sgt. pepper's lonely hearts club band

Director: michael schultz

Actor: peter frampton,barry gibb,robin gibb,maurice gibb

Data Published: Fri Jul 21 1978

Genres: Adventure,Comedy,Fantasy,Musical

Key Words: small town,the beatles,the beatles song,weathervane,scanimate

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078239/

WIKI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sgt._Pepper%27s_Lonely_Hearts_Club_Band_(film)

Description: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is a movie starring Peter Frampton, Barry Gibb, and Robin Gibb. A small-town band hits it big, but they must battle a nefarious plot in the music industry.

Plot: Mr. Kite (George Burns), the elderly mayor of the wholesome small town of Heartland, recounts the history of Heartland's celebrated marching band, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which brought happiness through its music, even causing troops in World War I to stop fighting. When its bandleader died in 1958, he left the band's magical musical instruments to the town, and as long as they remain in Heartland, people will live happily ever after. The City Hall contains the instruments and is topped with a Magical Weather Vane in the shape of a marching band trumpeter that foresees good and ominous developments. The bandleader left his musical legacy to his handsome and good-hearted grandson, Billy Shears (Peter Frampton), who forms a successor Sgt. Pepper's band with his best friends the Hendersons (The Bee Gees). Billy's jealous and money-hungry stepbrother, Dougie (Paul Nicholas), serves as the band's manager. Heartland loves the new band, and soon record company executive B.D. (Donald Pleasence) invites them to Hollywood with the promise of a record deal. Billy bids farewell to his sweet hometown girlfriend, Strawberry Fields (Sandy Farina). Once in Hollywood, B.D. gets the naive band to sign an exploitative contract by plying them with drugs and alcohol and getting sexy singers Lucy (Dianne Steinberg) and the Diamonds (Stargard) to seduce them. Lucy starts an affair with Billy, who momentarily forgets Strawberry. The band quickly succeeds with hit records and sold-out shows. Meanwhile, the villain Mr. Mustard (Frankie Howerd) and his henchman the Brute drive to Heartland in their computer- and robot-equipped van. Mustard gets his orders via computer from a mysterious entity called F.V.B., who directs him to steal the magical instruments from City Hall, keep the drum, and bring the other instruments to them and others. Mustard does as directed. Without the instruments, Heartland, now under Mustard's control, quickly degenerates into a hotbed of vice and urban decay. Strawberry travels to Hollywood, manages to find Billy and the band at a recording session, and tells them of Heartland's plight. The band and Strawberry steal Mustard's van and use its computer to locate the stolen instruments. They manage to recover the cornet from the deranged, money-driven anti-aging specialist Dr. Maxwell Edison (Steve Martin), the tuba from mind-controlling cult leader Father Sun (Alice Cooper), and the drum, which Mustard kept in his van. However, the computer malfunctions before they can locate the final missing instrument. As Heartland continues to deteriorate, the band plans a benefit concert to save the town. B.D., Lucy and Dougie go along with the plan, exploiting the situation for financial gain. Dougie and Lucy, who have bonded over their shared love of money, plot to steal the show proceeds and run off, and to that end hide the bags of money in Mustard's van while Billy, Strawberry and the Hendersons are watching Earth, Wind & Fire perform at the benefit. Mustard and the Brute suddenly arrive and take back the van, which also contains the recovered instruments. They kidnap Strawberry, with whom Mustard has fallen in love from afar, drag her into the van, and drive off with Dougie, Lucy and the money hidden on board. Billy and the Hendersons see the van leave and pursue it in the town's hot air balloon. Mustard drives to F.V.B.'s headquarters where F.V.B. plans to suppress the magical instruments and take over the world. It is revealed that F.V.B. stands for "Future Villain Band", an Orwellian hard-rock band (Aerosmith) in contrast to the wholesomeness of Sgt. Pepper's band. F.V.B. is described as "the evil force that would poison young minds, pollute the environment, and subvert the democratic process"; they perform in militaristic uniforms on a high platform stage made to look like stacks of money, accompanied by uniformed youth twirling flags. To turn Strawberry into a "helpless groupie", F.V.B. chains her up onstage while the band plays "Come Together" and the lead singer (Steven Tyler) fondles her. Dougie and Lucy are also tied up and forced to watch. Billy and the Hendersons arrive and engage in hand-to-hand combat with F.V.B. When the lead singer chokes Billy, Strawberry despite her chains manages to push him off Billy and off the raised stage to his death, but Strawberry then falls and is also killed. The town of Heartland, now cleaned up, holds an elaborate funeral for Strawberry, after which a depressed Billy attempts suicide by jumping from a rooftop. Before he can hit the ground, in a form of Deus ex machina, the Magical Weather Vane on top of City Hall comes to life (as Billy Preston) and catches him with a magical lightning bolt. The Magical Weather Vane then dances through the town square, tossing magical lightning bolts that transform Mr. Mustard and the Brute into a bishop and a monk, Mustard's van into a VW Beetle, Dougie and Lucy into an altar boy and a nun, and finally restore Strawberry to life. As Billy and Strawberry happily embrace, one last lightning bolt transforms his and the Hendersons' mourning suits into shiny new Sgt. Pepper uniforms. In the finale, the cast appear with numerous celebrities in a tribute to the original Beatles album cover.