The Rutles Appreciation Thread

Cafe Society
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A legend that will last a lunchtime!

I just watched the Special Edition DVD of “All You Need Is Cash.” This movie has got to be the world’s best of its kind, ever. They got it all absolutely correct. They recreated scenes from Beatles history with deadly accuracy, from the Cavern to racing go-karts to frolicking on the beach, Ed Sullivan show, the Shea (Che) Stadium concert, a stunning likness of the video for “I Am The Walrus” (“Piggy In The Middle”) and the animated “Yellow Submarine” sequence (“Cheese And Onions”), the rooftop concert doing “Get Back” (“Get Up And Go”). The in-jokes and references are spot-on. “Dirk has formed a group with his wife, The Punk Floyd. He sings, she doesn’t.” John & Yoko formed a film company called Joko. In this movie, Ron Nasty has got together with Chastity (“whose father invented World War II”). Their film company is called “Nastity.”

The DVD has some extra footage at the end of a few scenes, which is nice. Nothing monumental, but it uncovers more edits in the other two versions that you wouldn’t have known were there. The bonus features are some excruciating outtakes with Paul Simon and Mick Jagger (separately), mock-answering the mock questions about their memories of The Rutles. These guys were working without a script, just winging it, and very, very poorly. I can’t imagine how much film they had to waste to get the brief segments used in the final.

I did find it odd that they still have not issued this movie in the version we all saw on TV on April 22, 1978. This was before widespread home video, and I taped it off the TV speaker on a portable cassette machine. Many years later, I was so happy to learn that Rhino Home Video had released it on VHS. The print was pristine, the audio was superb (for mono), but the editing was different, and there were some scenes that were different from the original.

The one big one is when the narrator (Eric Idle) is interviewing Dan Aykroyd as Brian Thigh, the man who turned down The Rutles. He’s now a construction worker. Idle asks him about giving up all that money, all the awards, etc. In the Rhino version and on this DVD, he asks Thigh “what’s it like to be such an asshole?” But in the TV version, he asks him what it’s like to be an idiot, a moron, a berk, a man with the brains of a duck… Thigh says, “Hey, you can’t talk to me like that.” He gets up while Idle berates him, goes in the other room, and you hear a gunshot and the sound of a body dropping. I wonder what happened to that bit of film?

I was fortunate to tape the original version of the movie, shown at the end of a PBS pledge drive on a show in Buffalo, NY, in the late '80s. I guess now I have to learn how to transfer video to DVD.

Does anybody here like this film? Have the album with the booklet? The CD with the bonus tracks? I also have a four-song promotional 12" single in gold vinyl on the Banana label (you see Dirk and Nasty unveiling Rutle Corps in the film; their logo is a banana).

If you liked The Rutles, come on in, and we’ll talk about their trousers.

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Yeah.

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To expand on gatopescado’s remarks: Yeah, I remember watching the Rutles special back when it aired in the 1970’s and enjoying it. I bought the DVD a couple of years back even though I worried that it might be one of those things that was better in memory than it was in reality. But no problem; it had held up over the years and was as good now as I remembered it being then. The new featues like the Eric Idle commentary was also well done.

Now we need to find out if there is anyone who doesn’t have a fish-related username who’s seen this show.

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Here’s one.

I was a big fan of Eric Idle’s show “Rutland Weekend Television”; there were all of 2 series of 6 shows each, first broadcast in 1975 & 1976. It was about an Independent television station broadcasting to England’s smallest county, the station’s name being a spoof of “London Weekend Television” which had the franchise for broadcasting to the London area (from 17.15 Fridays to close on Sunday) between 1968 and 2002. For example, the RWT logo was suspiciously similar to LWT’s.

Every week there was a Neil Innes song and one week it was The Rutles doing his tremendous Beatles pastiche “I Must Be In Love”.

Didn’t Apple Corps sue Neil Innes for copyright violation? Some of the Rutles’ stuff was awfully close to the originals (“Ouch!”, “Number One”, “Hold My Hand”).

