As arguably the most important rock and pop band in music history, The Beatles (and their individual members) have been the subject of numerous documentaries over the decades. These films range from contemporary accounts at the height of their fame in the late 60s to recent biographies and retrospectives by acclaimed filmmakers, each taking different approaches to exploring the lives, history, and music of the Fab Four. The results have varied in critical and commercial success, as well as in reception among reviewers, musicians, filmmakers, and fans. Here are ten of the band’s most interesting and worthwhile documentary features, often ranked by their critical and commercial performance and their place in both the band’s canon and cinema history.

All Together Now (2008): Directed by Adrian Wills, this acclaimed documentary charts the creative process behind the Cirque du Soleil show “Love.” The project began in the early 2000s when George Harrison and Guy Laliberté envisioned utilizing The Beatles’ music for an extravagant live performance. After three years of complex negotiations between the band’s surviving members, their representatives, and record executives, the show debuted in 2006. The film captures early meetings between the Cirque and Apple Corps creative teams and includes interviews with Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and Yoko Ono. It won the Grammy Award for Best Long Form Music Video in 2009.

Meeting the Beatles in India (2020): This documentary recounts the extraordinary personal episode when The Beatles, still reeling from the death of their manager Brian Epstein, retreated to an ashram in Rishikesh, India, in 1968 to study transcendental meditation under Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. By sheer coincidence, 20-year-old Canadian Paul Saltzman, on his own spiritual journey, also trekked to the ashram. After an eight-day wait, he was admitted and spent a week studying and meditating alongside the band and their significant others. Saltzman’s acclaimed 2020 documentary intimately details this unique experience.

Imagine: John Lennon (1988): Commissioned by John Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, in 1986, this film meticulously explores his life. Director Andrew Solt pieced together clips from 100 hours of recordings, interview footage, and live performances, narrated by Lennon himself from beyond the grave. Although Lennon’s bandmates declined to appear, they reportedly gave it their eventual approval. The LA Times noted that upon a private screening, Paul McCartney warmly remarked to Solt, “A good lad he was!”

The Beatles Revolution (2000): Released in coordination with the band’s turn-of-the-century #1s retrospective album, this two-hour primetime special by ABC explored The Beatles’ profound contribution to pop culture and music. Featuring A-list contributions from notable celebrity fans including Robin Williams, Mike Myers, and Bill Clinton, the documentary proved a hit with audiences and critics. Its success was further enhanced by the inclusion of a wealth of previously unseen footage of the band, personally released from their own Apple archives.

Let It Be (1970): The oldest film on this list, “Let It Be” was filmed in 1969 and chronicles the band’s final year together from a fly-on-the-wall perspective, culminating in their unannounced 42-minute swansong performance on the roof of their Apple Corps building in London’s Savile Row. Upon its release the following year, the film earned The Beatles an Oscar for Best Original Song Score. However, the film itself has not been fully embraced by all fans and critics, with some claiming it fails to delve fully into the fractured dynamics of the band at the time. Nonetheless, it stands alone as a contemporary opportunity to watch the band play and interact, up close and personal, at the tail end of their time together.

The Compleat Beatles (1982): For an all-encompassing retrospective of The Beatles’ entire career, the 1980s two-hour documentary “The Compleat Beatles” is a definitive choice. Narrated by Malcolm McDowell, the film charts the band’s complete history, from their early days in Liverpool clubs through their unprecedented fame on both sides of the Atlantic and eventual breakup. Featuring rare behind-the-scenes footage of performances and recordings, as well as candid interviews with many major figures in the band’s rise to fame, “The Compleat Beatles” is both a critical favorite and a cult documentary popular among music and movie aficionados, though hardcore fans might seek something more in-depth.

The Beatles: Get Back (2021): This three-part 2021 miniseries, directed by “Lord of the Rings” filmmaker Peter Jackson, meticulously pieced together hours of rare and unseen footage from the making of The Beatles’ last album, “Let It Be” (which had been provisionally titled “Get Back”). Co-produced by Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono, and Olivia Harrison, the series garnered rave reviews for its tantalizing peek into the band’s creative process in the late 1960s, though some reviewers and viewers found its eight-hour runtime substantial.

The Beatles Anthology (1995): This acclaimed six-part British documentary series about The Beatles (recut into three longer installments for US audiences) had a protracted development history. Initially planned in 1970 as a 90-minute TV documentary titled “The Long and Winding Road,” the project was shelved for over a decade. According to Yoko Ono, just days before his murder in 1980, John Lennon commented that he and his fellow bandmates were planning a reunion concert in England, with the performance serving as the finale to the long-shelved documentary. Lennon’s death understandably halted the project, which remained on hold until the early 1990s when it was finally revived as “The Beatles Anthology.”

Eight Days a Week: The Touring Years (2016): Five years before Peter Jackson’s magnum opus, fellow Oscar-winner Ron Howard produced his own highly acclaimed documentary focusing on a specific period in the band’s history: their extensive live performances. This film chronicles their touring years, starting at Liverpool’s Cavern Club in 1962 and concluding with their famed 1966 concert in San Francisco. Made with the full cooperation of surviving band members Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, as well as Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison, Howard’s film was a hit with critics and audiences alike, picking up Grammy and Emmy Awards that year and grossing an impressive $12 million at the box office.