CARLTON FLETCHER: Peter Jackson’s ‘Get Back’ is a sweet Valentine for Beatles fans

“The long and winding road that leads to your door Will never disappear.”

— The Beatles

When the “The Beatles: Get Back” documentary reached the part where The Beatles were about to play on the rooftop of their Apple Records studio in downtown London, I felt mixed emotions. I was jazzed to see that famous 42-minute mini-concert play out in its entirety.

But I was sad, too. Not necessarily bummed about the many years that have passed since that iconic event — years in which half of the greatest musical group ever, John Lennon and George Harrison, died tragically — but already missing the joy and anticipation of watching another segment of Peter Jackson’s amazing project. And let there be no doubt, it’s a project of love.

“Get Back,” showing now on Disney+, plays out in three parts and runs for a little more than 12 hours. It’s the story — as it turns out, a tragedy — of the end of The Beatles. The band got together amid rumblings that they were set to go their separate ways to plan and prepare for an album, a movie and two concerts that never happened.

The movie and album, each called “Let It Be,” did happen, but members of the band were so dissatisfied with the movie, they pulled the film out of theaters and stopped sales of video reproductions. That film, which was gleaned from more than 60 hours of video footage and 150 hours of audio production, was condensed to a bad-vibes break-up film that, it turned out, was not a true depiction of the band’s last hurrah.

“The Beatles: Get Back,” which Jackson, the Oscar-winning mastermind behind the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, took on as a fan, shows that the band’s last big project included a lot of fun times mixed in with the inevitable falling apart.

Sure, Harrison, who complained that Lennon and his co-writer on the overwhelming majority of the band’s hits, Paul McCartney, did not give Harrison’s music much attention, did leave the band for a few days. But these were The Beatles, and the equal parts joy and genius that surrounded their work was evident throughout “Get Back.”

(When Harrison, angry over criticism by McCartney of his guitar work, decided to walk out, there was a moment of shocked silence. Then Lennon said, amazingly, “We’ll give it a little while, and if he doesn’t come back, we’ll get Clapton.” But, as it became apparent that Harrison was not immediately coming back, Lennon, McCartney and drummer Ringo Starr huddled together for a poignant personal moment, their concern etched on their faces.)

This documentary is amazing for any Beatles fan, primarily because of the music. The songs that would become the “Let It Be” album are prominent throughout, and the sheer magic of the documentary was watching mostly Lennon and McCartney, but all four musicians go through the writing process. McCartney, with his bass guitar, amazingly, laid down the tune for the song “Get Back” (one of the band’s No. 1 hits) while just sitting around one morning waiting for Lennon to arrive at the studio. He and Lennon initially planned to make it a protect song about the response to immigration in England.

Hearing the familiar tune with lyrics referencing Pakistani immigrants and then watching as it slowly over the sessions turned into a ditty about “Sweet Loretta Martin” and “JoJo” leaving his home in Tucson, Arizona — the two were, incidentally, originally Sweet Loretta Marsh and JoJo Jackson — was simply mind-blowing.

The unannounced rooftop performance, which drew thousands of unsuspecting concertgoers into the downtown area around Apple and led to police being sent in response to disturbing-the-peace calls, was bittersweet. It was, after all, the band’s last live performance together. But it was also a fitting end to an amazing documentary that is a must-watch for even casual Beatles fans. If, like me, you love the band’s music, though, “The Beatles: Get Back” is a gift that will remain with you long after the credits have stopped rolling.