A SIngular Point in History Captured

Rating: 10/10 (7 January 2009)

Although our MTV-brainwashed world is too busy foisting off all the latest mindless drivel in pop music, and classic rock somehow only seems to involve the Stones, the Who, or Led Zeppelin, the fact is- The Beatles were the greatest rock band ever. No other rock band in the history of music changed the world in such dramatic fashion. Sure, Elvis brought rock to the forefront as an entertainment, but people often forget that rock almost died in the 1960-1962 era of payola scandals and Dick Clark teen idols. True American rock had to be re-invented and The Beatles were the geniuses behind it. Their influence in the recording industry in all fields as well as ability to write amazing rock and pop songs is unparalleled in a career that, on the world's stage, lasted just 7 years (1963-1970).
The movie "A Hard Day's Night" is a fictional "day in the life" pseudo-documentary of a band called "The Beatles." The four lads play streotypes of themselves, but among all of them, they felt it was a fairly accurate portrayal of their lives at that stage. Filmed just as Beatlemania exploded on the world stage, the freshness and innocence of the early days, before the screaming and insane attention drove the Band to quit touring and to eventually split up. However, to the astute, a hint of the real darker days to come is also well portrayed in the almost constant claustrophobic settings within the movie.
The plot centers on the band having to get to a TV studio for a required performance (this is before videos and lip-syncing... bands actually would do live performances for radio, TV, and then have shows in the evening every night somewhere). Surrounded by a storm of media attention, crazed fans, crazier directors and managers, the 4 lads try to find a bit of freedom from it all. Within all that, Paul's mischievous grandfather, tagging along to get out of the house, does his best to rile everyone up and create havoc. Eventually, Ringo gets caught for "malicious wandering" and has to be freed from the jail in time for the show. Unlike any "rock band" movie before or since, the members of the band act, follow a very thorough and humorous plot, and there aren't, for the most part, bizarre excuses to break into a song out of the blue. The songs are introduced as part of the storyline (rehearsing, run-throughs, passing time on a train), rather than suddenly bursting into song like in the Elvis movies. The camera work and editing are first-rate, considering this was considered a low-budget movie in its time. Alun Owens (screenplay) and Richard Lester (director) also so a wonderful job catching the manic storm The Beatles were already trapped in. Almost every scene is shot in a tight room... on a train, in rooms in a studio, a small cafe, etc... This hinted claustrophobia, especially in black and white, really points at the world the Beatles were going to spend the next 3 years in. Paul's grandfather (played by Wilfred Brambell wonderfully) makes a speech, comic in its delivery, but deeply revealing in its context... he is complaining that he was supposed to be out getting fresh air, but by being with the Beatles, he's been nowhere but "in a train and a room, a hotel and a room, and a room and a room." This movie is a classic and captures a point in time just as socially significant as Kennedy, the moon landing, etc. While time has made it seem that The Beatles and their contemporaries such as the Stones and The Who were on equal footing, those of the time know that the Beatles were in a league of their own, above and beyond all the others. The Beatles led and the others, even in feigned defiance of the popularity of The Beatles, merely took what the Beatles did and copied it, mocked it, or exaggerated it for their own success.
A Hard Day's Night stands alone as a movie of a rock band starring a rock band and has no equal to this day.