Our friends are all aboard
After “A Hard Days Night” in 1964, and 1965’s “Help,” The Beatles owed United Artists one more film. The result, in 1968, was “Yellow Submarine,” a wild foray into pop-art pyschedelia that featured neither the actual band (the movie was animated, save for one parting live shot) nor their actual spoken voices (actors all).
Still, with its wild colors, silly but often clever dialogue and a Beatles soundtrack guiding the trippy plot, it was a big hit. It also gave rise to modern animation, in which humor is much more satirical and nuanced than a large bird outsmarting a murderous coyote. “Without ‘Yellow Submarine’ there would never have been ‘The Simpsons,’ no ‘Futurama,’ no ‘South Park’, no ‘Toy Story,’ no ‘Shrek,’” wrote Josh Weinstein, a former producer of “The Simpsons.”
The film screens Monday, July 16 at the Sebastiani Theatre. Hippie threads encouraged. 7 p.m. $10. Sebastiani Theatre. 996.9756. Sebastianitheatre.com.
Sebastianitheatre.com
