A Hard Day's Night

Plot synopsis:
Bound for a London show from Liverpool, The Beatles escape a horde of fans ("A Hard Day's Night"). Once they are aboard the train and trying to relax, various interruptions test their patience: after a dalliance with a female passenger, Paul's grandfather is confined to the guard's van and the four lads join him there to keep him company. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr play a card game, entertaining some schoolgirls before arriving at their desired destination ("I Should Have Known Better").
Upon arrival in London, the Beatles are driven to a hotel, only to feel trapped inside. They are tasked to answer numerous letters and fan mail in their hotel room but instead they sneak out to party ("I Wanna Be Your Man", "All My Loving"). After being caught by their manager Norm (Norman Rossington), they return to find out that Paul's grandfather John (Wilfrid Brambell) went to the casino. After causing minor trouble at the casino, the group is taken to the theatre where their performance is to be televised. After rehearsals ("If I Fell"), the boys leave through a fire escape and dance around a field but are forced to leave by the owner of the property ("Can't Buy Me Love"). On their way back to the theatre, they are separated when a woman named Millie (Anna Quayle) recognizes John as someone famous but cannot recall who he is. George is also mistaken for an actor auditioning for a television show featuring a trend setter hostess. The boys all return to rehearse another song ("And I Love Her") and after goofing around backstage, they play another song to impress the makeup artists ("I'm Happy Just to Dance with You").
While waiting to perform, Ringo is forced to look after Paul's grandfather and decides to spend some time alone reading a book. Paul's grandfather, a "villain, a real mixer", convinces him to go outside to experience life rather than reading books. Ringo goes off by himself. He tries to have a quiet drink in a pub, takes pictures, walks alongside a canal, and rides a bicycle along a railway station platform. While the rest of the band frantically and unsuccessfully attempts to find Ringo, he is arrested for acting in a suspicious manner. Paul's grandfather joins him shortly after attempting to sell photographs wherein he forged the boys' signatures. Paul's grandfather eventually makes a run for it and tells the rest of the band where Ringo is. The boys all go to the station to rescue Ringo but end up running away from the police back to the theatre ("Can't Buy Me Love") and the concert goes ahead as planned. After the concert ("Tell Me Why", "She Loves You"), the band is taken away from the hordes of fans via helicopter.

Tags: cult, comedy, psychedelic

Review:
Where John, Paul, George, and Ringo became firmly established as individual personalities as well as the premier entertainment troupe of the 20th century?Only this: "A Hard Day's Night" is good, yes, and significant, but it's fun, too.
Paul has his grandfather along, a codgy old troublemaker who nevertheless is "very clean." The irony of the movie is that the old guy, played by British TV star Wilfrid Brambell, is the one that continually ruffles the feathers of society while the Boys themselves play things fairly straight and legal.Grandpa has the best take on the meager storyline: "I thought I was supposed to be getting a change of scenery, and so far I've been in a train and a room and car and a room and a room and a room!" Brambell works very well in the film, a needful focal point in a film that requires some bearings in order to work.
George shines, too, in a scene with a trend-happy fashion maven, and married one of the girls on the train in real life, so he did pretty well here, too.Is it the best Beatles film?
I think "Yellow Submarine" is better for what it's worth, but "Hard Day's Night" is the best film actually featuring the Beatles for who they were and what they were about.Great music, too.
The music they perform in this 'black and white' film are 7 'Lennon & McCartney' classics - from the title song, "A Hard Day's Night", to "Can't Buy Me Love" and "She Loves You".
Watching it today, "A Hard Day's Night" still seems fresh and original, because it's still different (we're used to music videos, but not feature-length music videos), but to the 1960's audience it would have seemed entirely different from anything they had previously seen (especially if they were expecting a traditional rock musical, considering that the only good one of those made prior to this which I've seen is "Go Johnny Go").Lester infuses the film with nonstop quick cutting and energetic pacing, giving the film an almost documentary-like feel (and somehow managing to integrate the biggest pop band in the world into the French 'nouvelle vague' style of film-making).
It seems absurd after Kubrick's long and distinguished career and Lester's career which while featuring some famously good films, also includes "Butch and Sundance: The Early Days" (a cheap prequel with none of the original cast), and the notoriously horrible "Superman III" to compare the two directors, but looking at Welles' reasoning behind loving John Ford films, it all makes sense.
That's not to say there isn't any good acting in the film, quite to the contrary actually, since Wilfrid Bramble is hilarious as McCartney's grandfather and was presumably cast thanks to his very funny co-starring role on Britcom "Steptoe and Son", which was one of the shows I frequently watched as a kid (and was remade for American audiences as "Sanford and Son").
They may have had a "hard" time making this movie, but they would have to agree that it was worth it; people could easily spend "days" and "nights" watching it..
Director Richard Lester and writer Alun Owen caught a moment in time like lightning in a bottle and turned it into a jumpy, jangly thing that is as hot as it is cool and everlasting as The Beatles' music.
