The Rutles

The Rutles (aka The pre-fab four) was a parody of the Beatles, jointly created by Eric Idle and Neil Innes. The fictional group is best known for the 1978 mockumentary film about them titled All You Need Is Cash (often referred to just as The Rutles . Tagline: The Musical Legend which will last a lunchtime.). The film was written by Idle and featured songs written by Innes.

Their history (actual)

The Rutles began life in 1975 as a sketch on Eric Idle's BBC television series Rutland Weekend Television. The initial sketch presented musician Neil Innes (ex-Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band) fronting The Rutles singing "I Must Be In Love", a masterly pastiche of some of the early Lennon-McCartney tunes.

Related Topics:
1975 - Eric Idle - BBC - Rutland Weekend Television - Neil Innes - Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band - Pastiche

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Innes was the resident musician/composer for the series and would create songs with ideas on how they could be presented visually. A creative motif he would continue on his own BBC TV series "Innes Book Of Records".

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Innes came up with the idea of a short skit spoofing the Beatles' film A Hard Day's Night and wrote "I Must Be In Love" as the song for the skit. He passed the idea to Idle. Idle had a separate idea for a sketch about a boring TV documentary maker. Idle and Innes decided to connect the two ideas into one extended filmed sequence - and this was shot for the TV show.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

What made the Rutles particularly fascinating for music fans were the numerous connections between the Beatles, the Bonzos and the Monty Python team. The Beatles were great fans of the Bonzos -- they featured them in their 1967 film Magical Mystery Tour and Paul McCartney had produced their 1968 hit single I'm The Urban Spaceman. Innes and members of the Python team had worked together in the late 1960s on the cult TV comedy show Do Not Adjust Your Set. Beatles guitarist George Harrison was a dedicated Python fan -- as well as being involved in The Rutles film (see below), his company Handmade Films later took over production of the Pythons' film Life Of Brian after the original backers pulled out, fearing that its subject matter was too controversial.

Related Topics:
Monty Python - Magical Mystery Tour - George Harrison - Handmade Films - Life Of Brian

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the merchandising produced for the TV series references were made to a Rutles album (Finchley Road) and a single ("Ticket To Rut"). In 1976 BBC Records produced The Rutland Weekend Songbook, an album containing 23 tracks including two Rutles songs "I Must Be In Love" and "The Children of Rock and Roll" (later reworked as "Good Times Roll").

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Two years later when Eric Idle was asked to appear on the American NBC show Saturday Night (later to become Saturday Night Live), he took several video tape extracts from "Rutland Weekend TV" with him to screen on the show - including the Rutles clip. The Rutles clip generated very positive audience response and led to a suggestion by SNL Executive Producer Lorne Michaels that the idea should be extended from a brief skit into a one-hour mock documentary. This proposal led to the 1978 mockumentary All You Need Is Cash primarily directed by SNL film director Gary Weis (responsible for the program's acclaimed short films) though Eric Idle was given co-director credit. The film purports to be a documentary on the rise and fall of the band paralleling much of the history of the Beatles.

Related Topics:
Eric Idle - American - NBC - Saturday Night Live - Lorne Michaels - 1978 - Mockumentary - All You Need Is Cash

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It was one of the first films of its kind and was undoubtedly a major inspiration for the hugely successful Rob Reiner mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap.

Related Topics:
Rob Reiner - This Is Spinal Tap

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The film is notable for its many cameo appearances by famous stars, particularly George Harrison, who plays a TV journalist who conducts an interview outside the Rutle Corps HQ, oblivious to the stream of people coming out of the building carrying away items stolen from the office (a sly reference to the Beatles' ill-fated Apple Boutique and the famously disorganised Apple Corps offices). The film also features cameos from Idle's fellow Python Michael Palin, American comedians Gilda Radner, John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd (Saturday Night Live, The Blues Brothers), Bianca Jagger as one of the Rutles girlfriends, Ron Wood as a Hell's Angel, and Mick Jagger and Paul Simon as themselves. The film is notable for bringing together British and American comic talent in a way that has seldom happened before or since.

Related Topics:
George Harrison - Michael Palin - Gilda Radner - John Belushi - Dan Aykroyd - Saturday Night Live - The Blues Brothers - Bianca Jagger - Ron Wood - Hell's Angel - Mick Jagger - Paul Simon

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The film is primarily a series of skits and gags that each illustrate a different part of the fictional Rutles story - following the chronology of the Beatles' own story. The cohesive glue of the film is the acclaimed soundtrack by Neil Innes who created 19 more songs for the film - each an affectionate pastiche of a different Beatles song or genre of songs. 14 of the songs were released on a soundtrack album with elaborate packaging. (The CD version subsequently added the 6 songs omitted from the original vinyl album.) The album was both critically and commercially successful and was nominated for a Grammy for Best Comedy Recording of the year.

Related Topics:
Neil Innes - Grammy

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ironically in view of its later cult status, the film was not a success on its American TV debut and actually finished in bottom place of all programs screened that week - a source of wry pride to composer Neil Innes. The program fared better on its British debut on BBC TV. The film's cult status grew from the success of the soundtrack album and after the release of the film on the comparatively new medium of home video.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A 66-minute version (edited for TV) was released on video and DVD but it has since been superseded by the restored 72-minute version.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~