Simplified Wiki
A Hard Day's Night (film)
From SimplifiedWiki
- This article is about the film. For the soundtrack, see A Hard Day's Night (album). For the song, see A Hard Day's Night (song).
A Hard Day's Night (1964) is a British comedy film written by Alun Owen and starring The Beatles during the height of Beatlemania. The director was Richard Lester, the producer Walter Shenson and the director of photography Gilbert Taylor. In addition to The Beatles, cast members included Wilfrid Brambell who was billed as "also starring" after the main title, Norman Rossington as their manager, John Junkin as "Shake,", Lionel Blair as a featured dancer, Victor Spinetti as the television director and in cameos David Langton, John Bluthal as a car thief and Derek Nimmo in an uncredited role as Leslie Jackson (a magician). The album A Hard Day's Night was The Beatles' first soundtrack album. The film premiered on July 6, 1964.
Contents |
[edit] Background
The film was shot for United Artists using a cinéma vérité style in black and white and produced over a period of 16 weeks in the spring of 1964. Black and white was chosen for its lower cost, and the short time frame for filming was thought necessary because the studio was convinced that Beatlemania would not last beyond the summer of 1964. (Their primary interest in making the movie, in fact, was the potential sales from licensing a soundtrack album.) The film also used the innovative technique of cutting the images to the beat of the music, and because of this many see the film as playing a major role in development of modern music videos, especially the "Can't Buy Me Love" segment, which featured creative camera work and the band running and jumping around in a field.
The film's director, Richard Lester, also directed The Beatles' 1965 film, Help!. He went on to direct several popular motion pictures of the 1970s and 1980s, including The Three Musketeers and Superman II.
Three extras would become famous in their own right. Phil Collins was an extra in the concert sequence and later became the drummer for Genesis. Pattie Boyd later married both George Harrison and Eric Clapton (though at different times). A Hard Day's Night also marks the uncredited film debut of Charlotte Rampling as an attractive young dancer featured prominently in the nightclub sequences.
[edit] Plot
Unlike the standard rock and roll movies of the early 1960s, which tended to lack a plot, A Hard Day's Night had a solid, well-written script at the insistence of The Beatles and manager Brian Epstein. Screenwriter Alun Owen was chosen because they were familiar with his play No Trams to Lime Street and Owen had a knack for Liverpudlian dialogue.
The film chronicles in a mock documentary-style The Beatles arriving at a theatre, rehearsing, and finally performing in a television special. Owen spent several days with the group, who told him their lives were like "a room and a car and a room and a car and a room and car". He realized that by 1964 The Beatles were prisoners of their own fame, and their schedule of performances and studio work by that time was extremely punishing; he wrote this into the script. The character of Paul's grandfather refers to this, saying, "I was supposed to be getting a change of scenery, and so far I've been in a train and a room, and a car and a room, and a room and a room."
The film is one of the best depictions of Beatlemania. In various places, The Beatles comment cheekily on their own fame: for instance, at one point a fan recognises John Lennon as himself; he demurs, saying his face isn't quite right. The fan eventually agrees.
[edit] Reception
New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther noted the film is also a subtle satire on the image of rock-and-roll music (and The Beatles in particular) as a source of youth rebellion and defiance of authority. In the film, The Beatles are portrayed as likeable young lads who are constantly amazed at the attention they receive and who want nothing more than run around and have a good time; however, they have to deal with screaming crowds, journalists who ask nonsense questions, and authority figures who constantly look down upon them. The biggest troublemaker in the film is an elderly senior citizen, Paul McCartney's "clean" grandfather (played by Wilfrid Brambell).
According to Roy Carr’s Beatles at the Movies, most reviews were largely positive. One oft-quoted assessment was provided by New York’s Village Voice, which labelled A Hard Day’s Night “the Citizen Kane of juke box musicals.” Time Magazine also called the film “One of the smoothest, freshest, funniest films ever made for purposes of exploitation.”
After six weeks the film had grossed $5.8 million in rentals. In fact, before the film’s official release, advance sales of the print and accompanying soundtrack had already more than recouped the £200,000 budget.
Numerous musicians have credited the film with inspiring their permanent dedication to the world of rock-and-roll. David Crosby admits, “I came out [of the theater] and swung around a post arm’s length going ‘Yes!’ I went into that movie and came out knowing what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.” A similar impact was to be had many years later on The Ramones. In the United States, the film’s visuals and storyline are credited with inspiring a television series based around the prefab four, The Monkees.
Film critic Roger Ebert cites the film as one of the "Top Films of All Time".
In 2004 the magazine Total Film named A Hard Day's Night the 42nd greatest British film of all time. In 2005, Time.com named it one of the 100 best films of the last 80 years.
It is currently ranked the third greatest film of all time on Rotten Tomatoes.
