View source for All You Need Is Cash

{{Short description|1978 British TV film by Eric Idle and Gary Weis}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}}
{{Infobox television
| image          = All You Need Is Cash.jpg
| caption        = DVD cover
| director       = [[Eric Idle]]<br>[[Gary Weis]]
| producer       = Gary Weis<br>Craig Kellem<br>[[Lorne Michaels]]
| writer         = Eric Idle
| starring       = Eric Idle<br>[[Neil Innes]]<br>[[John Halsey (musician)|John Halsey]]<br>[[Ricky Fataar]]<br>[[Michael Palin]]<br>[[George Harrison]]<br>[[Bianca Jagger]]<br>[[John Belushi]]<br>[[Dan Aykroyd]]<br>[[Gilda Radner]]<br>[[Bill Murray]]<br>[[Mick Jagger]]
| narrator       = Eric Idle
| music          = Neil Innes
| cinematography = Gary Weis
| editor         = [[Aviva Slesin]]
| company        = [[Broadway Video]]
| network        = [[NBC]]
| network2       = [[BBC Two|BBC2]]
| released       = {{Start date|1978|03|22|df=y}}
| released2      = {{Start date|1978|03|27|df=y}}
| runtime        = 76 minutes
| country        = United Kingdom<br>United States
| language       = English
| budget         = 
}}

'''''All You Need Is Cash''''' (also known as '''''The Rutles''''') is a 1978 television film that traces (in [[mockumentary]] style) the career of a [[fiction|fictitious]] English rock group called [[the Rutles]].<ref name="BFIsearch">{{Cite web |title=All You Need Is Cash |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150027024 |access-date=20 August 2024 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}</ref> As ''[[TV Guide]]'' described it, the group's resemblance to [[the Beatles]] is "purely – and [[satire|satirically]] – intentional".<ref name="auto">{{cite web|url=http://www.rutlemania.org/aynic5.html|title=The Rutles - All You Need Is Cash - On Television |work=rutlemania.org}}</ref>

The film was co-produced by the production companies of [[Eric Idle]] and [[Lorne Michaels]], and it was directed by Idle and [[Gary Weis]]. It was first broadcast on 22 March 1978 on [[NBC]], earning the lowest<ref name="auto"/><ref>{{Cite magazine|url=http://www.ew.com/ew/report/0,6115,1039527_21_0_,00.html|title=&#124; EW.com|magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]]|access-date=22 March 2005|archive-date=7 January 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090107184227/http://www.ew.com/ew/report/0,6115,1039527_21_0_,00.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> ratings of any show on American prime time [[Television network|network television]] that week, though those who did watch it gave almost unanimously good reviews.<ref name="auto"/> It did much better in the ratings when it premiered in the UK on [[BBC Two|BBC2]] on 27 March 1978.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/ae601b127ba2430d81fe034db31c6b5c|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180408211130/http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/ae601b127ba2430d81fe034db31c6b5c|url-status=dead|archive-date=8 April 2018|title=The Rutles|date=27 March 1978|issue=2837|pages=35|via=BBC Genome}}</ref>

==Premise==
''All You Need Is Cash'' is a series of skits and gags that illustrate the fictional Rutles story, closely following the chronology of the Beatles' career.

