Man on the Run

If, like Alan Partridge, you believe that Wings were ‘the band The Beatles could have been’, Morgan Neville’s propulsively upbeat music doc is a total treat. And, honestly, even if the merest waft of bagpipe on ‘Mull of Kintyre’ brings you out in hives, Man on the Run is still full of treasures.

Piecing together a snappy collage of ’70s home video, unseen archive and gig footage, plus some insightful voiceover interviews, the Piece By Piece and 20 Feet From Stardom director revisits Paul McCartney as he tries to figure out what it is to be an ex-Beatle – and, ideally, how to graduate from it. 

For Macca, the immediate post-Beatles era was a confounding time: the band hadn’t yet officially split and rumours that they’d reform for a big pay day would dog him, John, George and Ringo throughout the 1970s. A fugitive from his own life, Neville’s doc finds a glum McCartney, wife Linda and family in a ramshackle farmhouse on Scotland’s Kintyre peninsula. It’s a billion miles from the glare of his mop-top days but he’s still dealing with the odd intrepid journalist. In one case, using a lobbed bucket.

But, as Man on the Run shows so enjoyably, McCartney’s urge to make music conquered even his love of serenity and sheep shearing. In a jiffy, he was recruiting Linda, Moody Blues guitarist Denny Laine and a revolving cast of bandmates to form experimental rock band Wings, recording among the chickens at a jerry-built studio at the farm.

The songs initially reflected those surrounds, and not every one of Paul’s pastoral ditties met with universal approval (‘Mary had a little fucking lamb? Are you nuts?’ grumbles one band mate). Neville digs up footage of Lennon being sniffy from across the Atlantic. But the sight of this man riding a wave of his own bonkers creativity – and carrying his band along with him – is infectious. ‘We’re having a great time doing the things the Beatles could never have done,’ he grins, a man unshackled.

Would Wings conquer America or just release a concept album about sheep husbandry?

And if it seemed touch and go whether Wings would conquer America or just release a 12-track concept album about sheep husbandry, iron-clad bangers like ‘Band on the Run’, ‘Live and Let Die’, ‘Jet’ and ‘Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five’ ultimately catapulted the group to sellout runs at Madison Square Gardens (even if some of the crowd was there in case Lennon turned up). Not to mention ‘Mull of Kintyre’, his mega-selling tribute to his adopted home. 

Neville also weaves in two love stories: with Linda, of course, who copped sexist attacks over both her musicianship and her marriage to the world’s most eligible bachelor; and with lifelong pal John Lennon. The pair would fall out over finances and move in different directions, but their bond lived on. The footage of McCartney reacting to Lennon’s murder on camera remains arresting – even if pundits interpreted his shock for uncaringness.

In the end, Wings lasted a couple of years longer than The Beatles, a decade-long creative rebirth for its founder-member. The band left behind a smaller cultural footprint, of course, but an army of fans. Who knows? By the time you’ve watched this music-filled doc, you might even side with Alan.

In UK and Ireland (and remote Scottish) cinemas now. Streaming on Prime Video worldwide Feb 27.