“Paul McCartney: Man on the Run” opens with a telling quote from the man himself.
In old footage, an interviewer asks McCartney what’s the thing he values the most? His answer is “personal peace.” That answer is immediately followed by footage of The Beatles arguing (notably, McCartney and John Lennon) during the band’s last days, drawing to mind Peter Jackson’s TV series “Get Back,” where all that tension spilled over to the point of no return. Peaceful, it is not.
There is something undeniable about Paul McCartney. I know, I know – hot take. But “Man on the Run,” Morgan Neville’s new documentary, takes full advantage of the fact that McCartney gives good quotes and is good on camera. The McCartney of today doesn’t appear on screen, but he does narrate plenty of footage of his old self, tracing his path from the end of The Beatles through the formation and end of his band Wings. Or, as he often puts it, his path to growing up.
“Man on the Run” is a little more interesting than most celebrity documentaries, where the subject is also credited as an executive producer (the film also coincides with the 2025 box set “Wings” and a book called “Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run”). It won’t necessarily tell any diehard Beatles or McCartney fan anything they didn’t already know, but it does provide some interesting insights into Paul’s psyche during those years, tracking his attempt to escape the shadow of The Beatles, to varying levels of success.
McCartney is intently focused on the idea of growing up. He was only 27 years old when The Beatles called it quits and, throughout the documentary, equates his time with them to childhood. After a break on a bucolic Scottish farm and some solo work, Wings represented a chance for something old and new – back in a band, but hopefully this time with less fighting (Lennon’s ghost looms large over the film).
The most interesting aspect of the film is McCartney’s relationship to his fame – something that Neville smartly lets play out in story form rather than having McCartney verbalize it specifically. McCartney’s fame comes to complex tensions with Wings, both as an undeniable driver of their success and as a sometimes annoyance. McCartney insists throughout the documentary that he always wanted everyone in the band to feel equal. That might be true, but it’s also a bit naive – other band members who are interviewed talk about the impossibility of that equality, and sometimes, McCartney’ ego comes out to play. At one point when some early members of Wings leave because they’re not making enough money, he recalled thinking: “Well, get better than me! Write some great songs!”
However, this is really a tiny amount of tension in an otherwise light and enjoyable film. It seems that McCartney really did view so much of this time of his life as a period of peace. There was an enormous amount of pressure on him after The Beatles broke up, and some lackluster critical response to his musical output that affected him (some of which came from Lennon – there he goes, popping up again!). But “Man on the Run” features a heavy focus on McCartney’s relationship with his wife, Linda, and also on his growing comfortability with his own perceived “uncoolness.” In perhaps the funniest moment of the film, McCartney talks about how rock and roll took on a revolutionary quality in the 1970s that he didn’t feel he could really achieve. Hard cut to him wearing a literal clown nose and singing “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” This movie makes a pretty big deal out of some legal issues he had with marijuana, but even that just feels a little cute by today’s standards.
“Man on the Run” is, ultimately, a movie about a guy trying to escape the thing that defined him for so long and coming out on the other side. But, John Lennon is something that hovers over this film and this period in McCartney’s life – the movie ends when Wings ends in 1981, which in turn happened just after Lennon was assassinated at the end of 1980.
McCartney doesn’t really fully let us into how his relationship with Lennon affected him over the years, although the film touches on the animosity between them, and then rekindling of their relationship later in life. But, so many of the moments surrounding Lennon are emblematic of what is most joyous about “Man on the Run.” In these moments and in others, McCartney can look back with clear eyes, and appreciate the good more so than the bad. Maybe there’s not a lot of tension in that, but “Man on the Run” isn’t really interested in conflict so much as it is appreciation – for a man, for a life, for a career.
“Paul McCartney: Man on the Run” is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.