Watching ‘The Beatles: Get Back’ Reminded George Harrison’s Ex-Wife of the Period’s Good Memories
George Harrison‘s ex-wife, Pattie Boyd, was reminded of good times while watching Peter Jackson’s three-part documentary The Beatles: Get Back. She briefly appears in Part 3 when she visits her then-husband in the recording studio.
Peter Jackson had to reassure The Beatles that the ‘Let It Be’ tapes weren’t as bad as they remembered
Jackson told Variety that he first signed on to the documentary in 2016. Apple wanted to release some unseen footage Michael Lindsay-Hogg shot for The Beatles’ final film, Let It Be. Jackson knew it’d be a big undertaking considering there were hundreds of hours of footage.
Another thing that stood in his way was The Beatles’ views on Hogg’s film; they hated Let It Be and thought it centered on all the negative things that were going on with the group at the time. George quit briefly, and they constantly fought about their direction and what to do with the new album. However, when Jackson saw the tapes, he realized they didn’t show as much negativity as Hogg’s film.
Jackson had to break the news of his documentary carefully to the surviving members, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, George’s widow, Olivia, and John Lennon’s son, Sean.
When Jackson mentioned the tapes, he saw nervousness in Paul’s eyes and trepidation on his face. However, when he showed Paul some clips on an iPad, Paul began to think that the tapes weren’t so bad.
Then, Jackson showed Ringo. “And I started to ease them into the idea of the ‘Let It Be’ experience was not what they remember,” Jackson said. “Because they remember the movie coming out in May 1970, which is they were in the midst of breaking up.
“It must’ve been such a miserable, stressful time for them. But they had somehow imposed all their memories of the ‘Get Back’ sessions from January 1969 on the May 1970 release of the film.”
Paul and Ringo weren’t the only members of the Beatles family who were pleasantly surprised with what The Beatles: Get Back showed.
George Harrison’s ex-wife, Pattie Boyd, said ‘The Beatles: Get Back’ reminded her of the good times
Paul and Ringo weren’t the only people who were relieved that The Beatles: Get Back showed something positive about the band’s time making Let It Be.
During a recent interview with The Telegraph, George Harrison’s ex-wife, Pattie Boyd, said she enjoyed watching the three-part documentary. It reminded her of the good times in an agitated period for her then-husband and their marriage.
Boyd said about George’s tension with his bandmates, “He brought it all home, and it was difficult to live with.”
The Beatles: Get Back showed her the better times of that period. “Revisiting that period last year when she watched Peter Jackson’s illuminating The Beatles: Get Back documentary, Boyd was relieved that the film (which showed Harrison working on an embryonic Something, his love song to Boyd) brought back only positive memories,” The Telegraph wrote.
“I had forgotten how really hilarious John Lennon was. He was so funny,” Boyd said. “It was good for me to see because I could see that they were funny and they were having a nice time.”
Paul’s views about The Beatles’ split have changed since watching Jackson’s documentary
Speaking to the Sunday Times, Paul admitted that he bought into the myth that the Let It Be sessions were the band’s darkest period.
He explained (per the Daily Mail) that watching The Beatles: Get Back brought back many good memories. “I’ll tell you what is really fabulous about it, it shows the four of us having a ball,” Paul said. “It was so reaffirming for me. That was one of the important things about The Beatles, we could make each other laugh.”
The Beatles: Get Back also changed Paul’s perception of the band’s split. “There is proof in the footage,” he said. “Because I definitely bought into the dark side of The Beatles breaking up and thought, ‘God, I’m to blame.’ It’s easy, when the climate is going that way, to think that. But at the back of my mind there was this idea that it wasn’t like that. I just needed to see proof.”
So, The Beatles got to see some surprising things in The Beatles: Get Back just as much as fans.