==Cast==
* [[Eric Idle]] as:
** Dirk McQuickly, a parody of [[Paul McCartney]]
** The Narrator, a parody of [[Alan Whicker]]
** Stanley J. Krammerhead III, Jr., occasional visiting professor of applied narcotics at the University of Please Yourself, California
* [[Neil Innes]] as Ron Nasty, a parody of [[John Lennon]]
* [[John Halsey (musician)|John Halsey]] as Barry Wom (Barrington Womble), a parody of [[Ringo Starr]]
* [[Ricky Fataar]] as Stig O'Hara, a parody of [[George Harrison]]
* [[Michael Palin]] as Eric Manchester, Rutle Corp. Press Agent & Lawyer, a parody of [[Derek Taylor]]
* [[George Harrison]] as The Interviewer
* [[Bianca Jagger]] as Martini McQuickly, a parody of [[Linda McCartney]]
* [[John Belushi]] as Ron Decline, the most feared promoter in the world, a parody of [[Allen Klein]]
* [[Dan Aykroyd]] as Brian Thigh, ex-record producer who turned down the Rutles, just as [[The Beatles' Decca audition|Decca had turned down the Beatles]], a parody of [[Dick Rowe]]
* [[Gilda Radner]] as Mrs. Emily Pules
* [[Bill Murray]] as Bill Murray the K., a parody of [[Murray the K]].
* [[Gwen Taylor]] as:
** Mrs. Iris Mountbatten, Leggy's mother, a parody of [[Brian Epstein|Queenie Epstein]]
** Chastity, a parody of [[Yoko Ono]]
* [[Ron Wood]] as a Hell's Angel
* [[Terence Bayler]] as Leggy Mountbatten, a parody of [[Brian Epstein]]
* [[Henry Woolf]] as Arthur Sultan, the Surrey Mystic, a parody of the [[Maharishi Mahesh Yogi]]
* [[Jeannette Charles]] as a [[Elizabeth II|Queen of the United Kingdom]]
* [[Mick Jagger]] as himself (uncredited)
* [[Paul Simon]] as himself (uncredited)
* [[Roger McGough]] as himself (uncredited)
* [[Ollie Halsall]] as Leppo, the "fifth Rutle" (''à la'' [[Zeppo Marx|Zeppo]], the fifth [[Marx Brothers|Marx Brother]]), a parody of the so-called "fifth Beatle", [[Stuart Sutcliffe]]
* [[Barry Cryer]] as Dick Jaws, a partial parody of music publisher and singer [[Dick James]]
* [[Frank Williams (actor)|Frank Williams]] as record producer Archie Macaw, a partial parody of [[George Martin]]
* [[Penelope Tree]] as Stig's wife, a partial parody of Harrison's first wife [[Pattie Boyd]]
* [[Lorne Michaels]] as Sleazy Merchandiser
* [[Al Franken]] as Ron Decline's Henchman
* [[Tom Davis (comedian)|Tom Davis]] as Ron Decline's Henchman
* Jerome Greene as Blind Lemon Pye
* Bob Gibson as Ruttling Orange Peel

==Production==
===Writing===
The film was co-written by Eric Idle and Neil Innes. The music and events of the Rutles paralleled that of the Beatles, parodying many of the latter's career highlights. For example, the 1968 animated film ''[[Yellow Submarine (1968 film)|Yellow Submarine]]'' became the ''Yellow Submarine Sandwich'', and the song "[[Get Back]]" became "Get Up and Go".

===Casting===
[[The Rutles]] were played by [[Eric Idle]], [[John Halsey (musician)|John Halsey]], [[Ricky Fataar]], and [[Neil Innes]]. The band originally appeared in a sketch on Idle's programme ''[[Rutland Weekend Television]]'' in 1975.

The film has many [[cameo appearance]]s by both English and American comedians, including alumni of ''[[Monty Python]]'', ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'', and ''[[Rutland Weekend Television]]''. [[George Harrison]] has a cameo role as a television journalist conducting an interview outside the headquarters of Rutle Corps, oblivious to the stream of people coming out of the building carrying items stolen from the office; this is a reference to the Beatles' famously plundered [[Apple Boutique]] and Apple Headquarters, where even the ceiling lining was looted. The interview ends abruptly as the microphone is stolen out of his hand.

The film also features cameos from Idle's fellow Python [[Michael Palin]]; several ''SNL'' cast members including [[Gilda Radner]], [[John Belushi]], [[Bill Murray]], [[Dan Aykroyd]], [[Al Franken]], and [[Tom Davis (comedian)|Tom Davis]]; [[Bianca Jagger]] as Dirk McQuickly's wife Martini; [[Ronnie Wood]] as a [[Hells Angels|Hells Angel]]; and [[Mick Jagger]], [[Paul Simon]], and [[Roger McGough]] as themselves.