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Another Rutles fan checking in. Ron, Dirk, Stig and Barry. The pre-fab four (drinkers of TEA :eek: ), and their manager - Leggy Mountbatton.

As well as the Beatles stuff there’s also a lot of spot-on piss taking of TV documentary cliche. fishbicycle their trousers were rather tight weren’t they?

Actually I think Neil Innes got help from Paul McCartney (or maybe George) in making sure the songs were different enough.

Small Clanger. Space creature, not fish.

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I was a big fan of Rutland Weekend Television while living in London in the 70s. I loved the original showing of All You Need Is Cash but don’t know if it or the series were ever shown in Australia. A few years ago it appeared out of nowhere as a late night movie. I watched it again and was just as amazed by the “Beatles” songs, even more amazed by the support cast, many of whom did not mean much at the time and generally thrilled to see it again. Only weeks later it was voted the single best TV feature ever made.

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Apparently, the story goes that Eric Idle showed some clips of RWT when he hosted Saturday Night Live in the late 1970s. The original Not-Ready-For-Prime-Time Players insisted he turn the Rutles into a lengthier work, which is why so many of them are in it.

I have the album on vinyl, but I don’t remember if it has a booklet in it. Actually, I think it does.

When I first rented it from my video store, I marvelled at what a close parody it was of The Complete Beatles documentary I had seen not long prior. Then I found out the serious work had been made 6 years later!

And don’t forget, kids:

"You need feet to walk downstairs with.
You need feet to kick your friends.
You need feet to keep your socks on,
And stop your legs from frayin’ at the ends.

You need feet to walk, to stumble,
And to dance the hootchy-koo.
Yes, the whole world needs feet for something,
And I need feet to run away from you!"

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I doubt it. The Beatles were friendly with Innes – he appeared with the Bonzo Dog Band on “Magical Mystery Tour,” and Paul McCartney produced the Bonzos single “I’m the Urban Spaceman.”

Innes has a few Rutles songs available for download on his website http://www.neilinnes.org.

Here’s Inne’s take on it. And for the full history, there’s http://www.rutlemania.org

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I rented it a few years ago to see how it held up, and really enjoyed it. One thing I had forgotten about had me actually rolling on the floor: the dead-serious Nasty having his “bed-in” press conference in the hotel shower, with the water running. Heh.

I do have the LP with the booklet, and the “Anthropology” (or whatever it was called) CD somewhere. The Rutles should go on a reunion tour with the Dukes of Stratosphear.

Oh, I think it’s unlikely Apple Corps sued the Rutles as George Harrison appears inthe damn thing, playing a TV reporter.

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Nasty sued himself, by mistake.

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I first caught it by accident, or something akin to it- MTV made this big build-up sometime back in the late '80’s that it had a copy of the movie “The Magical Mystery Tour”, and they were going to broadcast it for the first time on national television in the U.S.

Then, for some reason, it fell through, and they showed “The Rutles” instead. But they didn’t announce it until about a minute before the showing.

Still, I’m glad they did- to a Beatles fan like myself, “The Rutles” was filled with so many in-jokes and clever nods that it was absolutely wonderful.

“He told an interviewer just last week that he invented the blues!”
“I did! I did!”
“And Frank Sinatra!”

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Nothing left to the imagination. I mean, you could see everything.

GOD, yes. I’ve got the LP with the booklet in it. My brother eventually found the CD version, which evidently had (so he said) a couple of more songs. I also snagged the Rutles Archaeolgoy CD which was the response to the 3-Beatle Anthology set that came out several years ago. I also taped off of TV many moons ago, and have the “What’s it like to be such an asshole?” line, to which Dan Ackroyd replies? “…What!?” and then the scene cuts.

I still love Blind Lemon Pie and his wife:

“He’s lyin’!”
“I’m not lyin’!”
“He’s ALWAYS lyin’!”

Yeah, just FTR, George Harrison was actually in the film as an interviewer.

