MAN ON THE RUN Review

Imagine you are twenty-seven, a global rockstar, producing hit after hit, touring all over the globe, fans love you, and then your world-famous band breaks up. What do you do?

This is where Paul McCartney found himself when the Beatles began to fall apart in 1969, as John Lennon left the band. With all that fame and fortune, most would guess McCartney would spend his days after the Beatles’ breakup in some swanky hotel, living the rockstar life. Quite on the contrary, in fact. McCarnety does not go live in the Presidential Hotel or party his nights away at the Troubadour, but decides to go into hiding in the middle of Scotland, of course! Reverting to a humble life on a rundown farm, McCartney begins a new chapter of his life after the Beatles.

From Academy Award-winning director Morgan Neville, the documentary Man on the Run explores what one of the world’s most famous and influential artists does when he is told he must start from scratch. After dedicating a decade to the band, and his most formative years, McCartney is left to find who he is without the Beatles.

As a casual Beatles fan, I found Neville’s glimpse into McCartney’s life post-Beatles to be very intriguing. I find it admirable that, despite a journey of girls fawning over him, McCartney was and is such a family man. Bringing his new wife, Linda, and their two daughters to the farm, he can get away from the frenzy of city life. This reprieve allowed McCartney to begin experimenting with music again after his band’s breakup. Despite the heartbreaking time, all the McCartneys wished to do was write music, sing, and be together. 

Through his grief of losing the Beatles and who he was during that time, McCartney began to work on various new musical pieces. With his wife Linda, McCartney and she worked on a folk-rock album called Ram, inspired by their life on the Scottish farm. Never reaching the same level of success as any of the Beatles' music, the couple continued to move forward and formed a new band called Wings with the artist Denny Laine. For another decade of McCartney’s life, he would dedicate himself to writing, producing, and performing for a band. 

Man on the Run features rare archival footage and audio recordings that allow any Beatles fan to deeply understand what McCartney was emotionally going through the years after he stopped making music with John, Ringo and George. Jumping straight back into music after the Beatles disbanded shows the passion and creativity McCartney holds. It becomes clear how deeply healing music is to the artist. Unfortunately, it also becomes fairly apparent that McCartney was deeply lost during this time in his life, and threw himself into this new group and music as a way to distract himself from his loss. Touring constantly, and overshadowed by the success of the Beatles, McCartney and those around him suffered greatly during the course of Wings' formation. 

Despite proving that Wings did deliver a good show and were separate from the Beatles, the band broke up in 1981. McCartney states, “When I left school, I didn’t want to get a job, so I joined a group. Now it’s turned out to be quite a job… nothing goes on forever”. Director Neville then turns this idea to how McCartney tragically loses Lennon. Nothing is permanent, and Neville does a great job at blending the themes of the documentary and the real-life events of McCartney’s life into a climax. When the Beatles broke up, McCartney had to grow up, but it truly was not until Lennon’s assassination that McCartney was forced to really wake up from the void the Beatles left him.

Personally, my favourite part of the documentary was not even music-related, but McCartney’s run-ins with the law for his marijuana possession. Once marijuana plants were found on McCartney’s farm, he was taken to court, but only given a fine, as his defence was that a fan had sent him the seeds, and he did not know they were marijuana when he planted them. McCartney’s second drug-related offence was when he flew to Japan to tour with Wings and was found with a large quantity of marijuana in his suitcase. McCartney was arrested and held in jail for 9 days, until Japanese officials found it easier to kick him out of the country than hold him for trial. 

My only criticism of the documentary is that, after 127 minutes, the archival footage can start to feel a little mundane. I know it can be hard to secure a one-on-one with Sir Paul McCartney, but I do think it would have been effective to mix the sit-down interviews with the archival footage. It could have added a new, exciting element to the documentary to keep your attention, as I did find myself drifting from the screen more than once. However, I do not think the sole use of archival footage and audio recordings is a deal breaker for Man on the Run. 

If you want to know a little more about the man outside the band, the Beatles, Man on the Run does a considerable job of telling the story of McCartney post-Beatles by balancing his family life, his loss of the Beatles, and his new musical creations. Neville's documentary navigates its storytelling efficiently. I know any fan of the Beatles, whether that be a casual one like myself or a passionate one who is Wings' biggest fan, will find this documentary enjoyable. You get to see the stripped-down and humble artist that was and is Paul McCartney, through the good and the bad. And that is what a good music documentary should accomplish. If you wish to watch the Man on the Run, the documentary is now streaming on Prime Video.

🍿 SCORE = 80/100