Indoctrinated by all the corny teen movies that mostly were made prior to Hard Day's Night you knew that if they were going to be portrayed as conventional teen idols it was going to be a bust but if it was a glimpse into what it was like being a Beatle and the London mod scene of '64 and The Beatles in their irreverent but likable persona with cool clothes and Beatle boots and lots of Beatle's music and The Beatles playing their guitars it was going to be a hit.
Supporting, or in this case actual actors, Norman Rossington as Norm and Victor Spinetti as the TV Director along with Wiford Brambell as Paul's "clean" grandfather and John Junkin as Jake gave the movie a legitimate cast to cohesively hold it together and it worked well but heck, The Beatles were good on their own first time out.
A day and a half in the life of the Fab Four (Paul McCartney , Ringo Starr , George Harrison and John Lennon offering a few welcome moments of his acerbic , dry wit) leading up to a studio , in flight from the fanatic fans , managers (Norman Rossington) , and televised concert gig .
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.
Directed by Richard Lester and written by Alun Owen, this is the least pretentious of the Beatles' movies, more or less mirroring their own story and featuring many of their most popular songs  along with the title track (even if it does bring back memories of the crazy send-up by Peter Sellers), there is I Should Have Known Better', All My Loving', Can't Buy Me Love', and She Loves You'.Alongside the mop-tops playing themselves, this energetic movie also features Wilfred Brambell (Albert Steptoe) as Paul's grandad, as well as John Junkin, Victor Spinetti, Deryck Guyler, and  eek  Lionel Blair.
A Hard Day's Night' is fun and perhaps the most accessible of their films to non-Beatles fans.
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.
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).
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 have the incomparable John "You're Him!" Lennon, the perennial eight-year-old-but-still-sexy Paul "No, actually we're just good friends" McCartney, the jovial puppy that is Ringo "window rattler" Starr, and the deadpan intellectual humor of George "Arthur" Harrison.A Hard Day's Night encapsulates all of the charm of the Beatles, along with their fantastic music to make a great ride!
What you're seeing here is nothing less than the first music video, albeit a rather lengthy 90+ minute one.Director Richard Lester wisely eschewed the idea of a plot and basically did a docucomedy with songs about 12 hours in the life of John, Paul, George, and Ringo.
A decade later, such a disparity would have forced a punk band such as the Sex Pistols to fire off a massive "F*** You!" to its audience (and, in fact, one rock star did do just this - in film, no less: Roger Waters during the amazing and squirm-inducing "In the Flesh" segment of Pink Floyd The Wall, where a concert of mindlessly adoring fans is compared none too subtly with a Nazi rally).I'm not saying, of course, that the Beatles should have come out spitting and gobbing at their fans and tearing apart their image in A Hard Day's Night.
In some ways, the next year's followup, Help!, was the better film because it did not try to be anything more than a madcap Beatle travelogue (and succeeded admirably, with its pristine color, beautiful locales, and clever comic moments - although its setups do get a bit monotonous after awhile).Of course, A Hard Day's Night *will* endure - simply because THE BEATLES endure, and this gives us the best sustained look at their performing prowess and all-around joie de vivre.
The musical sequences in the film are simply glorious, particularly the orgiastic concert at the end, but even more muted moments such as when the Beatles sneak off to a nightclub to dance and intermingle with other youths to the soundtrack of their own songs; the scene provides a wonderful "you are there" quality to the partying and club-hopping side of Swinging London circa 1964.
Just don't allow your enthusiasm for the group to confuse this with a great film.(btw: If you wish to experience the group's charm and musical euphoria of this time full on, without the intrusions of a tacked on plot or supplementary characters, check out the wonderful documentary "The Beatles' First U.S. Visit".
For my money, this film is even MORE essential than A Hard Day's Night; it is, quite simply, the best extended visual document of the Beatles that we have.).
As a die-hard Beatles fan, I am probably one of the many people out there who say that this is one of the best rock n' roll movies ever created.
After seeing this film, you will want to watch this over and over again.One of the funniest things about "A Hard Day's Night" is Paul's "clean" grandfather.
If you're a Beatles fan, or just want something random to watch, "A Hard Day's Night" is the movie you want..
It was much much better than I remembered.A day in the life of the Beatles was almost certainly nothing like the portrayal in this "documentary-style" film shot in black and white.
After all, this movie was obviously produced as a marketing medium for their music and their personalities, and what a brilliant job of directing Dick Lester did to showcase both.It is a cleverly crafted screenplay and an amazingly effective film considering none of the band could act.
It perfectly captures the joy of the whole thing, from the underdog charm of the four Beatles themselves to the sheer excitement they created around the world just by being themselves and using their God-given talents.The film is a flawless fusion of the clever wordplay of Alun Owen's script and the visual humour of director Richard Lester.
I was 5 years old and remember hearing the Beatles music on the radio constantly at that time, so it was cool when I saw them miming to some of those same songs in the film.
The story is all that a beatles fan could want:One day with them and I remark one of the roles: Paul's Grandfather is very funny Richard Lester directed the film very well.
His dialogue is so unreasonable witty that even Groucho Marx himself would be impressed.In "A Hard Days Night", we not only see the Beatles as great characters, but we also get some other outstanding characters, such as Paul's mischevious grandfather (Wilfred Brambell) and the dim-witted Norm and Shake (Norman Rossington and John Junkin).This is a great film with great music and a great screenplay.
