A Hard Day’s Night capitalizes on the immense success of The Beatles. Beatlemania was at an all time high in the mid 60’s. Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr are all part of the most popular band that ever lived. The title was suppose to be either The Beatles or Beatlemania before Starr came up with A Hard Day’s Night. Of course I’m a Beatles fan, but I’ll admit I always assumed the movie was named after an existing song. Turns out Lennon wrote the song in one night.
A Hard Day’s Night is a very low budget black & white mockumentary directed by Richard Lester and starring the real life Fab Four. The movie is basically a day in the life of The Beatles as they deal with screaming fans and explore London leading up to an important television appearance. Paul is joined by his troublesome grandfather played by Wilfrid Brambell, Ringo leaves the band temporarily, John is a smart-aleck, and George is there too. The boys from Liverpool are natural actors who play off their chemistry with one another.
There isn’t much of a plot, but the movie was still nominated for Best Original Screenplay. Along with Best Score, since music is the true star of the movie. We hear hits like the titular “A Hard Day’s Night,” “Can’t Buy Me Love,” and “She Loves You.” A Hard Day’s Night was a highly influential precursor to music videos. Each song is like its own music video with jump cuts and other commercial techniques. A Hard Day’s Night is one of the greatest rock musicals ever made.
The Beatles run from their fans
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My Dad is a huge Beatles fan, and he got me into a lot of their songs too. I got the Criterion Collection Blu Ray for both of us to enjoy, and before we always tried to catch the film when TCM shows it. It truly is a slice of life style kind of film and we see the quartet go through various crazy situations while they’re touring the countryside. The guy who played Paul’s Grandad was a riot. The idea of screaming teen girls chasing their favorite singers might seem cliché and something only shown on TV and films, but for The Beatles it was a completely true case, they actually had to stop offering concerts and tours because crowds of girls were nearly uncontrollable, and were cheering so much you couldn’t hear them sing and play.
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The Beatles are universal. Every generation can enjoy them and it’s great to hear that about your dad. Believe me, I know how real the screaming girls are.
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It’s shocking, I mean utterly shocking that none of the songs were nominated for an Oscar, instead the Academy nominated “Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte”… [scream]
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At least it was acknowledged for Best Original Score.
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