Amazon Prime Video’s Man On The Run Review: Well, Now I Appreciate Paul McCartney’s Meandering And Obscure Post-Beatles Era

Being the huge music fan that I am, I’m always seeking out music documentaries so that I can learn more about the greats of our time and yesteryear. I’ve seen quite a few Beatles documentaries and movies over the years, which never fail to interest me – particularly Peter Jackson’s Get Back doc from 2021. So, when I heard about Morgan Neville’s Man On The Run, I was immediately ready to hit play. While the account tracks perhaps the least noisy, rock ‘n’ roll moment in the musical career of Paul McCartney, I think it’s absolutely worth a watch for any one with the curiosity to do so.

Man On The Run comes the accomplished Morgan Neville, who has previously made portraits of the the lives of Brian Wilson, Johnny Cash, Mister Rogers, Anthony Bourdain and Mickey Mouse through his chosen medium. He’s also the guy who made the LEGO biopic about Pharrell Williams called Piece By Piece as his last project before this. As you watch his latest, narrated by its subject, there’s a confidence about how it all unfolds. But what struck me the most while watching the feature was the Beatle delving into the somber yet liberating years after the Fab Four broke up.

Man On The Run expressively explores the question of how one moves forward after being in the Beatles.

The new documentary starts with the end of the Beatles, which, according to McCartney, quietly happened in the fall of 1969 when John Lennon told the other members he was leaving the group. McCartney retreated to a rundown farm in rural Scotland with his family and quickly got back to writing music again. As archival footage showcases his much simpler life away from Beatlemania, McCartney’s narration gets honest about how his depression gave way to experimentation with music that led to his solo albums of the early 1970s – which he recorded practically by his lonesome at first.

While his records were panned at the time, I found myself (someone who’s loved the Beatles and McCartney my whole life, yet hasn’t delved into every inch of the Fab Four’s catalogue) excited by this exploration of a different era for the songwriter. While the period is surely not as explosive or catchy as his Beatles discography, getting to watch how the iconic artist pushed forward with his talents despite isolation and lack of fanfare is a treat. I was quite amazed at the suggestion that McCartney practically began indie rock through his DIY approach to music-making at this time.

It’s a rather soft and mild documentary, but there’s a refreshing earnestness about it.

Man on the Run has some talk about the brotherly relationship between Paul and John Lennon, which led to some budding heads and public discrepancies. The doc illustrates the criticism he faced from the public as he started anew, but as far as music docs go, it’s pretty much free of any drama or glamorization of things.

Sure, that may make the documentary somewhat of a sleepy entry into the genre, but this approach makes it also feel as honest as Paul was living his life at the time. There’s a lot to cover from the decade, and it doesn’t spoon feed every detail about things to viewers or hang too long on one moment, but the compilation of footage, journals, interview clips and such make for an engaging, yet wistful scrapbook into what McCartney was up to in the 1970s.

While I would have also been interested in learning more what the other Beatles were doing at the time as well post-1969 and the doc including more perspectives, there’s something special about the fact that Man On The Run keeps things as a simple, yet detailed account of Paul McCartney’s post-Beatles era.

And of course, a big part of that is the formation of his band Wings in 1971 – the documentary looking back on McCartney getting to tour venues of 3,000 people with his new mates and his wife Linda McCartney before Wings had its own hits in their own right. There’s certainly something to be said about his decision to start from scratch rather than riding on the coattails of the Beatles being the biggest band of all time, and I'm happy this retelling of it (with the artist's involvement) exists.

As someone who wasn’t around during this era of McCartney’s life, I find Man on the Run to be an elegant treasure of the “Silly Love Songs” going down memory lane over what it was like for him to redefine himself and grow up after a whirlwind near-decade with the Beatles.