One night, back in 1976, the world came very close to seeing The Beatles get back together. This is one of rock’s most celebrated legends — the night when John Lennon and Paul McCartney were hanging out and watching Saturday Night Live in New York when Lorne Michaels challenged the Fab Four to show up and play together for the first time in years. In the year 2000, cable network VH1 got creative with this iconic moment and released Two of Us, a movie that fantasizes about this meeting of Lennon and McCartney and their near comeback as musical partners. There’s a lot of fact and fiction to it, but it remains one of the most beautiful stories about the greatest band ever.
The universe sure works in mysterious ways, because no one could ever dream up the circumstances of April 24, 1976. Except Mark Stanfield and Michael Lindsay-Hogg, the writer and director of Two of Us, actually kind of did. In their story, Paul McCartney (Aidan Quinn) shows up at the Dakota building in New York that day for a surprise visit to John Lennon (Jared Harris), one of the few times they talked since the gnarly business of the Beatles’ breakup in 1970. So McCartney was prepared for some awkwardness and maybe even tension at the beginning.
The day was filled with ups and downs. Lennon and McCartney go from the initial strangeness of the unexpected encounter to their usual playful selves, with a lot of teasing disguising the jabs they throw at each other. John makes a point of inserting Wings lyrics whenever he can in a mocking tone, and Paul nags at him for having stopped making music. They also mention the fact that both of them are constantly asked about the Beatles reuniting, and the countless offers they get to do so. Eventually, though, they do open up to each other in a way that only childhood friends can, firing up the big questions they had kept for years, leading to some emotional moments that would make any Beatlemaniac tear up.
After a whole day of just the two of them, which included adventures in Central Park and trying to avoid fans at a restaurant, the duo crashes on the couch in Lennon’s living room. Paul is watching Saturday Night Live while John’s sleeping.
when Lorne Michaels comes on screen to offer them the hefty sum of $3,000 for the Beatles to get back together.
John laughs a lot at the sketch but turns to Paul and says they should do it. Paul is skeptical at first but eventually agrees with John. He goes down to his car to grab his guitar so they can practice for a few minutes first. While he’s gone, Yoko, who’s in California with her and John’s son Sean, calls John on the telephone. Talking to his wife, John pretty much forgets the whole SNL thing, and when Paul returns with his guitar, he quickly understands that they’re not going anymore. He just nods to John saying he needs to go, and John nods back. That would be their last encounter before John’s death, but at least it was as friends again.
