Beatles All-Nighter.

Wednesday 3 September 1975 (Original UK film release 20 May 1970)

It’s the mid-seventies and we’d never seen Let It Be. With no videos, no DVDs and as a regular no show on British TV, this was the celluloid Beatle Holy Grail. Out of the blue, Time Out listings magazine made the announcement – ‘Beatles All-Nighter’ and we knew what we had to do. Me and the two Petes planned it all out. Finish work at the BBC, a couple of pints, a bite to eat, then a night in Fab Heaven.

It’s the mid-seventies and we’d never seen Let It Be. With no videos, no DVDs and as a regular no show on British TV, this was the celluloid Beatle Holy Grail. Out of the blue, Time Out listings magazine made the announcement – ‘Beatles All-Nighter’ and we knew what we had to do. Me and the two Petes planned it all out. Finish work at the BBC, a couple of pints, a bite to eat, then a night in Fab Heaven.

At 9.30pm we’re inside the Classic Cinema on Charing Cross Road. We’d stepped into the most awful, dirty and dangerous picture house in London’s seedy West End. Just us and about two dozen gentlemen of the road seeking flea-biting shelter. Cosy. But no matter – 10pm – it’s A Hard Day’s Night and we know every word (taped straight off the TV onto a C90 cassette).

Finally, at 4.00a.m. the Beatles’ ‘intimate bioscopic experience’ is shown. At last. We’re back on the streets by 5.30 heading to the Beeb canteen for breakfast then straight to work.

Midnight – Help! By 2a.m. we’re flagging – the drifters are snoring; the aroma is challenging but who cares – here comes Let It Be. The ‘U’ certificate flickers onscreen…and uninvited, a King-size Elvis Presley sleepwalks through the dreadful 1967 frolic Clambake. We stay awake for fear of being pickpocketed.

The film? A bit of a downer at the time – we’d just watched the Beatles breaking up. But at least I got the chord-shapes to I’ve Got A Feeling.

Written by André Barreau