==Soundtrack==
Innes, a former member of the English musical comedy group [[Bonzo Dog Band]] and an associate of the [[Monty Python]] troupe, became acquainted with the Beatles when the Bonzo Dog Band had a cameo appearance in the film ''[[Magical Mystery Tour (film)|Magical Mystery Tour]]'', in which they performed "[[Death Cab for Cutie (song)|Death Cab for Cutie]]". [[Paul McCartney]] had also produced the Bonzos' 1968 hit single, ''[[I'm the Urban Spaceman]]'', composed and sung by Innes.

Fourteen of Innes's songs were released on a soundtrack album (the CD version added six songs omitted from the original vinyl album) named ''[[The Rutles (album)|The Rutles]]''. The album was both critically and commercially successful and was nominated for a [[Grammy]] award for Best Comedy Recording of the year. The orchestrations and arrangements for the Rutles recordings were made by film composer [[John Altman (composer)|John Altman]]. [[John Halsey (musician)|John Halsey]], [[Ricky Fataar]], and [[Neil Innes]] performed their own respective musical and vocal parts, but [[Eric Idle]]'s vocals were sung [slightly sped up] by [[Ollie Halsall]], who also played the lead guitar parts.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Simmonds|first=Jeremy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2DNrKjFmnfYC&dq=ollie+halsall+eric+idle&pg=PA289|title=The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars: Heroin, Handguns, and Ham Sandwiches|date=2012-11-01|publisher=Chicago Review Press|isbn=978-1-61374-532-8|language=en}}</ref>

==Home media==
The show has been released on DVD, originally in a 66-minute version incorporating cuts for [[Broadcast syndication|syndication]], later in a "special edition" restored to its full length of 76 minutes and with extras including a commentary by Idle. The full-length version replaces a spoof [[newsreel]] voiceover by Idle with an American-sounding announcer.  In 2013, the show was given a Blu-ray release in the form of a double pack with "The Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch", once again including the 76-minute version of ''All You Need Is Cash''.<ref>{{Citation|title=The Rutles Anthology Blu-ray|url=http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Rutles-Anthology-Blu-ray/85709/|access-date=2018-01-14}}</ref>

The soundtrack was reissued on CD. It included additional tracks from the original television sessions remixed in stereo by Neil Innes. Innes, Fataar and Halsey returned in 1996 to record ''The Rutles Archaeology'', but without the involvement of Eric Idle.{{citation needed|date=September 2024}}

==See also==
* [[The Rutles (album)|''The Rutles'' soundtrack]]
* ''[[The Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch]]''
* ''[[The Rutles Archaeology]]''

==References==
===Sources===
* {{cite book|last=James|first=David E.|title=Rock 'n' Film: Cinema's Dance with Popular Music|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rwHECgAAQBAJ&pg=PA177|year=2016|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780199387595|pages=177–179}}

===Citations===
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Wikiquote|All You Need Is Cash}}
* {{IMDb title|0077147}}
* [http://ew.com/article/2005/03/19/online-exclusive-pythons-eric-idle-rutles/ Idle Thoughts], an interview with Eric Idle from March 2005
* [http://www.rutlemania.org/aynic5.html All You Need Is Cash on NBC-TV], part of an anonymous fan's website

{{The Rutles}}
{{Monty Python}}
{{Beatles filmography and videography}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:British mockumentary films]]
[[Category:1978 films]]
[[Category:British parody films]]
[[Category:British rock music films]]
[[Category:Pop music films]]
[[Category:1970s musical comedy films]]
[[Category:British musical comedy films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Eric Idle]]
[[Category:The Beatles in film]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Eric Idle]]
[[Category:Films directed by Gary Weis]]
[[Category:Films à clef]]
[[Category:1978 comedy films]]
[[Category:1978 television films]]
[[Category:British satirical films]]
[[Category:British musical television films]]
[[Category:1970s English-language films]]
[[Category:1970s British films]]
[[Category:British comedy television films]]
[[Category:English-language musical comedy films]]
[[Category:1978 musical films]]