The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash
NBC
March 22, 1978
Comedy, Musical
VHS
B+
This movie is roughly equivalent to the big-screen
Spinal Tap movie of six years later, although it's a more band-specific parody. Much of the Beatles history-- including their looks and sounds-- is captured and lovingly but not gently satirized. The
Yellow Submarine Sandwich segment is up there with the top scenes ever made for television. However, with the exception of Mick Jagger, I don't think the cameos are on the same level as the Lads from Rutland.
This first aired on the same network as
Saturday Night Live (Lorne Michaels and much of his cast were involved) and was the worst-rated show of the week! It did better on BBC2 a few days later and has since become something of a cult show. Both Idle's corny McCartney and Innes's "nasty" Lennon are even funnier than they would've been at the time. (I taped this off Comedy Central around '93.)
NBC
Saturday Night Live: Aykroyd, Simon & Simon, et al.
This is from the Paul Simon and Linda Ronstadt episode, apparently taped at another time and on another cassette. First we see Pat Schroeder (Nora Dunn) hosting a Republican debate, and there's a reference to her crying in public, as she famously did in September of that year. The scene-stealer here is Dan Aykroyd, in his first appearance on SNL since he was a regular over eight years before. He plays Bob Dole and every line delivery is golden. The runner-up is future senator Al Franken, as Pat Robertson. Dana Carvey's George Bush then had room for improvement, which it got.
