Several weeks back, Colin Marshall wondered whether Pink Floyd’s 1972 concert among the ruins of Pompeii (watch it here) provided some inspiration for Rob Reiner’s 1984 satirical film, This is Spinal Tap. (Remember the classic Stonehenge scene?) Perhaps the same could be asked about All You Need is Cash, the 1978 mockumentary that follows the musical career of The Rutles, whose resemblance to The Beatles was purely and entirely intentional.
Eric Idle, of Monty Python fame, directed the film, along with Gary Weis, a filmmaker for Saturday Night Live. That pretty much guaranteed some good satire and classic cameo appearances by Michael Palin, Gilda Radner, John Belushi, Bill Murray, Al Franken and Dan Aykroyd — not to mention Ronnie Wood, Mick Jagger, Paul Simon, and, yes, even George Harrison. (It’s worth recalling that Harrison became tight with the Monty Python crew, and financially backed Monty Python’s Life of Brian, which hit theaters the next year.)
When All You Need is Cash aired on NBC, it kind of bombed, but it later rebounded on the BBC. And today the film gets a 90% on Rotten Tomatoes’ “Tomatometer,” a solid score.
Part 1 appears above, and here we give you the remaining parts: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. Get your higher-resolution copy on DVD right here.
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