even be fine with a Jos. A. Bank Let It Be unisex capsule collection. Here, Vulture picked what we thought were the 24 best Get Back ensembles, just in time for winter.
