An official documentary on the Beatles career had been in the pipeline as early as 1970. Long-time friend and Apple Corps manager Neil Aspinall had compiled footage of concert, interview, and television appearances from various sources around the world. From this archival footage, he assembled a 90-minute feature film which was tentatively titled The Long and Winding Road and was completed in 1971. At that point, none of the former members had been involved in the project. Eric Idle was given a screening of the film by George Harrison in the late 1970s as research for Idle's mockumentary All You Need Is Cash.
Plans for the documentary's release lay dormant until 1980, when John Lennon made a statement as part of a legal deposition against the producers of the musical Beatlemania. "I and the other three former Beatles have plans to stage a reunion concert", he said, referring to an event that was to be filmed as a finale of The Long and Winding Road (which was now to be a television special). According to Yoko Ono, the concert would have been held in England: "Just days before he was killed, Lennon was making plans to go to England for a triumphant Beatles reunion. His greatest dream was to recreate the musical magic of the early years with Paul, George and Ringo... (he) felt that they had traveled different paths for long enough. He felt they had grown up and were mature enough to try writing and recording new songs." The alleged plan for a reunion was abandoned after Lennon died on 8 December.
