respect the classics

The Beatles’ Let It Be Film No Longer Finds Itself in Times of Trouble

Photo: Everett Collection

It’s Let It Be’s turn to get back. A newly restored version of the Beatles’ final documentary will hit Disney+ on May 8, marking the first time it has been publicly available in over 50 years. The project follows Get Back, Peter Jackson’s 2021 docuseries composed of unused footage from Let It Be. Now, Jackson has used the same techniques to restore the original 1970 film, directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg. Let It Be notably features the Beatles’ final rooftop concert (and an appearance by keyboardist Billy Preston), but it was released in 1970, just after the band broke up, making the film a more solemn project than intended. After Get Back, though, Beatles fans clamored for the documentary’s rerelease. “I’ve always thought that Let It Be is needed to complete the Get Back story,†Jackson said. “Michael Lindsay-Hogg was unfailingly helpful and gracious while I made Get Back, and it’s only right that his original movie has the last word … looking and sounding far better than it did in 1970.†And what’s an extra hour and a half to his nearly eight-hour series?

Times of Trouble Are Over for the Beatles’ Let It Be Film