Film Pick of the Week: Man on the Run - review by Yvette Huddleston
Man on the Run Prime Video, review by Yvette Huddleston
When the Beatles split up in 1969 it was the end of an extraordinary phenomenon – a band of four talented working-class boys from Liverpool who had taken the world by storm and become international superstars.
Filmmaker Morgan Neville takes that messy, somewhat acrimonious final chapter of the Fab Four as the starting point for this reflective, thoughtful documentary that focuses on Paul McCartney, the running man of the title. Where he ran to in the immediate aftermath of the split was the family farm up in the wilds of Scotland with his wife Linda and their children. In an off-screen interview, McCartney acknowledges that he was depressed, drinking too much whisky and genuinely perplexed as to what to do next. “The Beatles had been my whole life really and when we split up, I thought I would never write another note of music ever.”
Slowly, however, with the support of his wife (“I was very lucky because I had Linda”) the idea began to form of putting together another band – and Wings was born, a group consisting of McCartney, his wife, former Moody Blues guitarist Denny Laine plus a number of top-quality session musicians. It was all about going back to first principles, explains McCartney. “We started Wings from square one.” While initially people were resistant, Wings went on to make hit records and play sell-out tours.
The film, whose title refers to Wings’ third, and most successful album, Band on the Run, released in 1973, is composed of extensive archive footage, stills photographs plus home movies and snaps and follows Wings up to its demise in 1981 a few months after the shocking death of John Lennon. Wisely Neville eschews talking heads, instead opting for historic film, TV and audio interviews, interspersed with McCartney’s present-day voiceover.
His daughters, photographer Mary and fashion designer Stella, both contribute moving memories of their happy family life, their loving parents and their remarkable mother. They praise her kind, gentle nature and her resilience in the face of public criticism. At one point in the film we hear her say: “I’m not here because I’m the greatest keyboard player, I’m here because we love each other.” She was a band member performing every night on tour, as well as a wife and mother of four young children. She appears to have juggled all this with exceptional grace and humility – and her presence is felt throughout this fine, elegiac movie.