George Harrison: Living in the Material World

George Harrison was know as the "Quiet Beatle," and later he would be well known for his spiritualism, especially with Indian religions. But he was always behind John Lennon and Paul McCartney in terms of attention, and while Ringo played something of the clown, George's humor was keen and dry--just not terribly noticed.

In 2011, Martin Scorsese made George Harrison: Living in the Material World, a three-hour plus documentary that gives George his due. There are assembled all of the key people in George's life, starting with his two brothers, then Paul and Ringo, and musicians he has befriended and played with over the years, such as Eric Clapton and Tom Petty.

I happen to be reading a very long history of The Beatles now, so some of this information overlapped. John and Paul were looking for a guitarist for the band. Paul knew George, and took him to meet John, and that was it. At the time George was younger than those two, and looked even younger than that, with a great quiff of hair.

The film moves over the early years rather quickly. They played in Hamburg, got a record deal, and when their new producer George Martin asked the boys if there was anything they didn't like, George said, "Well, for a start I don't like your tie."

John and Paul were the writers, though, and George was lucky to get one song an album. He started to expand, especially when he began studying Indian mysticism. He learned sitar from Ravi Shankar, and then he and The Beatles visited the Maharishi in Indian (during that trip, their manager Brian Epstein died, which to George was some kind of sign). George would also get involved with Hare Krishna, but never to the extent of shaving his head and wearing robes. He did get a song of theirs on the pop charts.

It was at this time the strain was breaking The Beatles apart. George's talents as a songwriter were now blooming--"Something" was the first of his songs to be released as a single, and "Here Comes the Sun" remains one of their best songs, period. He had a backlog of songs.

The Beatles did go their separate ways, and George had some success as a solo artist, with albums like All Things Must Pass, and then a benefit--The Concert for Bangladesh, which won a Grammy for best album. He had stopped playing sitar, and returned to his roots as a rock singer.

The film covers, in agonizing detail, the break up of his marriage to Pattie Boyd, who then married Clapton. He describes how he had to tell his friend, "I've fallen in love with your wife." There is no mention whatsoever, though, of the lawsuit about "My Sweet Lord," which had the same melody as an earlier hit, "She's So Fine." I remember at the time that George told the court that neither he nor any of The Beatles knew how to read music.

There's a lot of great stuff here. George lived in a big old mansion called Friar Park, and his later years devoted hours and hours to gardening and planting trees. His second wife Olivia and son Dhani are interviewed (Olivia is a co-producer), and she tells the horrifying story of the man who broke into their house and attacked them.

There is also a lot of footage I've never seen before, including film of The Beatles, pre-Ringo. I was fascinated by a film clip of George and John on some British TV show discussing religion with a bunch of academics--John looks like he'd rather be anywhere else, but George takes them on.

In later years, George had numerous interests, including car racing (Jackie Stewart was a good friend), films (he mortgaged his house to fund the Monty Python lads for their film Life of Brian) and even had a bit of a comeback with the super-group Traveling Wilburys. But what comes across most is that he was a kind soul (but he did have a lot of anger, which is pointed out by many). Ringo tells the story that he visited him in Switzerland when George was on his deathbed, hardly able to do anything but lay in bed. Ringo had to go to Boston, where his own daughter was being treated for a brain tumor. "You want me to go with you?" he asked Ringo. Ringo has to wipe away a tear at remembering this, and says, "What is this, Barbara fucking Walters?"

This film is a must for any Beatles fan, as it gives the Quiet Beatle his due.