"A Hard Day's Night" is a great film for Beatle fans, but even non-Beatle maniacs can appreciate the great British humor, stylish cinematography, and on screen hijinks.
This movie is shot to somewhat look like a documentary, or an actual day in the life of the Beatles.
Though the film is not a documentary, it actual does a good job of portraying the Beatles' real personalities and gives the audience a feel of their hectic, confined, touring days.
A study of a day in the life of a mega-popular UK rock band in 1964, "A Hard Day's Night" does nothing to disguise its performers: they may be playing characters, but they're the Beatles.This is essentially just a movie that follows them around as they lead a day of their "ordinary" lives - packed with raving female fans, musical jam sessions, and comic mishaps.This isn't as "great" as some people (mainly Beatles fanatics) would lead you to believe -- if it weren't for the Beatles' presence, nobody would even be watching it.
In "A Hard Day's Night," we know we're really watching the Beatles.The soundtrack is great (songs from the album "A Hard Day's Night"), the movie is fun..
Actually, I read that he says he was pretty hung over at the time.Hard Day's Night was the best of all the Beatles films.
I think "Help" is OK, but lacks the spontanaety of "Hard Day's Night."  "Magical Mystery Tour" had a great premise, great music, two interesting videos, but fizzled because the Beatles tried directing it themselves, with no experience.
It just shows that the Beatles really were the very best rock band in history -- there was a magic that only John, Paul, George,and Ringo together could make.
Norman Rossington is good as Norm - the Beatles' manager - and Wilfrid Brambell is hilarious as Paul McCartney's "other grandfather," who has joined the band's travels for a "change of scenery." 'A Hard Day's Life' is an interesting little film, full of moments of joy and laughter and drama - and let us not forget the excellent soundtrack of (you guessed it) Beatles songs!
It is not, in any real way, a groundbreaking film, though I've heard that the performance scenes greatly influenced how music videos were filmed at the time.However, if, like me, you were unfortunate enough to have missed out on the 1960s, and you've been wondering why the Beatles were as big as they were, this is your definitive answer!.
Everything in 'A Hard Day's Night' is so well balanced - there's nothing too much, nothing too less and the songs play in perfect order at the very best spot.Everything that Elvis Presley failed to do in his movies worked well with the Beatles.
There are no endless amount of romances with women who look like our mothers but just hysterical girls and cool looking young lads who play music from probably their nicest sounding album A Hard Days Night, plus a couple of their older tunes.It is really cool to see a rock'n roll or pop movie where everything works so well.
You will even remember those supporting actors which in other rock films become just victims of mega-rock stars hubris, but in 'A Hard Days Night' even an Irish grandfather gets a couple of memorable one-liners that does not question the Beatles' stardom.
The scene where he walks down by the river after taking photographs is touching and acted out very well; it is easy to feel sympathy.The music on 'A Hard Day's Night' album is also among the best that the Beatles performed, and there are several excellent film clips throughout the film that make this a historical music documentary.It's thoroughly an enjoyable film packed with humour, rich cinematography, and excellent music.
Before A Hard Day's Night, we only recognized John, Paul, George, and Ringo as famous musicians that were good looking.
The other 'Beatle' movies like "Help"(1965),and "Yellow Submarine"(1968) and the documentary "Let It Be"(1970) were pretty good,but out of all of them it can't touch the electricity of "A Hard Day's Night".
A Hard Days Night is simply fantastic as it lets us peek into the world of the four iconic lads from Liverpool: John, Paul, George and Ringo!
As a 16 year old girl watching this film, I was so surprised that i loved it, the Beatles lets face it were gorgeous, and the music is simply magic.
A Hard Days Night is a classic comedy that every Beatles fan should see..
this is the first film starring the Beatles,and it's a good one.it's shot like a documentary,but it's not.i'm pretty sure there is some add libbing involved,but i think the film is mostly scripted.it's very funny,and has great dialogue.all four of the Beatles star here,and all are very good.their comedic timing is really good,and they all have some very witty one liners.Richard Lester directed.he is also the director(officially)a of Superman 2 and he directed Superman 3 but it's the acting and writing that take centre stage here.this is one of thee most enjoyable musical/comedies i have seen.in fact it's one of the most enjoyable movies i've seen in awhile.it's simply brilliant.and this is coming from someone who's not a big Beatles fan.10/10.
I found myself laughing quite a bit and you probably will too if you sit down to watch "A Hard Day's Night." Paul, John, George and Ringo weren't actors and it certainly shows in this film but I think their sort of awkward performances add to the random humor quite a bit so I can't say they were bad actors.
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.
The girls released their own film in 1997, "Spiceworld: The Movie", which attempted to copy "A Hard Day's Night", but it failed miserably and it failed to exploit their music to the same degree that the former did.
A Hard Day's Night is my Favorite of the Five Beatles movies I've seen.
"A Hard Day's Night" was the Beatles' first, and probably best, feature film of their career.
The first - and best - of the Beatles' feature films, A Hard Day's Night purports to cover 36 hours or so in the life of the Fab Four in the run up to a live TV performance.