After the film's release, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr won an Academy Award for Best Original Song Score.

[2][3] The film observes the Beatles (John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr) from a "fly on the wall" perspective, without narration, scene titles or interviews with the main subjects.

The Beatles individually arrive at Apple headquarters, where they begin the studio recording process with Harrison singing "For You Blue" while Lennon plays lap steel guitar.

Billy Preston accompanies the band on impromptu renditions of several rock and roll covers, as well as Lennon's improvised jam "Dig It", while Linda Eastman's daughter Heather plays around the studio.

They perform "Get Back", "Don't Let Me Down", "I've Got a Feeling", "One After 909" and "Dig a Pony", intercut with reactions and comments from surprised Londoners gathering on the streets below.

The police eventually make their way to the roof and try to bring the show to a close, as it was disrupting businesses' lunch hour nearby.

"[4] After the stressful sessions for The Beatles (also known as the "White Album") wrapped up in October 1968, McCartney concluded that the group needed to return to their roots for their next project.

Conventional venues such as The Roundhouse in London were discussed, but they also considered more unusual locations such as a disused flour mill and an ocean liner.

[8] None of the ideas gained unanimous enthusiasm and with time limited by Starr's upcoming commitment to the film The Magic Christian (1969), it was agreed to start rehearsals without a firm decision on the concert location.

Michael Lindsay-Hogg was hired as the director, having previously worked with the Beatles on promotional films for "Paperback Writer", "Rain", "Hey Jude" and "Revolution".

"[10] The cold and austere conditions at Twickenham, along with nearly constant filming and sessions starting much earlier than the Beatles' preferred schedule, constrained creativity and exacerbated tensions within the group.

Towards the end of the 10 January rehearsal, Lennon raised the idea of drafting in Eric Clapton to play lead guitar if Harrison did not rejoin the band early the following week.

"[19] At a meeting on 15 January, Harrison agreed to return with the conditions that elaborate concert plans be dropped and that work would resume at Apple's new recording studio.

Some would end up on Abbey Road ("I Want You (She's So Heavy)", "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window"); others were destined for future albums by McCartney ("The Back Seat of My Car", "Teddy Boy", "Every Night"), Lennon ("Gimme Some Truth", "Child of Nature" – later reworked as "Jealous Guy") and Harrison ("All Things Must Pass", "Isn't It a Pity").

Lindsay-Hogg recalled that the rough cut was about an hour longer than the released version: "There was much more stuff of John and Yoko, and the other three didn't really think that was appropriate because they wanted to make it a 'nicer' movie.

[26] Lindsay-Hogg omitted any reference to Harrison leaving the sessions and temporarily quitting the group, but managed to keep some of the interpersonal strains in the final cut, including the McCartney–Harrison exchange which he had captured by deliberately placing the cameras where they would not be noticed.

[27] In early 1970, it was decided to change the planned name of the film and the associated album from Get Back to Let It Be, matching the group's March 1970 single release.

[28] To create the wider theatrical aspect ratio, the top and bottom of the frame was cropped, necessitating the repositioning of every single shot for optimal picture composition.

Critics took issue with the film's technical and conceptual qualities, but in light of the Beatles' recent break-up, focused particularly on it as a document of the fractured relationships within the band.

"[50] The same reviewer lamented that "Watching an institution such as the Beatles in their film Let It Be is rather like watching the Albert Hall being dismantled into a block of National Coal Board offices", while Penelope Gilliatt of The New Yorker deemed it "a very bad film and a touching one ... about the breaking apart of this reassuring, geometrically perfect, once apparently ageless family of siblings".

The consensus reads, "So close and yet so far away from The Beatles as their union sunsets in real time, Let It Be observes the band from an emotionally chilly distance but gives audiences a valuable peek into their artistic process.

[57] The TLA Video & DVD Guide, also rating it as 3 out of 4 stars, described the film as a "fascinating look at the final days of the world's most famous rock group, punctuated by the Beatles' great songs and the legendary 'rooftop' concert sequence. ...

He adds that though it has not been given a release on home media in recent years, "[Let It Be] has a place in film history; it's a scraggly elegy, capturing a certain wistful moment of reckoning that's part of the Beatles' story.

An anonymous industry source told the Daily Express in July 2008 that, according to Apple insiders, McCartney and Starr blocked the release of the film on DVD.

"[67] In September 2018, McCartney stated that Let It Be would most likely be re-released on Blu-ray and DVD in 2020 to coincide with its fiftieth anniversary, and that the creation of a "new version" of the film featuring sequences not present in the theatrical release was being considered by Apple.

The intention of the documentary was to provide a new level of insight into the band's dynamics during the album's creation, and was made with the cooperation of McCartney, Starr, Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison.

[69][70][71][72][73] The new documentary was officially announced in March 2020 with the title The Beatles: Get Back and a theatrical release date was originally set by distributor Walt Disney Studios for 4 September 2020,[74] but was then rescheduled to 27 August 2021 due to restrictions imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

[77] On 16 April 2024, it was announced that Let It Be had been restored by Peter Jackson's Park Road Post and would be made available in 4K on the streaming service Disney+, marking the first time it had been publicly screened since its original theatrical release.