A Hard Day's Night (1964)

Sick Product of a Sick System

Let's be realistic.

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

A Hard Day's NightAs much as light and breezy the concept is, the characters are chewed off way too much that just as the premise, the audience too starts to feel the heat of this hectic day that the characters are having. Alyn Owen's gripping screenplay keeps the audience engaged for around 90 minutes where the art works not only just for the fans but for general viewers too. The director; Richard Lester, has done an amazing job on depicting the "behind the stage" drama and the work that goes through in here. The performance is something that could have improved a lot but still the actors have done quite a nice job even though isn't justified to the script. A Hard Day's Night is a writer's feature for if not the fans of The Beetles, the only thing the viewers will take home from it, is its witty conversation and humorous lines.

...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.

Within two short years, the Beatles had completely changed Britain's musical and cultural landscape. They had consigned solo ballad singers (usually American and called Bobby) to the scrap heap and men started wearing their hair longer, dressing more smartly and becoming fashion conscious. And now with their film "Hard Day's Night" at the Odeon, they were throwing out a challenge to a film industry that had previously made teen musical films with ineptitude and with disdain for the audience. Everyone expected the Fab Four's first film to be a cheap cash in on their perceived short term popularity, but in the hands of director Dick Lester, "Hard Day's Night" came swinging into town with a zing and a freshness and a brash with-it-ness. The story is slight, it's a day in the life of John, Paul, George and Ringo and Paul's grandfather played by Wilfrid Brambell who tags along with them. They weren't actors - so cleverly Dick Lester has captured as best he can the actual personality of each person and each Beatle gets his own little scene (except Paul whose scene with Isla Blair was cut from the final print) and Ringo displays a natural comic talent. Support came from Victor Spinetti, Norman Rossington, John Junkin and Deryck Guyler, and the songs included 'I Should Have Known Better', 'Can't Buy Me Love', 'If I Fell' etc. Believe it or not the BBFC were not too happy about a veiled drug reference when John sniffs a Coke bottle and asked for a dialogue cut when someone says 'get knotted', but this was reinstated in the 1980s for video release. The support at the Odeon in Glasgow was "Bird Man", a 15-minute interest feature about parachutists which meant that the film could be played five times a day at 12:45, 2:50, 5:00, 7:05, and 9:15, and queues were right along to and down West Nile Street.Adapted from 'What We Watched In The 1960s (In The Cinema) Jim Doyle is the author of 'What We Watched In The 1960s (In The Cinema)', 'What We Watched In The 1970s (In The Cinema)" and 'What We Watched In The 1980s (In The Cinema And On Video)'

I'm not here to tell you that, hey, the Beatles are one of the most successful pop/rock groups of all time and that they actually sucked; I realize that the album that the film promotes is nearly flawless, its pretty much a template for every pop/rock album promoted since, but the film just didn't click with me personally.The main problem is that it constantly employs a standard comedy approach, where the Beatles are young northerners, outsiders representing the youth audience, and in each sequence they outsmart or out-cool the establishment, basically anyone that appears wealthier than them, or in a position of power - its much the same routine as Ivan Reitmans later "Ghostbusters" picture, if anyone notices.My other issue with the film is that the group don't really appear as themselves, but as slangy, Northern teenagers; they typify a youth culture that they've actually outgrown. The film is for the bands audience, rather than people interested in the band themselves.I like the idea of comedy, rather than an earnest series of interview segments, and this movie was a massive commercial hit (they were the biggest act in the world at the time), but I found the experience oddly thin and disappointing. Some great use of camera and editing though, which had an influence on the coming of music video.