Concerts, interviews, rabid fans...just another day in the life for the Beatles in their first movie. With so many documentaries and books about the Beatles - John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr (plus their original drummer Pete Best) - and so many people who grew up listening to their music and passed it along to future generations, I don't really know what to say here for my usual background info dump that other people haven't said better and more thoroughly. From their humble beginnings in Liverpool, England, they rocketed to fame in a remarkably short amount of time thanks to a series of catchy, enjoyable songs that caught on with the youth of the early 1960s. Over the years, they evolved and experimented with their compositions and musical style, leaving behind an impressive body of work by the time the band formally broke up in 1970 after ten years together. This isn't even my first foray into discussing something Beatles-related. Back in 2015, I reviewed Julie Taymor's Across the Universe (2007), which I very much enjoyed (and had a lot of fun writing about). So how did these musical icons make their way to the big screen? Simple: a contract loophole. Capitol Records had the exclusive rights to release the Beatles' albums in the US, but the contract didn't cover film soundtracks. United Artists not only had a hankering to cash in on the Beatles' musical success, but also their own music label, through which they released the soundtracks for their movies. They had the idea to churn out a movie starring the Beatles at a low budget, release a soundtrack for it, and rake in that sweet, sweet cash from the sales of said soundtrack - enough to make up for the film inevitably tanking at the box office. The title, A Hard Day's Night, was decided on late in the production, and came from a malapropism on the part of Ringo after a particularly long day of filming. Lennon and McCartney immediately raced each other to see who could build a song around it first. (Lennon won.) The screenwriter was Welsh actor-turned-playwright Alun Owen (1925-1994), whose depiction of Liverpool in his televised play No Trams to Lime Street earned him the band's admiration. Owen spent time with the Beatles on the road for a while to get a feel for their personalities and how they interacted with another. Taking the "day in the life" mockumentary approach to the film, he wrote the band as being prisoners of their own success, constantly confined to strict schedules and deadlines, and eager for opportunities to break away from the oppressive routine. Owen had also previously worked with A Hard Day's Night's director, Richard Lester, who'd had his own show on ITV in the 1950s. Owen would continue to write for the stage and big screen throughout the remainder of his career, but stuck mostly with television. Speaking of Richard Lester, his career is worth going into a bit as well, as I'm sure many of you know (of) at least some of his stuff. American by birth, he started in television in 1950, quickly working his way up the ranks to directing. After working on the Western series Action in the Afternoon (1953-1954), he relocated to England, working on several different shows before being approached by Peter Sellers to help get The Goon Show off the ground. He transitioned to film (because he said it gave him opportunities to do multiple takes in case things went wrong) in 1959 with the sketch comedy short The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film, collaborating with Sellers and Spike Milligan. The Beatles, John Lennon in particular, were huge fans of this short, which is how they ended up picking Lester from a provided list of possible directors. Lester would also direct the Beatles' next film, Help! (1965), which was my personal introduction to the band, as well as Lennon without his bandmates in the anti-war comedy How I Won the War (1967). Lester's career has had some notable ups and downs since then, with The Three Musketeers (1973) and its 1974 sequel being among his most well-regarded work, while Robin and Marian (1976), starring Sean Connery and Audrey Hepburn, was a well-intentioned but unfortunate misfire. He also took over directing Superman II (1980) after Richard Donner was fired, and he also helmed Superman III (1983). One of his later films, Finders Keepers (1984), features a young Jim Carrey in one of his first big-screen performances. Lester quit directing in 1989 after the tragic death of Roy Kinnear during the production of The Revenge of the Musketeers. Richard Lester, Audrey Hepburn, and Sean Connery during filming of Robin & Marian (1976) Richard Lester, Richard Pryor, and Christopher Reeve on the set of Superman III (1983) WARNING: Here be spoilers! Read further at your own risk! Like I said earlier, A Hard Day's Night is basically a mockumentary following the Beatles on the road to London as they prepare for a televised performance on a variety show. However, along for the ride is Paul's (fictional) grandfather (Wilfrid Brambell), who's described as very "clean" but with a tendency to get people fighting with each other for his own personal amusement, and Paul's been charged with keeping him out of trouble. Meanwhile, the Beatles must endure the constant rituals of the pre-concert publicity as they put up with tedious interviews and staying confined to their rooms prior to the big show, which they slip away from any chance they get. But what is the elder McCartney really up to? And when his shenanigans get Ringo in trouble with the law, will the band be able to rescue him and still make the concert on time? As much as A Hard Day's Night is a showcase for the Beatles' music, the Fab Four also prove themselves to be decent actors as well. They all carry this film as if they were all veteran performers, clearly comfortable with their line delivery and with the script's deadpan comedy. While it helps that they're playing themselves (or at least exaggerated versions of themselves) and have plenty of