Paul McCartney: Man on the Run

115 minutes; directed by Morgan Neville Critic’s grade: B+

For Beatles fans, Morgan Neville’s highly anticipated documentary makes for a pleasantly entertaining two-hour wallow in the music and life of Paul McCartney. Neville, who directed the acclaimed Mister Rogers doc “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”, zooms in on the period from the dissolution of the Fab Four to the end of the Wings band and the death of musical partner/rival John Lennon in 1981.

Per the title, the Cute Beatle began the ’70s by fleeing the mixed blessings of global superstardom. Following his all-Paul debut solo album and “Ram,” co-credited to Linda McCartney, he set out running towards a thing he couldn’t ever recapture again — a songwriting partnership with an equal in the creative genius department and a let’s-have-a-band camaraderie with an organically created group of mates.

The reality: Wings, his first post-Mop Tops band, was always, by necessity, going to be Beatle Paul and his hirelings, no matter how hard he tried to create a togetherness vibe. It didn’t help that, aside from his keyboardist/photographer wife Linda and guitarist-singer Denny Laine (ex-Moody Blues), the lineup never stopped evolving. Cue the band’s self-deprecating Spinal Tap reference.

And yet the patently uncool Wings — churning out mostly cheery pop bangers while the Smart Beatle was in NYC making somber, sometimes plain weird protest rock — was the vehicle for a load of fun and memorable radio hits, many of which feel more appealing today than 40 years ago. McCartney’s muse obviously didn’t die with the demise of Lennon-McCartney.

With “Man on the Run,” we get footage, some previously unreleased, of family and band time at his isolated sheep farm in Scotland; Wings on stage and on the tour bus; a truly cringeworthy TV special; a montage of promoters offering monster payouts for a Beatles reunion (including SNL producer Lorne Michaels’ joking offer of a cool $3,000); Macca’s tour-canceling drug bust in Japan; and Linda’s early life. And running commentary from the man himself, via recent and vintage interviews.

Neville also incorporates some less than enlightening voiceover contributions from Sean Ono Lennon, Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders, Nick Lowe and Paul’s younger brother Mike McCartney, among others. The genial, aging McCartney of today is heard but not seen in the film, although he and Neville appear in a post-film interview that adds little to what transpires in the documentary.

Neville helps us see the man behind the myth a bit more clearly, but he doesn’t offer up any real revelations. It’s nevertheless a joy to hear Wings music blasting from big theater speakers, and the editing, design and occasional animated effects are top shelf.

Yeah, I happily feasted my eyes and ears on the music and the nostalgia. Maybe I’m amazed that McCartney’s music remains so potent after all these years. Then again, I grew up in the late ‘60s and ‘70s. So fight me.

“Paul McCartney: Man on the Run” is streaming on Prime Video.

Copyright 2026 by Philip Booth. All Rights Reserved.