'Blindman': The Story Behind a Drunk Beatle's Spaghetti Western
When Paul McCartney shocked the world in April 1970 with his announcement of the Beatles' break-up, drummer Ringo Starr added a surprise of his own by becoming (initially, at least) the most musically active member of the former Fab Four.
As he would later recount in the lyrics of "Early 1970," the deceptively jaunty b-side of his 1971 hit "It Don't Come Easy," Starr was the only Beatle who didn't have any serious beef with any other member of the band at the time. Feeling lost without the family dynamic of the musical entity that had completely consumed the previous eight years of his life, he tried to distract himself from the pain by playing as much music as possible. In addition to releasing two solo albums (Sentimental Journey and Beaucoups of Blues) and two non-LP international hits ("It Don't Come Easy" and 1972's "Back Off Boogaloo," both produced by George Harrison), the musician spent his first two post–Fab-Four years playing drums on recording sessions for Harrison, John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Stephen Stills, Leon Russell and several other artists.
Still, Ringo felt adrift. Unsure of what else to do with himself, he continued to pursue his rather unorthodox film career, which had begun with Beatles vehicles (Walter Shenson, who produced 1964's A Hard Day's Night and 1965's Help!, called him "a superb actor, an absolute natural") and expanded to include parts in such cult films as 1968's Candy and 1969's The Magic Christian. In February 1971, Ringo took the role of Frank Zappa stand-in Larry the Dwarf in 200 Motels, Zappa's surreal comedy about the life of a rock band on tour. But the ex-Beatle yearned to expand his range beyond comedic parts. Which is how, four months later, he found himself traveling to Almeria, Spain, to play a cowboy in Blindman, a Spaghetti Western directed by Ferdinando Baldi.
By: Dan Epstein
Source: Rolling Stone
