Musical comedy
Synopsis
John, Paul, George and Ringo (The Beatles) spend 36 wild hours in London, besieged by exuberant fans.
Cast: The Beatles, Wilfrid Brambell, Norman Rossington, John Junkins, Victor Spinetti, Anna Quayle, Deryck Guyler, Richard Vernon, Edward Malin, Robin Ray, Lionel Blair, Alison Seebohm, David Jaxon
Producer(s): Proscenium Films
Crew: Director - Richard Lester, Writer - Alun Owen, Associate Producer - Dennis O'Dell, Producer - Walter Shenson, Original Music - John Lennon, Original Music - George Martin, Original Music - Paul McCartney, Cinematographer - Gilbert Taylor, Film Editor - John Jympson, Art Direction - Ray Simm, Costume Designer - Julie Harris, Costume Designer - Dougie Millings, Hair Stylist - Betty Glasow, Makeup Artist - John O'Gorman, Assistant Director - John Merriman, Music Supervisor - George Martin, Camera Operator - Derek Browne
Distributor: Miramax Films
Release Date: 08/11/1964
Running Time: 83 minutes
OFFICIAL SITE
Production Notes:
-Notes provided by Miramax Films-
SYNOPSIS
"We know how to behave . . . we've had lessons!"
-- from A HARD DAY'S NIGHT
A HARD DAY'S NIGHT, marked The Beatles debut on the silver screen and became one of the greatest rock and roll comedy adventures ever. This classic film, directed by Richard Lester received two Academy Award nominations, for screenwriter Alun Owen and music director Sir George Martin. Miramax Films is now re-releasing the film with a fully restored negative and digitally restored soundtrack.
The year is 1964 and four young lads from Liverpool are about to change the world - if only the madcap world will let them out of their hotel room. Richard Lester's boldly contemporary rock n' roll comedy unleashes the fledgling Beatles into a maelstrom of screaming fans, paranoid producers, rabid press and troublesome family members, and reveals the secret of their survival and success: an' insatiable lust for mischief and a life-affirming addiction to joy.
The film takes on the just-left-of-reality style of a mock-documentary, following "a day in the life" of John, Paul, George and Ringo as fame takes them by storm. They have just decided, for the first time, they are going to break the rules. In the next 24 hours, they are going to throw out their schedules, ignore their obligations and get a taste of freedom. They'll have to dodge screaming fans, avert the press, disobey their managers and try to keep Paul's fictional grandfather (Wilfrid Brambell) in check. The film includes a wild television performance given by The Fab Four.
Throughout it all, witty one-liners, classic pop songs and world-class charm build up to happy-go-lucky moments of liberation that capture the sheer exuberance, innocence and rock n' roll spirit of four young men trying to make their own rules in a world determined to confine them.
ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
"It's the `Citizen Kane' of jukebox movies"
-- from the original 1964 Village Voice review of A HARD DAY'S NIGHT
With A HARD DAY'S NIGHT, The Beatles brought the anarchic spirit of rock n' roll for the first time to the movies. Joyously chaotic and irreverently stylish, the Oscar-nominated motion picture captured not just the early excitement of the band's super-stardom, but the manic charm of four young men living outside the rules in a world not quite ready for them. It captured the frenzy, passion, as well as the comic absurdity, of the rock n' roll lifestyle even as it was first being defined. The film itself disobeyed established rules of cinema. With his unique approach, director Richard Lester heralded a distinct revolution in the way the movies approached youth -incorporating the lightning pace and wild freedom of the three-minute pop song into a unique film style. Edgy and way ahead of its time, over three decades after the height of Beatlemania, A HARD DAY'S NIGHT remains as fresh and funny as ever. Now, following a major restoration, A HARD DAY'S NIGHT will have a chance to win over new audiences and resurrect the thrill of Beatlemania for long-time fans with a digitally restored soundtrack. Shot in black-and-white, the film's crisp and shockingly contemporary style now comes to the fore with richer tones and cleaner images. Producer Walter Shenson, who brought the project to Miramax, explains, "there are so many young people who have never had a chance to see A HARD DAY'S NIGHT. I show it sometimes to film students and maybe six out of 100 have seen it before, yet they never think it's dated when they see it. This is a wonderful opportunity to bring the film to a whole new generation as it was originally meant to be seen." Adds Harvey Weinstein, Co-Chair of Miramax Films
A HARD DAY'S NIGHT is one of the greatest rock 'n' roll movies of all time. Now, thanks to state-of-the-art technology, moviegoers young and old will be able to experience the film again and for the first time. For decades, this has been a motion picture that has influenced the use of music in films and that legacy continues.
Since its release in 1964, A HARD DAY'S NIGHT has become one of the more influential films of its time. The film's style - fast-cut, comical anecdotes set to Beatles's songs - is believed by many to have been the harbinger for the birth of the music video. Furthermore, the film's frenetic pace and frenzied characters presaged the increasingly quick cutting style and high-energy level of current movies. Richard Lester's hand-held camera and deliberate looseness also influenced many vérité rock `n roll films to follow. As Roger Ebert wrote, in an essay on the continued vitality of A HARD DAY'S NIGHT:
Today, when we watch TV and see quick cutting, hand-held cameras, interviews conducted on the run with moving targets, quickly intercut snatches of dialogue, music under documentary action and all the other trademarks of the modern style, we are looking at the children of A HARD DAY'S NIGHT.
But, it is A HARD DAY'S NIGHT's comedic punch that has continued to win over all audiences. Lester so perfectly captured the outrageous hysteria of the fans and the sardonic wit of the individual Beatles and their wild attempts to escape the madness around them that the story remains a timeless treasure.