[edit] Title inspired by Ringo-ism
The movie's strange title originated from something said by Ringo Starr, The Beatles' drummer. Starr described it this way in an interview with disc jockey Dave Hull in 1964: "We went to do a job, and we'd worked all day and we happened to work all night. I came up still thinking it was day I suppose, and I said, 'It's been a hard day...' and I looked around and saw it was dark so I said, '...night!' So we came to 'A Hard Day's Night.'"
According to Lennon in a 1980 interview with Playboy magazine: "I was going home in the car and Dick Lester [director of the movie] suggested the title, 'Hard Day's Night' from something Ringo had said. I had used it in 'In His Own Write' [a book Lennon was writing then], but it was an off-the-cuff remark by Ringo. You know, one of those malapropisms. A Ringo-ism, where he said it not to be funny... just said it. So Dick Lester said, 'We are going to use that title.'"
In a 1994 interview for The Beatles Anthology, however, McCartney disagreed with Lennon's recollections, recalling that it was The Beatles, and not Lester, who had come up with the idea of using Starr's verbal misstep: "The title was Ringo's. We'd almost finished making the film, and this fun bit arrived that we'd not known about before, which was naming the film. So we were sitting around at Twickenham studios having a little brain-storming session... and we said, 'Well, there was something Ringo said the other day.' Ringo would do these little malapropisms, he would say things slightly wrong, like people do, but his were always wonderful, very lyrical... they were sort of magic even though he was just getting it wrong. And he said after a concert, 'Phew, it's been a hard day's night.'"
In 1996, yet another version of events appeared — In an Associated Press report, Walter Shenson, who produced the film, said that Lennon described to Shenson some of Starr's funnier gaffes, including "a hard day's night", whereupon Shenson immediately decided that that was going to be the title of the movie (the originally planned title was Beatlemania). Shenson then told Lennon that he needed a theme song for the film. That song, also titled "A Hard Day's Night", became a huge hit. Image:HardDayUK.jpg
[edit] Songs in "A Hard Day's Night"
- "I'll Cry Instead"
- "A Hard Day's Night"
- "I Should Have Known Better"
- "Can't Buy Me Love"
- "If I Fell"
- "And I Love Her"
- "I'm Happy Just to Dance With You"
- "Ringo's Theme (This Boy)"
- "Tell Me Why"
- "Don't Bother Me" -- written by George Harrison, notwithstanding the closing credit "songs by John Lennon and Paul McCartney"
- "I Wanna Be Your Man"
- "All My Loving"
- "She Loves You"
"I'll Cry Instead" was intended for the film but was cut. It appeared in a prologue for a 1980s reissue by Universal Pictures.
[edit] Locations
- Marylebone station in London
- Crowcombe Heathfield station on the West Somerset Railway
- Thornbury Playing Fields, Isleworth, Middlesex, England ("Can't Buy Me Love")
[edit] Academy Awards
| Award | Person | |
| Nominated: | ||
| Best Score | George Martin | |
| Best Screenplay | Alun Owen | |
[edit] Extracts from the film
The Beatles' Extracts From The Film A Hard Day's Night EP was released November 6, 1964 it consisted of :
- Side A: 1) I Should Have Known Better 2) If I Fell
- Side B: 1) Tell Me Why 2) And I Love Her
The EP was only released in mono and never released in stereo Its catalogue number is Parlophone GEP 8920
[edit] Release history on VHS and DVD
In 2002 a DVD edition of the film was released. The film had been transferred from the restored 35mm negative. In addition to the original film, the DVD contained a bonus disc with over 7 hours of additional materials including interviews with 29 people including cast and crew members and Beatles associates. The DVD was produced by Beatles historian and producer Martin Lewis, a longtime friend of the film's producer Walter Shenson. It was released by Miramax Home Entertainment.
[edit] 40th anniversary cast and crew reunion screening
On 6 July 2004 - the 40th anniversary of the film's world premiere - a private cast and crew reunion screening was hosted in London by DVD producer Martin Lewis. The screening was attended by McCartney, actors Victor Spinetti, John Junkin, David Janson and many crew members. In media interviews at the event, McCartney disclosed that while he had seen the film many times on video, he had not seen the film on the 'big screen' since its 1964 premiere.
[edit] External links
de:Yeah Yeah Yeahes:A Hard Day's Night (película) fr:Quatre garçons dans le vent id:A Hard Day's Night (film) it:Tutti per uno (film 1964) he:A Hard Day's Night (סרט) nl:A Hard Day's Night (film) ja:ビートルズがやって来るヤァ!ヤァ!ヤァ! (映画) pl:Noc po ciężkim dniu pt:A Hard Day's Night (filme) ru:Вечер трудного дня (фильм) sv:Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!
Categories: 1964 films | The Beatles films | British films | Films directed by Richard Lester | Miramax films | Mockumentaries | United Artists films