Born to Boogie (1973): cast, story & where to watch

Released in 1973, Born to Boogie is a music and documentary film directed by Ringo Starr, running about 67 minutes.

What it’s about. By 1972, the seminal English glam-rock band T-Rex was at the height of what came to be known as "T-Rexstacy:" they had already scored three of their soon-to-be ten straight Top 10 hits. To celebrate their success, Bolan and T-Rex played two sold-out performances at London's Wembley Empire Pool, captured on film by none other than former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr and released as the now-legendary concert film BORN TO BOOGIE. The only existant recording of a full T-Rex concert, BORN TO BOOGIE is centered around the dual live performances (with Ringo and Elton John guest starring on two tracks) and interspersed with an acoustic set filmed at John Lennon's mansion, goofy backstage footage of Bolan, and surreal sequences of nuns and dwarves inserted for visual effect. While the original film ran for roughly one hour, this reissue of BORN TO BOOGIE restores many of the hours-worth of material shot by Ringo.

Who’s in it. Born to Boogie stars Marc Bolan as Self (Archive Footage), Elton John as Self, Ringo Starr as Self and Gloria Jones.

How it landed. With an audience score of 8.0/10, Born to Boogie sits among the best-reviewed titles in the catalogue.

Where to watch. In GB you can rent or buy it from Apple TV Store. See the full, country-by-country breakdown on our where to watch Born to Boogie page.

If you liked it. Fans of Born to Boogie tend to enjoy Whiplash, Coco, Green Book and The Legend of 1900.