The Beatles were not actors...

Rating: 9/10 (6 October 2016)

...but they were great entertainers, and this film is great entertainment. This is the best of all of the rock and roll films that feature the actual performers. This picture demonstrates The Beatles at the peak of their popularity in the Summer of 1964- wandering about London- with the ultimate soundtrack in the background. A fascinating homage to Beatlemania when viewed now- over half a century later. The inventive boys from Liverpool are displayed at their sarcastic and witty best in this natural setting. A Hard Day's Night is a great example of the early Beatles musical ability, and work product, being that the title tune was written in about 20min between finishing an American tour, a European tour, a plethora of television specials, recording an LP in Paris in German for the Deutschland market, writing and recording the Hard Day's Night LP as well as making this film all within the same year, and before May of that year. After which, they all went on a month long vacation, recorded another album and began work on the next film. These guys were driven workaholics at this time, and their collective creative synergy has never been seen again.
There wasn't anywhere The Beatles could go without being mobbed, thus they spent years boxed up in hotel rooms together to the point where they knew each other so well they often finished each others sentences during interviews. As a group of young men going through that type of stress day in and day out, they had to develop coping skills in order to keep it together, it seems they chose humor as their main tool. This movie shows us a little bit of that.
Genius casting is evident in Hard Days Night with the inclusion of Irishman Wilfred Brambell as Paul McCartney's incorrigible Grandfather. Brambell was only 52 at the time but looked 82. At the time Brambell was very well known to British audiences due to the popularity of his television character named Albert Steptoe in a show called Steptoe and Son. Brambell's 1960s character Steptoe was the basis for the Fred Sanford character played by Redd Foxx on the 1970s American TV show "Sanford and Son". Look fast for a 13 year old Phil Collins in the audience as a screaming fan and look even faster for 20 year old Pattie Boyd as a schoolgirl on the train ride.