“You’re so pusilanimous, oh yeah…
Nature’s callin’ and I mus’ go there…”

I LOVE this movie. Anyone that tries to convince me that “This is Spinal Tap” is the greatest parody of the rock music world, I tie down (metaphorically, and in accordance with all local laws) and force to watch this masterpiece.

Follow the Surrey Mystic.

John Belushi was hilarious. “They keep asking me ‘Where did the money go?’ How do I know where the money went? Do I look like an accountant? But if you need money, I’ll get you money.”

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I suppose I should also say this: http://www.rutles.org

Oh, and I’d like to be a hairdresser.

Or two…I’d like to be two hairdressers.

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It was the first DVD my wife and I rented via NetFlix. The fact they had it was confirmation that we should try NetFlix. I love this movie. Definately the inspiration for Spinal Tap which was perfect.

My understanding was the Beatles liked the movie. The Beatles were somewhat friendly with both the Pythoners and the Original SNL’ers. As mentioned George was in it. So in the end only Nasty sued himself.

On the Paul is dead, I loved this long Narration.

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I know, I know…people hate multiple posts…

But (in my woefully inadequate defense) my posting style is to go long periods without participation, punctuated by brief deluges of nonsense to make up the deficit (which is surely and totally a figment of my imagination).

I just found the Rutles answer to the “Paul is Dead” rumour, and had to share (my apologies all around):

Dirk is Deaf.

Just fighting ignorance, here…or boredom…

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I’ve always been amazed that they recorded their first album in twenty minutes. Of course, the second one took even longer…

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I discovered the Rutles by finding what was apparently the only copy of the Rutland Weekend Songbook album ever sold in Ohio. it contained 2 songs from “The Rutles, Live in Concrete!” tour. Damned funny stuff.
from the liner notes:

Years later when they did the special, none of my friends could understand how I knew about them already.

God that was good times for comedy.

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This thread just inspired me to dig out my Rutles record and play it for the first time in at least 15 years.

I’ve just now pretty much decided to structure my whole life around those words of wisdom there.

Now I’m going to go down to Starbucks and go ballistic on the barista if he hasn’t heard this song.

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Wow, I’m glad to find so many Rutles fans! I think this movie was beyond brilliant. I’ve studied The Beatles since I saw them on Ed Sullivan, so I know all of the references they made in the movie. It’s hilarious how accurate some of the portrayals were, and how ridiculous some of the lampooning.

I’ve looked on Amazon, and there is another Rutles movie that you probably didn’t know about, called “The Rutles 2: Can’t Buy Me Lunch.” I didn’t know about it, either. The reviews are universally bad. Everyone hated it, saying that it used a lot of clips from the original, and some outtake footage, and some new star interviews, some of whom had clearly never heard of The Rutles but were happy to expound on them nonetheless. And Eric Idle got panned for even doing it.

I have an .avi of the episode of “Rutland Weekend Television” in which Neil Innes debuted his Rutles vision, with an early version of “I Must Be In Love,” recorded directly from the master videotape. It has the countdown at the front, and a slate. Cool, huh? And I have on tape, which I transferred to CD, the second version of “I Must Be In Love” from the “Rutland Times” LP. And somewhere, I have Neil Innes playing an excerpt of “Cheese And Onions” on the piano on some TV show. This clip was mistaken for John Lennon by bootleggers for years.

I think my favorite scene in the movie is Idle interviewing the black couple on the banks of the Mississippi - Ruttling Orange Peel and his wife. I love the dialogue, and the delivery. “He’s lyin’! He’s always lyin’! Every time there’s a documentary on white music 'round here, he claims he started it.” “I did, I did!” “Last week, he claimed he started The Everly Brothers, Frank Sinatra, and Lawrence Welk! He’s always lyin’!” Cracks me up every time.

I looked up the “Rutland Times” LP on gemm.com, and it’s available for a decent price. I may have to go buy a copy.

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Reading the links, I see that the Rutles special was broadcast on Amercian TV on March 22, 1978 - and was the lowest rated primetime broadcast of that week. Makes me wonder what other shows were on that week and how they’ve stood the test of time.