The most pure unadulterated expression of joy ever put on film

Rating: 10/10 (29 December 1999)

One of the biggest reasons film holds the effect over us the way it does is because it appeals to our emotions in ways some of the other arts cannot. This is because film incorperates sound, theatre, painting, dance and writing. That dry polemic aside, A Hard Day's Night is a fine example of what film can do. This film is one of the purest expression of joy in cinema history. What made the Beatles so fantastic as performers and ultimately as cultural icons, is they personified all of our hopes and dreams. We all wish we could be as expressive and has happy as they appeared to be. I know that much of what we see is fabricated, but one cannot fake the explosion of life we see on the screen and hear on their records. There was the celebration of life and creativity in those four young men and they shared so much of it with us. This film is a great document as to what made them so great. Richard Lester, the director, got out of the way and let them be the Beatles. The camera work and editing in this film arguably made the '60's cultural revolution. It is a perfect marriage of music to image. Without this film there never would have been an Easy Rider or even an MTV (on second thought, maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing). Of course John, Paul, George, and Ringo couldn't completly match their images in their private lives (who could?) and of course they matured and evolved as we all have. But this film inspired many to live, to love and to create. It is such a force of positive life affirming love that it has to be savored and enjoyed. I don't apologize for dripping over it the way I do. It is a great film, on the level with Kane, Singin' in the Rain, The Seven Saumurai and others. It should be so much higher on the IMDB scale.