It was Lester's iconoclastic comedy style that first drew producer Walter Shenson to hire him to direct A HARD DAY'S NIGHT. Although they had only just made their first trip outside Britain to America, it was already clear that the Beatles were headed towards an entirely new kind of global super-stardom, the likes of which had never been seen before. The next obvious step for four handsome, young stars-- the movies. But the Beatles were adamant that they didn't want to do a typical musical movie of the era with their predictable plots, plodding pace and strained musical numbers. Somehow they wanted to preserve the dynamism of their music on-screen as well as the immediacy and liberation of the rock n'roll spirit they embodied.
Inspiration came when they saw a Richard Lester film entitled "The Running, Jumping and Standing Still Film," starring Peter Sellers. The film was part avant garde experiment, part slapstick joyride, relying on facile editing tricks and a dizzying hand-held camera to make the surreal story-line as furiously fast and funny as possible. The style seemed a perfect match for the anarchy of the Beatles' own life and times.
After experiencing first-hand the bizarre and nearly orgasmic hysteria surrounding Beatlemania, Lester decided he wanted to make what he called a "factional" movie about the Beatles and their strange predicament. From the very first scenes in A HARD DAY'S NIGHT, Lester lets the audience know that this is not meant to be a documentary - but, he does play upon real-life scenarios, showing sequences of crazed fans and the Beatles being very much themselves, making the film both a timeless fairy-tale and a historical document about a cultural phenomenon that will not be soon replicated.
Although the film feels entirely improvised, it was in fact scripted by leading British playwright Alun Owen, who was renowned for his ability to capture the language and spirit of a new generation of Liverpudlian youth. Owen spent days and nights hanging out with the Beatles learning their individual personalities and styles of wit, incorporating their own sharp-tongued repartee into his dialogue. Thus, he created the indelible portraits of John as the group's rebellious, anarchic wit, Paul as the charming smoothie, George as a shy but "cheeky" guy and Ringo as the slightly melancholy clown of the bunch. Owen went on to win an Academy Award nomination for Best Screenplay for his work - and his impressions of the Beatles stuck throughout their careers.
Filming of A HARD DAY'S NIGHT began on March 6, 1964 -- and three months later the movie was in theaters. The schedule was so fast and furious that the Beatles themselves barely knew what was happening. Said Paul McCartney, "it was very exciting, we got on a train at Marleybone Station one day, and the train took off and suddenly we were in a film." Commented Ringo Starr, "it was all so romantic. There were these lights and, you know, coming to work in the limo," but he added, "getting up early in the morning wasn't the best thing we could do."
The Beatles did indeed spend many a "hard day's night" on the film, making the entire movie and recording most of the soundtrack over just seven weeks time. Some of the filming took place in the safety of London's Twickenham Studios, but much of it occurred on the streets of London, adding to the sense of general chaos and mayhem. Several times, filming was utterly
disrupted by the tenacity of wild-eyed fans, including an incident in which a poor messenger leaving the set was chased for miles.
A HARD DAY'S NIGHT premiered at the London Pavilion on July 6`", causing an unprecedented ruckus that resulted in the closing off of Picadilly Circus. Hundreds upon thousands of fans attempted to storm the theatre. In the US, the film was expected to be a minor success, but proved to be one of the biggest box office draws of the season. Soon, young men everywhere were heading to their barbers to ask for the prototypical Beatle's mop-top and even grandmothers were humming "Can't Buy Me Love." Critics immediately embraced the film not only as one of the truly groundbreaking films of its day and as a fun romp with the Beatles -- but as a classic comedy on a par with the enduring works of the Marx Brothers.
An undeniable element in the enduring success of A HARD DAY'S NIGHT are some of Lennon and McCartney's most popular and energetic songs, which are intercut throughout the story. The soundtrack marked the peak of the band's early period when they were at the height of their collaborative creative powers and beginning to expand musically, experimenting with 12string guitars and other new instruments. It was also the first Beatles album to include 13 LennonMcCartney originals, rather than a mix of covers and originals.
Included are such hits as "She Loves You," "All My Loving," "Can't Buy Me Love," "And I Love Her" as well as the title tune. Like the motion picture, the soundtrack became an instantaneous hit and, like the film, has remained a timeless rock n' roll classic.
ABOUT THE BEATLES ON FILM
A HARD DAY'S NIGHT marked an auspicious motion picture debut for the Fab Four establishing John, Paul, George and Ringo as charismatic naturals who were as captivating on screen as they were on LP. Throughout their time together as a band, they maintained an interest in making motion pictures, starring in four subsequent films:
HELP! - Directed by Richard Lester, released in 1965
Released just one year after A HARD DAY'S NIGHT, "Help!" was directed by Richard Lester in a similarly wild and crazy comedic style, featuring a plot about a cult conspiracy to steal Ringo's jewelry. As with A HARD DAY'S NIGHT, a hit-filled soundtrack drove the madcap action.
MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR - Directed by The Beatles, released in 1967
Conceived of and mostly directed by The Beatles, "Magical Mystery Tour" was a whimsical romp on a magical bus ride through the English countryside. The film's surreal story was intercut with rare performances of such songs as "I Am the Walrus" and "Fool on the Hill."
YELLOW SUBMARINE - Directed by George Dunning, released in 1968
"Yellow Submarine" is an animated adventure featuring the voices of the Beatles behind an incredible array of pop-art eye-candy that influenced animation to come. The uniquely surreal film also features some of the Beatles' most psychedelic songs, including "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and "All You Need Is Love."
LET IT BE - directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, released in 1970
What began as a documentary about the Beatles' music turned into a riveting portrait of their final, controversial days together as a band - and a magical impromptu performance on a London rooftop. The Beatles' received an Oscar for the score.
