A Hard Day's Night (1964)

A Hard Day’s Night (1964) – A fictionalized look at a day in the life of the Beatles with an album of music to go along.

Directed by Richard Lester                            Starring: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George                                                                                                         Harrison, Ringo Starr

Here it is, the origin of the “music video”.  It’s a movie that no one cared about at the time of the filming.  United Artists assumed the movie would be a flop.  So why make it?  The soundtrack!  There was a hole in The Beatles’ contract with Capitol Records.  It didn’t cover movie soundtracks.  So United Artists jumped at the chance to make the movie.  The production cost around a half million dollars.  It earned eight million dollars in its first week in theaters.  Few movies can offer that kind of return on investment.

A quick bit of background first.  The Beatles formed in 1960, had their first hit in the U.K. in 1962 and led the iconic “British Invasion” of the U.S. in 1964.  So the movie comes out just as they make the move to international stardom.  The reaction of the teens in the crowd shots showed the kind of response this group was receiving everywhere they went.

As for the movie, it’s still a lot of fun.  The “lads” are playing caricatures of themselves.  John is a smart-aleck, Paul is cute, George is quiet and Ringo is a bit dim.  They would be stuck with those personas for many years to come.  In that time and place, they were having fun playing at being The Beatles.  The story, such as it is, is a day in the lives of the hottest band on the planet.  Who are stuck with Paul’s grandfather for the day, because he needed to get out.  Granddad is a troublemaker, however.  He likes stirring things up and creating chaos.  So the band races around trying to have some fun and fix the problems created.  Ringo takes a walk 45 minutes before they are to appear on a live TV show, the band’s two managers get drawn into their first argument ever, Granddad ends up at a casino, the usual stuff.

Add in the great music and it’s old-fashioned, straight ahead fun.  Nothing fancy.  Just lots and lots of fun.  Laugh at the silly jokes while you sing along with the music.

The soundtrack includes:
All My Loving, I Should Have Known Better, I Wanna Be Your Man, Don’t Bother Me, If I Fell, Can’t Buy Me Love, And I Love Her, I’m Happy Just to Dance With You, Tell Me Why, and She Loves You.

The title comes from a phrase of Ringo’s, meaning the day after a night of hard partying.

Why You Will Like It: Goofy fun with some great music.

Rating – ****  Recommended