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These movies may seem a bit odd to some, but to those who are fans of The Beatles, they may be good.
Plot
-An eastern cult(parody of the Indian Thugee cult) is about to sacrifice a woman to the goddess Kali. Just as she is about to die, the high priestess notices she is not wearing the sacrificial ring. Ringo Starr, Beatles drummer has it; sent to him by the victim. It's on his finger. Determined to get the ring and sacrifice the woman, the great Swami Clang(Leo McKern), the high priestess Ahme(Eleanor Bron) and other cult members including Bhuta(John Bluthal) leave for London. After several tries to get the ring, they find Ringo in an Indian restaurant. Ringo learns that if he does not give the ring back, he will be the sacrifice. Ringo then finds that the ring is stuck on his finger
-Next, they find a jeweler to remove the ring, but all the tools used on it break. In a last effort attempt, the guys resort to the efforts of a bumbling scientist, Foot(Victor Spinetti) and his assistant Algernon(Roy Kinnear). His lab is full of British Army surplus items and he hates anything British. When his equipment have no effect on the ring, Foot thinks he must have the ring. Before anything else happens, Ahme comes in with a pink Walther P-38 pistol, gets the group and they return home.
-Ahme, now on the guy's side, tells the group that her sister's time has passed and she is now out of danger. Ringo is now the sacrifice. Ahme proposes to inject Ringo with a potion derived from orchids to shrink his finger to remove the ring. She tells him to be brave and that if he were brave, none of this would have been necessary.
-When Ringo is lying on the bed in Paul's room waiting for the needle, they start pounding on the door. But before Ahme can start, the needle ends up going into Paul's leg instead and he shrinks. The cult members break into the room and a fight starts. Ahme flees. Ringo is doused with red paint in order to be sacrificed. This somehow ruins his best suit and a swordsman comes in to fight. Foot comes in with a Webley gun and sacres the man away. The gang retreats and Foot tries to take the ring. Paul unshrinks and John starts to swing a lamp at Foot who tries to shoot him, but the gun misfires. Blaming this on the fact that the gun is British made, Foot leaves.
-The band flees to the Austrian Alps for safety but thugs and Foot follow them. As The Beatles participate in a skiing game, Foot and Algernon booby trap one of the curling stones with a bomb. George sees the bomb and tells everyone to run. The bomb goes off after a delay, creating a hole in the ice in which a swimmer(Mal Evans) emerges and asks directions to the White Cliffs of Dover. Next, Swami skis down a slope that Ahme told him was the way to get further pursuit of The Beatles. But it ends up being a ramp for a ski jumping contest. Swami is declared winner. The group goes back to England and they ask for protection from Scotland Yard(British police). They get it in the form of a cowardly Inspector(Patrick Cargill). After being attacked while recording in the middle of Salisbury Plain surrounded by British Army men, they hide in "A Well Known Place"(Buckingham Palace).
-The group goes into a small bar where Swami appears to be working. After being served alcohol, Ringo can't pick his glass up from the table so George tips it over, unknowingly opening a trap door to the cellar Swami set up. Inside the cellar is a broken ladder and a tiger. They go to summon the Inspector, telling him that to tame the tiger, he must sing Ode to Joy from Beethoven's 9th Symphony. While disguised, The Beatles take a plane to the Bahamas, followed by Foot and Clang. After Ringo is nearly captured, the other Beatles pose as him to lure the cult members, who are then arrested by the Bahamas Police. Despite their best efforts, Ringo is captured by Foot, who tries to get him onto a ship intending to cut off his finger to get the ring.
-Ahme rescues Ringo by giving Foot the same orchid potion. The 2 try to escape the ship by jumping into the water, but Rinog can't swim. They are captured by the cult and tied down on the beach where they are surrounded by 2 battalions of Kukhri Rifles. Clang begins the ceremony to sacrifice Ringo after telling him that the cult members are prepared to attack the rest of The Beatles when they come, and that if Ringo attempts to warn them, he will die instantly.
-Ringo manages to untie himself and tries to wave to his band buddies to wanr them away. With this act of courage, the ring falls from his finger. He puts the ring on Clang. Ahme declares that Clang be the sacrifice, as he's wearing the ring. The movie ends playing the title song
Inspiration
-The Beatles said the film was inspired by the Marx Brothers classic movie Duck Soup. And they also said that it was slightly parodying James Bond.
Did You Know?-In the scene where The Beatles are in the bar, there is an Indian band playing. That's what started an interest in sitar playing for George
-The reason some of their lines may be screwed up or they don't make much sense is The Beatles were experimenting with marijuana
-The Hindu god that the cult in the movie worship is Kali, aka Kali-Ma. She is the Hindu version of the Grim Reaper.
-It is widely believed that John started wearing his trademark granny glasses in the movie How I Won the War. Not true, John can be seen wearing the trademark glasses in the scene where The Beatles are in disguise at the airport
-In the scene where the jeweller is trying to solve Ringo's ring problem, George can be seen quietly shoplifting jewels into his overcoat!
-The tiger that scares Ringo in the basement of the bar was only a cub, about 10 months old. And Ringo was behind several inches of glass to separate him and the tiger.
-In the scene where Paul shrinks, to simulate a "nude scene", he wears flesh colored swim trunks. He uses a gum wrapper to wrap around him like a towel that strangely resembles a Wrigley's Spearamint Gum wrapper, although no brand is ever seen on it.
-In the scene where George warns people about the bomb, he accidentally touches the breasts of the woman behind him
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