Ringo Starr delivers verdict on new Beatles documentary ‘Let It Be’

Star said the original film had ‘no real joy in it’

Ringo Starr has shared his verdict on a new Beatles documentary that has been released on Disney+ today.

Let It Be has been unavailable for public consumption for several decades and will be available to watch for the first time from 8 May.

The documentary was originally released in May 1970 shortly after the band’s breakup in April of the same year.

It follows the record-breaking group as they make their Grammy-winning album Let It Be, its Oscar-winning title song and they perform their final performance as a band.

“I was always moaning about the original film, because there was no real joy in it,” Ringo Starr told The Daily Beast.

The documentary also details how member Paul McCartney essentially became the band’s leader, after their manager Brian Epstein’s death in 1967.

“It was always Paul who would want to get back to work,” Starr recalled. “I lived near John, and so I’d be at his place, lounging and having a bit of a smoke in the garden, and the phone would ring. We’d know even before we answered that it was Paul, saying, ‘C’mon, let’s get in the studio and make a new record.’”

Overall the star seems to be impressed with the movie as he delivered his overall verdict.

The band announcing their split in 1970 (PA)

“Now it’s got a start, a middle, and a finish. The start is very slow, and then we get into creating, and then we’re at it and then we’re out. I love it. But I’m in it, of course, so six hours is never long enough,” he said.

Disney+ confirmed that the film would contain footage not featured in its last Beatles project, the acclaimed The Beatles: Get Back docuseries. The show created by Peter Jackson, had made use of hours of unused footage from Let It Be’s filmmaker Michael Lindsay-Hogg.

The “Hey Jude” singer shared details of a fight between Harrison and McCartney that is caught on camera, and received a lot of attention when the film was initially released over 50 years ago.

“It was all based on this little downer incident,” said Starr. “But that’s just how it was; four guys in a room, you know? You’re bound to have a few ups and downs.”

The Beatles pop group, left to right, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison. (PA) (PA Wire)

The film promises to share intimate footage of John Lennon, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, and Paul McCartney to bring viewers “into the studio and onto Apple Corps’ [the band’s business venture] London rooftop in January 1969”.

Starr also shared details of how the band ended up on the London rooftop in the first place.

“Always, the Beatles were going to go to Turkey somewhere, or up Everest, or in a desert, or Hawaii. And then, suddenly, ‘Let’s just walk across the road,’” he said.

“With this one, it was just, ‘Let’s do it on the roof.’ And that’s what we did. And it was great. I mean, the police played a huge part. Not that they did anything. But they were moaning at us. And they look really silly in the film now.”