The Rutles
All You Need Is Cash: 30th Anniversary Edition
“Far
from home and far from talented,
The Rutles finally make it to… Hamburg,
from where they pick up the celebrity
trail in the footsteps of those four mop-
tops from Liverpool whose name sounds
remarkably similar! This mockumentary
— The Rutles All You Need Is Cash —
is astonishingly clever and highly
amusing...”
DISCOVERED BY THEIR MANAGER Leggy Mountbatten (Terence Bayler), then
a retail chemist from Bolton, in a mid-day disco in 1961, The Rutles (pronounced
'Ruttles') became a legend in their own lunchtime.
Celebrating a legacy etched into the pages of alternative history, The Rutles
All You Need Is Cash: 30th Anniversary Edition sees a definitive release
of the 'Pre-Fab Four's' groundbreaking mockumentary, along with a host of extras
that celebrate the epic trail blazes by the original super group.
One of the first ever spoof music documentaries that lampooned The Beatles'
career from beginning to end — and an inspiration for Rob Reiner's seminal
This Is Spinal Tap — The Rutles All You Need Is Cash features
a Grammy-nominated soundtrack and a plethora of iconic figures from across the
worlds of both music and comedy, including George Harrison, Mick Jagger, Paul
Simon, Ronnie Wood, Michael Palin, John Belushi, Bill Murray and Dan Ackroyd.
On January 21 1959, The Rutles story begins at 43 Egg Lane, Liverpool, where
Ron Nasty (Neil Innes: Monty Python's The Life Of Brian, Erik The Viking)
first bumped into Dirk McQuickly (Eric Idle: The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen,
Shrek The Third). And so the legend that would last a lunchtime was born.
Soon joined by Stig O'Hara (Rikki Fataar) a guitarist of no fixed hairstyle
and drummer Barry Wom (John Halsey) — who was discovered in the band's
van = it was only a few short years before Rutlemania would sweep the world.
The Rutles All You Need Is Cash is a chronicle of their whirlwind tale of global
domination.
In their Hamburg days spent at Der Rat Keller, Reeperbahn, there was a fifth
Rutle — Lepo, a friend of Nasty's from art college. But Lepo disappeared
in Hamburg under strange circumstances. The Rutles All You Need Is Cash
is a witty spoof from 1978 following the lives and extraordinary antics of The
Rutles.
Very cleverly put together, The Rutles All You Need Is Cash injects a
large dose of humour into this fascinating story. A young Mick Jagger with a
wry sense of humour suggests that The Rutles offered to write a song for The
Rolling Stones and it was so horrible that the Stones never recorded it!
From the Royal Command Performance and meeting the Queen to their films —
including A Hard Day's Rut and Ouch! (1965) — to Nasty's
best-selling book Out Of Me Head, the gurus, the girls, the marriages
and the claims of plagiarism from blues singer Ruttling Orange Peel, this marvellous
slice of fun has it all.
And as it begins to fall apart and personal problems split the group, The Rutles
have their first flop with the film Tragical History Tour, business ventures
go badly wrong and Leggy legs it to Oz. Dirk marries actress Martini (superbly
played by Bianca Jagger) and Chastity, a simple German girl who is into Destructo-Art
enters the fray. And then Stig falls into bed with American Gertrude Strange
and Barry spends a year in bed as a tax dodge.
Enter the most feared promoter in the world, Ron Decline (John Belushi), another
film, Yellow Submarine Sandwich (1968), and an album Sgt Rutter's
Only Darts Club Band. Get the picture?
Directed by Gary Weis and Eric Idle and conceived and written by Eric Idle (who
is also The Narrator and S J Krammerhead), The Rutles All You Need Is Cash
features Michael Palin as Eric Manchester; George Harrison as The Interviewer;
Dan Ackroyd as Brian Thigh; Gilda Radner as Mrs Emily Pules; Bill Murray as
Bill Murray the K; Gwen Taylor as Leggy's mother, Mrs Iris Mountbatten and Chastity;
Ron Wood as a Hell's Angel; Henry Woolf as Arthur Sultan; and Jeanette Charles
as a Queen of England. Music and Lyrics are by Neil Innes; the film is Produced
by Gary Weis and Craig Kellem and Photographed by Gary Weis. The Art Director
is Peta Button.
The Rutles All You Need Is Cash: 30th Anniversary Edition celebrates
the indelible mark that the group left on pop culture and mockumentary cinema,
featuring a brand new documentary on the original film and soundtrack, interviews
with a cross-section of personalities involved with the film — including
Michael Palin, producer Gary Weis and Neil Innes — and a commentary track
with Eric Idle. The Rutles All You Need Is Cash chronicles the history
and legacy of a band that may at one point truly have been 'bigger than Rod'
and the film now comes to DVD courtesy of Second Sight.
• The Rutles All You Need Is Cash: 30th
Anniversary Edition is released on 17 November, 2008 at a RRP of £19.99.
Extras include — Get Up And Go: The Making Of The Rutles (Features
interviews with Neil Innes, John Halsey, Rikki Fataar, Gary Weis and Michael
Palin) | Inside Shabby Road: The Music of The Rutles (A revealing look at the
composition and recording of the seminal soundtrack) | Audio commentary by Eric
Idle | Deleted Scenes.
"Hilarious" — The Independent
"Earlier than Spinal Tap, better than The Beatles" — The Guardian
"The Rutles All You Need Is Cash is astonishingly clever and highly amusing"
— Maggie Woods, MotorBar
