Almost anyone who grew up with the Beatles knows a few key things about their manager, Brian Epstein , the subject of the new biopic “ Midas Man .” You might know that he ran a popular record store in Liverpool when he first saw the Beatles perform at the Cavern Club and realized that it was his destiny to manage them. You almost surely know that it was Epstein who made over the Beatles’ image, taking four scruffy working-class rockers in black leather jackets, dressing them in collarless gray suits and giving them those fabled moptop haircuts — the look that launched a thousand screams.
Or the visionary way he spearheaded the Beatles’ international career, cutting the deal for them to appear on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” Or the fact that Epstein was gay, something he kept well-hidden. If you’ve ever seen footage of Brian Epstein, you also know the most resonant and, in a way, the most fascinating thing about him: that he was a straightarrow British gentleman with a rock-steady gaze and a low-key charm, who spoke in a voice of silken aristocratic polish (the product of years of private school).
He was as conservative in his businessman’s demeanor as the Beatles were rebellious and cheeky. If you know even some of this, you go into “Midas Man” wanting to see the fabled anecdotes filled in (which the director, Joe Stephenson, and the screenwriters, Brigit Grant and Jonathan Wakeham, bring off in a rather perfunctory TV-movie fashion). And, of course, you want.
