A sheer delight

Rating: 10/10 (11 July 2018)

The Beatles take England by storm as they travel from Liverpool to London so they can do a live performance on a television show. What makes this movie so special and enjoyable is the way it vividly captures the Fab Four when they were still pretty fresh, dynamic, and even fairly innocent; by having the Beatles wisely just be themselves this film manages to astutely nail the charming effervescent quality that made them stand out as a group.
John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr all display a winningly natural rapport and a tight camaraderie that's a joy to behold. Moreover, they all deliver a slew of sharp snappy one-liners with cheeky aplomb. Wilfrid Brambell nearly steals the whole show as Paul's mischievous grandfather. In addition, there are amusing supporting contributions from Norman Rossington as long-suffering manager Norm, John Junkin as hapless lackey Shake, Victor Spinetti as a pompous TV director, and Kenneth Haigh as a pretentious advertising executive. Alun Owen's sly script pokes wickedly hilarious fun at everything from the media -- the press conference sequence is a riot! -- to television to the Beatles themselves. Directed with tremendous gusto by Richard Lester, exploding with infectiously anarchic energy, and further galvanized by a bunch of wonderful songs, there's a vibrancy and spontaneity evident throughout that's downright impossible to either dislike or resist. A total treat.