loading...
A Hard Day's Night
1964
A HARD DAY'S NIGHT presents a fictionalized day in the life of The Beatles as they give a performance on a live television show. Filmed just a month after their appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in February 1964, this film introduces us to the unique personalities of each member of the Beatles. The film opens with the band .. Read more
| Starring | John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr |
|---|---|
| Director | Richard Lester |
| Genres | Music/Musical |
loading...
A Hard Day's Night
A HARD DAY'S NIGHT presents a fictionalized day in the life of The Beatles as they give a performance on a live television show. Filmed just a month after their appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in February 1964, this film introduces us to the unique personalities of each member of the Beatles. The film opens with the band boarding a train mobbed with adoring young fans (mostly women) as they attempt to travel to the television studio in London. The antics of the band during rehearsals and makeup application provide a large part of the comic material in this feature, though there are other moments of pure hilarity. The unscripted vignette featuring a hangover-suffering Ringo is especially funny, particularly when he is arrested and risks having to miss the live television broadcast. None of this goes unnoticed by the director of the show, played by Victor Spinetti, a recurring cast member in Beatles movies. As the clock ticks away dramatically, our heroes manage to free Ringo from jail and sneak onto the stage in the nick of time, delighted in the knowledge that they have nearly driven the director mad in the process. Arguably the first music video ever made, this faux documentary and its shooting style have been a tremendous influence on nearly every rock and roll feature since.
| Starring | John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Wilfrid Brambell, Derek Nimmo, Victor Spinetti, Norman Rossington, Lionel Blair |
|---|---|
| Director | Richard Lester |
| Studio | WALT DISNEY STUDIOS HOME ENTERTAINMENT |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 29 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Music/Musical |
| Language | DVD: English |
| Released | DVD: 30 Sep 2002 Production year: 1964 |
| Format | DVD |
A Hard Day's Night (1964)
Or you can rent each disc individually:
-
Critics' reviews (6)
View all -
At a time when Elvis and Cliff were still making old-style musicals, this forerunner of the modern music video smashed the mould. Satirising the endless round of banal inquisition, petty regulation and screaming adoration to which the Fab Four were subjected, this musical odyssey enabled them to mock authority and shirk duty without allowing such anti-establishment rebelliousness to detract from the working-class respectability of their “Mop Top” image. However, Richard Lester's film is not just a homage to Buster Keaton-style slapstick and Busby Berkeley-style lavish spectacle; it's also a handbook of new-wave film techniques, from Federico Fellini and the nouvelle vague to Free Cinema and the Czech Film Miracle.
-
Comic fantasia with music; an enormous commercial success with the director trying every cinematic gag in the book, it led directly to all the kaleidoscopic swinging London spy thrillers and comedies of the later sixties, and so has a lot to answer for; b
-
Most helpful member's review
View all -
14 out of 15 people found this review helpful
Not For Morons but for Fans
Obviously 3 of the existing reviewers have no understanding of The Beatles. This is how they were... and this was their genuine sense of humour.... and this was their music.
Sorry, but if you're a 21st Century reality TV cretin whose idea of music is McFly or rap then this film is not for you. You are not worthy of it. -
Most recent members' review
View all -
3 out of 5 people found this review helpful
A hard watch
I found this a bit too hard to watch. It was ok at first but after a while it began to get too much for me. I know that it is a classic and you should rent it but personally just not my taste.
-
News and features
View all
Beatles studio stages film festival
- 14 Jan 2005
Abbey Road studio, immortalised by the 1969 Beatles' album of the same name, is opening its doors for a film festival. The North London venue near where the fab four were pictured walking synchronised over a zebra crossing is usually closed to the public. But for 16 days this spring it will be showing many of the films that were scored at the St John's Wood site in an exclusive festival. The films to be screened range from blockbusters such as the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Raiders of the Lost... Read more
-
More like this
View allShowing 1 to 4 of 20
Related user collection
Films considered the greatest ever! (35)
47.2% from 7 members
