A Hard Day's Night

1964 "The Beatles, starring in their first full-length, hilarious, action-packed film!"
7.5| 1h28m| G| en| More Info
Released: 11 August 1964 Released
Producted By: United Artists
Country: United Kingdom
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Synopsis

Capturing John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr in their electrifying element, 'A Hard Day's Night' is a wildly irreverent journey through this pastiche of a day in the life of The Beatles during 1964. The band have to use all their guile and wit to avoid the pursuing fans and press to reach their scheduled television performance, in spite of Paul's troublemaking grandfather and Ringo's arrest.

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Reviews

AutCuddly Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,
SeeQuant Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction
Stephanie There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes
Ortiz Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.
charlesem I am the same age as Ringo Starr and was born only a little over a week before John Lennon, so I watch A Hard Day's Night with more than ordinary nostalgia, the kind that might make me say with Wordsworth, "Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, / But to be young was very heaven!" except that I'd be lying. Still, if there was bliss to be had in that post-Kennedy-assassination, Goldwater- haunted, Cold War summer of '64, it was to be found in watching John, Paul, George, and Ringo larking about at the movies. It was a breath of optimism, a statement that youth could conquer the world. It didn't quite turn out that way, but it didn't for Wordsworth either: He was talking about the French Revolution, which proved not to be so heavenly. This is, of course, one of the great film musicals, packed with engaging songs. They may be more lightweight than the Beatles' later oeuvre, lifting the heart rather than stirring the imagination, but they're impossible to resist. It also slyly, cheekily makes its point about the generation the Beatles are trying to leave behind: the ineptly bullying managers (Norman Rossington and John Junkin), the fussy TV director (Victor Spinetti), the marketing executive (Kenneth Haigh) sure that he has a handle on What the Kids Want, the Blimpish man on the train (Richard Vernon) who tells Ringo, "I fought the war for your sort." Ringo's reply: "I bet you're sorry you won." Celebrity is closing in on them, epitomized by the wonderfully elliptical dialogue in John's encounter with a woman (Anna Quayle) who is sure that she recognizes him but then puts on her glasses and proclaims, "You don't look like him at all." John mutters, "She looks more like him than I do." Alun Owen's screenplay, written after hanging out with the Beatles, absorbing and borrowing their own jokes, was one of the two Oscar nominations the film received, along with George Martin's scoring. None of the songs, of course, were nominated. Neither were Richard Lester's direction, Gilbert Taylor's cinematography, or John Jympson's editing, all of which kept the film buoyant and fleet. (charlesmatthews.blogspot.com)
TxMike I watched this on the HULU channel via my ROKU stick. Great fun to see the Beatles in their very early days.I was a teenager in 1963 to 1965, the years when the Beatles made their big splash here in the States. I remember their splash very well although I never became a big fan. Their music is pleasant with nice harmonies but nothing I ever got excited over. This was likely filmed in 1963, or maybe very early 1964, when Lennon was maybe 22, McCartney was maybe 21, Harrison was maybe 20, and Starr was maybe 23. When you see them in this movie they look quite young indeed and they act like kids. It is very refreshing to see them before they were as big as they ultimately became.They are all from Liverpool and, except for Lennon, from Merseyside. I recall back then hearing "Ferry Cross the Mersey" by Gerry and the Pacemakers and I had no idea what it was about. Now I know it is about the River Mersey, the lifeblood of Liverpool. In a similar manner Lennon's "Strawberry Fields Forever", my personal favorite Beatles recording, was inspired by Lennon's memories of playing in the garden of Strawberry Field, a Salvation Army children's home near where he grew up in Liverpool. Point being as a kid growing up in the States I heard the lyrics but had no idea what their connections were, later in life and with great use of Google searches I know a lot more!This little movie is a contrived, humorous story about their journey by train from Liverpool to London for a recording session and a performance. There are lots of hijinks but magically everyone arrives just in the nick of time. Nice little movie to understand how much fun these kids were able to have on the cusp of turning into an international sensation.The Beatles are John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr.
Robert Ivey For those of you (like me) who weren't alive in 1964, let me tell you this: back then, in Britain and America (and elsewhere), The Beatles were absolutely HUGE. Fans would swoon at their presence. So, naturally, it was decided a movie should be made of them. What came to be was: A Hard Day's Night.This movie isn't entirely plot less -- It's general plot is The Beatles, playing The Beatles, make their way to a concert, showing what they do behind the scenes, as Paul's wacky grandfather, played by Wilfrid Brambell, tags along and gets in some crazy antics. It almost seems to be a sketch comedy. But since it definitely has its humorous scenes, I can't blame anyone for anything. All in all, I recommend this one. It's worth watching, but if you want you can skip it. It's nothing spectacular.
Oliver Goddard In the space of 10 years the Beatles completely changed the face of music. A Hard Day's Night, the Beatles' film debut, was released a little over a year after their first album Please Please Me. Not even two years later they'd release the double-punch of Rubber Soul and Revolver, and just a year after that they'd rewrite the rock-and-pop rulebook with the seminal Sgt Pepper. Their energy must've been ferocious. A Hard Day's Night captures this energy. We're introduced to them as they run, beaming, from their frenzied fans. They jump on a train. They catch their breath, but the frame doesn't; the British countryside roars past the window. They get off the train and run some more. They talk for a bit. They dance for a bit. They sing for a bit. Then they run again. The black-and- white photography and quick edits makes the thing feel like a slice of European New Wave, but injected with wry British humour and punctuated with a handful of the finest pop songs of the 60s.The clang and subsequent clamour of the opening minutes is a dizzying amalgam of music and images. It's a giddy experience. Immature? Sure, but euphorically entertaining. http://thepictureinner.wordpress.com/2015/01/06/a-hard-days-night/