Episode 189: Good Ol’ Freda (2013)

And here we are with the second episode in our series “Ladies and Gentlemen . . . the Beatles!” and I’m guessing most of you are asking yourselves: was Freda the quiet Beatle or the cute Beatle? Well, you’re both wrong (both of our listeners!) because (brace yourself for a shock) none of the Beatles were named Freda! I know, right? I was stunned too! The titular Freda refers to Freda Kelly who served as the official President of the Beatles Fan club in Liverpool for the entirety of the band’s existence.  This documentary presents her story and her unique perspective on the Lads Liverpudlian, a story that she didn’t tell for almost fifty years. Working directly for Brian Epstein, Freda saw John, Paul, George and Ringo (and Pete) when they were just local boys playing at the Cavern and was with them through their astounding rise to fame and to the sad dissolution of the band.  She answered their fan mail, brought them their paychecks, got them to sign all sorts of things, and kept their secrets. Give a listen and find out if this is just another tired old tale or a genuinely interesting story.

Poll question: what action movie cliché punches the biggest hole in your suspension of disbelief? People walking away from explosions? People diving unharmed through a plate glass window?

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4 thoughts on “Episode 189: Good Ol’ Freda (2013)”

  1. She sounds more interesting than the Beatles to me! I love learning more about some obscure person or detail than the main act most of the time.

    Omg, you can’t jump ½ mile from one rooftop to another! I used to box and fighting hand to hand is really exhausting so when people run, fight,chase fight again for a 10 minute plus scene I can only think the characters would be asleep by the end. I mentioned this before but the lead character always be at the right place and time to here just the right thing to take Them to the next plot point all the time just seems extra last in an action film.

    1. If you like obscure people, this is your documentary! She’s very nice and the movie was made for nothing as part of a kickstarter plan.

      All your other points about action movies are well taken and true. Thanks, Snowy!

  2. If you’ve spent any–and I really do mean any–amount of time learning any sort of martial arts, it becomes very apparent when actors actually learned something and when they’ve learned how to go through some motions. Uma Thurman in Kill Bill is an unfortunate example of this, as is Keanu Reeves in The Matrix. It’s hard to watch because now you can’t believe that this person knows what they’re doing (though that’s kind of okay in the latter example). Moral of the story, don’t do martial arts.

    1. I haven’t learned any martial arts, don’t know about Max, but I’m willing to bet you’re totally right. I’m sure they both learned lots of stunt-fu, which looks good. And it does. But I guess this is one of those times where a little knowledge is both not enough and too much; not enough to get away with it and too much because you can see all the cracks. Thanks, Ned!

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