Ladies and gentlemen - THE BEATLES!

Rating: 10/10 (2 March 2008)

You know em, you love em, cant get enough of em (depending on the voracity of the particular fan, current or nostalgic), the Beatles are two things at once: a nifty rhythm and blues band that can play (at least in this 'Fab-Four' early era) all sorts of cool three-minute songs dedicated to loving this or that girl, lamenting some loss, and solid blues and rock standards. And they're also a pop phenomenon that unlike boy bands or other pop acts of today aren't made from conglomerated formations. The brilliance of Hard Day's Night is that director Richard Lester takes on the Beatles phenomenon for what it is, makes it an exuberant feast of rock and fun and screaming girls, and at the same time makes of the funniest British comedies of the last fifty years. He mixes documentary style with some of the New Wave techniques from France and elsewhere with a zany rhythm that is distinctly his own. Lester's next Beatles film, Help!, might have more laughs per capita, but it's this film that marks him as something of a minor genius.
There isn't much need for plot, and it's a good thing too- plot, unless if it's the kind from Help!, gets in the way of the Beatles natural riffs and jabs and of course the music. It follows one day in the life of the Beatles as they escape from hordes of screaming pre-teen/teen girls, gear up and practice for their upcoming show, and bits of wackiness in-between. Most of this involves Paul's grandfather (played in such a fine toss-up between deadpan and insane/senile by Wilford Brammell), who wanders off or tempts Ringo with the ideals of "parading" instead of drumming and reading, or just minor technical issues with the Beatles' managers and organizers of the event. There's no nonsensical plot to thrust our stars into like with Elvis; it's if anything probably closer to the madness of that time and place for them than anything else (i.e. the press room, where, according to the Beatles Anthology documentary, THOSE kinds of questions really were asked).
Meanwhile, as Lester delivers some usually clear-cut scenes edited without much fuss or muss he also digs into creating Hard Day's Night as a fantasy mixed with this strange reality of Beatle-mania. Seeing the Can't Buy Me Love scene, in its own rough-hewed way, is as joyous as anything in Signin' in the Rain. And then it shifts to being funny while also going for an underlying sense of loneliness with these guys, like Ringo's walk along the riverside contemplating what to do with himself. And then there's just general hilarity that more than likely inspired Monty Python, like when George is thrust into a questionnaire about fashion, or just getting a crazy look at John in the bathtub. And let's not forget the music... OK, lets. Seriously, even if it's not your favorite period of Beatles music (and, for me, they would hit their peak and run with it two years later with Rubber Soul and Revolver), it's still a gas to see them play and enjoy themselves all the while doing it. They don't over-do their theatricality like bands of today, and they never look like "oh, it's just another gig." On stage, as with the film itself, energy rollicks it all the way through. You want your classic Beatles, here it is, packaged like a a crispy and nutty chocolate bar of rock and 60s hipness. A+