George Harrison Said Movies in the 1980s Became ‘Paint by Numbers’

George Harrison had strong opinions about the movies that came out in the 1980s. He said it was like “paint by numbers.” Here’s what the former Beatle meant.

George Harrison said movies in the 1980s became ‘paint by numbers’

During a 1989 interview with Mark Rowland (per George Harrison on George Harrison: Interviews and Encounters), George talked about working with Dick Donner on Lethal Weapon. The former Beatle recorded “Cheer Down” for the action film.

However, reflecting on the film business as a whole, George couldn’t think of any movie that “blew him away.” There were “bits and pieces” of movies that George liked, but he thought they’d all become “arrogant.”

“It’s sort of like painting by numbers—if you have this person or that person. It’s all like that now, all this packaged stuff. And I know you have to do that, but I hate to think that, well, ‘You’ve got this great film, but I’m not letting my client be in it because he’s only going to be in films that my other client’s going to direct. And your little film can’t afford $6 million for this a****** actor….’ [Sighs.] Well, it’s a cockamamie business.”

George kept his own film company, HandMade Films, from becoming a similar “cockamamie business.”

George made movies at HandMade Films that went against the grain

In 1979, George and his business manager, Denis O’Brien, founded HandMade Films mainly to help George’s friends in Monty Python fund their film Life of Brian. Once the comedy hit theaters, George wanted to dismantle the company. However, his other friends kept coming to him with scripts for movies he knew wouldn’t get made otherwise.

Eventually, HandMade Films got pretty big. George wanted to keep making comedies, but the company started making a wide range of low-budget films in all genres. They made the films no one else wanted to produce.

Rowland said that the company goes “against the grain.” George said they “don’t clean up at the box office, though,” but he didn’t care about that as long as the company could continue.

The former Beatle hated violent films

George told Film Comment that certain things he didn’t like always crop up in films, including violence. He didn’t mind a few explosions for a laugh or when it’s “integral to the story.” However, films like Rambo were unnecessary.

George said the film business was just as funny as the music industry. They wanted to churn out the same things repeatedly and snuff out the interesting stuff. That’s where HandMade Films came in.

“Some time ago you could put out a film, and it would be a bit of time before it built and got established, and then you’d have some audience,” George told Rowland. “But these days, or even going back five or six years, it was like, if your film doesn’t clean up on the first weekend, it’s out, because there’s so much product.

“This is the frightening thing of the film and the music industry. There’s too many people, too much product.”

George liked real stories made by real people just like he loved making good old-fashioned rock ‘n’ roll was authentic and packed with emotion.