A Hard Day's Night (1964) ****

Rating: 10/10 (17 February 2006)

The Beatles' first classic movie is a nostalgic time capsule that manages to embody a very special age of innocence from the early 1960's, when four young men from Liverpool England practically took over the world with their marvelous music and charismatic charm and wit. Director Richard Lester is to be commended for successfully capturing all of the excitement and joyful hysteria of these times for historical posterity. For anyone new to The Beatles who's looking to discover what they were all about, A HARD DAY'S NIGHT is the perfect place to start. It showcases the four at the height of their early powers, before the psychedelic experimental period began and the latter breakup took its toll.
Screenwriter Alun Owen spent some time with the Fab Four in late 1963, when a phenomenon christened "Beatlemania" was descending all across Great Britain. He began to get a good idea of their individual personalities and what he wanted to write for a proposed film which would start production sometime in March, 1964. Even more appropriately, the Beatles' world-astounding popularity soared still further in the interim, after they set foot on American soil in February of '64 and became household names. The market was ripe for this film, which it was decided would show the rigors of a typical day in the life of the band at the peak of their stardom.
The resulting motion picture was funny, clever, delightful and of course, musical. John Lennon and Paul McCartney penned several songs for inclusion in the film, all of them winners and two of which easily became #1 hits ("Can't Buy Me Love" as well as the title tune, which was actually made-to-order overnight after producer Walter Shenson asked for a song called "A Hard Day's Night" which could run along with the credits). The film is very British, and the decision to photograph in black and white nicely compliments the aura of England. The Beatles are shown traveling from gig to gig, performing music, doing interviews, trying to outsmart legions of adoring fans, and generally trying to have a good time amidst all the insanity. While the Beatles themselves were not professional actors, they hardly had to be as they were essentially just being themselves, albeit exaggerated caricatures: John the sarcastic and witty one, Paul the professional lady's man, George the quiet cynic, and Ringo the lovable but mistreated clown. Elder British comedian Wilfrid Brambell was also cast as Paul's meddling "very clean old grandfather", and is often humorous to watch, getting involved in all sorts of mischief, though perhaps the necessity of his character being added to the formula would be open to debate.
A HARD DAY'S NIGHT is a special account of a very wonderful, if fleeting, moment from our entertainment history. We are very lucky to have this record of those special days to take us back and enjoy throughout the many different times yet to come.
**** out of ****