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Feb 18, 2019 Web Exclusive By Austin Trunick

Hamburg, 1960: five young lads from Liverpool arrive on the Reeperbahn, determined to make it big with their raucous rock ‘n’ roll band. Alternating their sets of speed-fueled cover songs with stripper acts, the band is still a few years’ removed from the look and sound of the Beatles who would forever change the landscape of popular music. Backbeat dramatized a stretch of two years in which they honed their talents by working hard in German rock clubs, and a few formative moments which happened in that time.

Released in 1994, Backbeat is not so much a chronicle of the Beatles’ beginnings but a biopic of the brief life of their one-time bassist, Stuart Sutcliffe. Famed within Beatles’ lore for ditching the band as they were on their ascent, and for dying young of a brain hemorrhage perhaps brought on by an injury sustained in a bar fight. Backbeat portrays Stu (Stephen Dorff) as a promising young painter less interested in rock and roll than in art, and explores his relationship with German photographer Astrid Kirchherr (Twin Peaks’ Sheryl Lee) and best friend John Lennon (Ian Hart), as much as implying there might have been a homoerotic attraction between the two.

There’s a ‘90s indie edginess to Backbeat, and the performances never fall into impersonation territory. (Hart is a convincing enough Lennon, and Gary Bakewell is an almost eerie ringer for a young Paul McCartney.) While the film will be of most interest to big Beatles fans, the soundtrack – which includes contributions from Henry Rollins, Dave Grohl, Thuston Moore, Greg Dulli, and Mike Mills – should be of interest to ‘90s alternative fans, who should enjoy hearing those guys cover classic ‘50s rock tracks.

The movie is a new addition to Shout!’s Select line of cult films, and the Blu-ray includes a good number of extra features, from a commentary track to interviews with Kirchherr, cast and crew. These all help make the release a worthwhile curio for Beatles fans, though the soundtrack is the film’s real star.

(www.shoutfactory.com/product/backbeat)