experience as performers, film acting is obviously a different animal than playing a concert, and comedy is a very unforgiving genre. Fortunately, there's nothing to forgive here. I'll admit their Liverpool accents make them a bit hard to understand at times, but it's nothing that can't be addressed by turning on the subtitles so I don't miss anything. The supporting cast's performances are also solid across the board. Wilfrid Brambell isn't exactly playing the most endearing character as Paul's grandfather, but you never outright hate him, and he's an entertaining character - even when you're supposed to find him annoying. (As opposed to way too many comedy sidekicks that unintentionally annoy the nutella crepe out of the audience because of bad writing.) As a bit of trivia, one of Brambell's claims to fame prior to A Hard Day's Night was Steptoe and Son, a long running sitcom in which he played a "dirty old man." (Hence the running gag about Paul's grandfather being "very clean.") Victor Spinetti as the high-strung TV show's director is also amusing to watch, as are Norman Rossington and John Junkin as the Beatles' beleaguered managers and chaperones. If you're a hardcore James Bond fan, particularly Goldfinger, you'll recognize Margaret Nolan (Dink) and Vernon Wells (Colonel Smithers) who have small roles early on in the movie. (Like A Hard Day's Night, most of the Bond films were released by United Artists.) A Hard Day's Night isn't the most intricately plotted movie I've ever seen, but the mockumentary approach definitely works in its favor. The "day in the life" angle allows us to get a feel for everyone's personalities and quirks, while smoothly working in the musical numbers, by the Beatles performing some of them within the context of the film. (I'm also impressed by how the filmmakers disguised the fact that John wasn't present for the first "Can't Buy Me Love" sequence on account of him being on a book tour at the time - something I didn't even realize until I was doing my research for this review. Close-ups of Lennon were added later, once he'd returned to the production.) The film also has a very surreal British sense of humor to it, which not only gives it character and further livens it up, but it also provides some genuine laughs, if you like that kind of thing. However, the filmmakers are smart enough not to overdo this, to the point where it's noticeably excessive or too in-your-face. I'm sure I could find some stuff to nitpick about for the sake of nitpicking if I really, really tried, but that's not really my thing. This is the INCspotlight, not CinemaSins. I'm not very musically literate, so I don't really know how to talk about the songs in this movie, except to say that they're fun and enjoyable to listen to, with not a clunker in the bunch. The title song "A Hard Day's Night" is fun and catchy, with a lot of energy to it, and it matches the energy on the screen when played over the opening titles. The songs also demonstrate Lennon and McCartney's versatility as songwriters, from the upbeat and energetic "Can't Buy Me Love," "I Should've Known Better," and the title song, to slower, more mellow numbers such as "If I Fell" and "And I Love Her," two personal favorites of mine. I suppose some might find fault that the climax of the movie is just four songs (two of which we've heard already) being performed to a crowd of screaming, cheering fans, but the whole movie is building up to a televised concert, so it seems kinda silly to gripe about it or expect them not to rehearse their music. And besides, hearing the Beatles perform their music is pretty much the point of the movie. It'd be like complaining about a martial arts movie having fight scenes in it. As far as United Artists was concerned, A Hard Day's Night was an afterthought. Like I said earlier, the studio saw the soundtrack as the real moneymaker, enough to recoup the losses on what they were certain would be a box-office disaster. Well, they were half-right; the soundtrack was indeed a huge seller, spending 14 weeks at the top of the Billboard album chart here in the US and going platinum in the UK. However, the film itself was an unexpected hit, raking in about sixteen times its budget in its first week of release (which still makes it among the most profitable films ever made). Critics and reviewers enjoyed it also, and Owen received an Academy Award nomination for Best Screenplay for this film, as did George Martin for the musical score. It's had something of a troubled history when it comes to home media releases, which varied in quality. The 1982 release in particular added a prologue of sorts, which is just a bunch of random Beatles images set to "I'll Cry Instead." However, in 2014, A Hard Day's Night was included as part of the Criterion Collection, with its quality issues resolved and the prologue removed. If you watch this movie via HBO Max, this is the version you'll see. A Hard Day's Night wouldn't be the only time the Beatles would star in a movie. I already mentioned Help!, a Bond-inspired adventure story where a Thugee cult and a mad scientist (played by Victor Spinetti) are all after one of Ringo's trademark rings, which did NOT age well thanks to its offensive depiction of Hinduism. (It also inspired the Beatles' interest in Eastern musical instruments and stylings, which they'd incorporate into their later songs.) In 1968, United Artists released Yellow Submarine, an animated movie which featured the Beatles as the main characters, although they didn't provide their own voices except for the music - and it is one of the most WTF-inducing movies I've ever seen. Peter Jackson of Lord of the Rings fame is currently working on a Beatles documentary, Get Back, and I'm looking forward to that one. Help! (1965) As both an entertaining comedy and a Beatles showcase, A Hard Day's Night succeeds in every respect. You're definitely going to want to see this one, probably more than once.
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