What a Night

The vinyl age brought us the lovable gods of rock, the Beatles. Richard Lester in his fabulously scripted and directed film A Hard Day's Night points out all the fuzzy sides of these musical legends.

At the time Hard Day's Night came out it was accepted as a very special film because it celebrated the Fab Four and their individual personas as something that any of us could aspire to.

The plot is just a study of “A day in the life” of the Fab Four beginning with them running from their adoring fans to catch a train. Every plot point circles around the band getting to a television show in order to perform a live concert, and within this stream of action is a series of slapstick, zany, and otherwise whacky bits of funniness. One obstacle in the works is Paul McCartney's babysitting of his grandfather (Wilfred Brambell), a “First class mixer” from getting into mischief. It becomes one of the running jokes in the film that Brambell is a "clean old man," at least physically. Ringo Starr gets a sense of liberation and goes off on his own to find happiness only to land him in jail for loitering. John Lennon fires playful barbs at TV director (Victor Spinelli), whose biggest worry is that if foe some reason the Beatles stand him up his next job will be doing "news in Welsh." One great story line is with George Harrison in which he is mistaken for an actor auditioning for some trendy TV show for some “trend setter” hostess. The earnest demeanor of the casting head and his associates is undercut by George’s declaration that she is a “well-known drag.” Norman Rossington and John Junkin as The Beatles' managers are stalwart English character actors who fill out the cast and support the general lunacy of the film with a more traditional presence, but still sustain an on-going battle about one being taller than the other. Anna Quayle has a great bit with John Lennon about his being someone he’s not. The whole thing ends with an ear-shattering concert and the band yet again running from the adoring fans.

As one born in the last years of the Baby Boom, I'm not sure if A Hard Day's Night has the same sort of emotional effect on someone 18 or 19 years old.

I first heard the Beatles sing I Want To Hold Your Hand" on a 45 record. My sisters had a collection of the little records with the big holes. Those will never be brought back as vintage items (the vinyl required a special insert to play the record on the turn table- long gone are the choices- 33 and a third, 45, or 78! - this direct knowledge alone dates me).

This is probably the best reason to get this great disc of this film. The film has been re-mastered and the lunacy, the fun-making spirit that Richard Lester was able to bring out of the Beatles is captured completely on this film.

The film is essentially an 88-minute promo with songs to herald the Beatles and all that represent.

The disc has a great interview with the scriptwriter Alun Owen, and his stories regarding meeting the Beatles for the first time.

Reportedly Alun Owen hung out with the band for several days, and scripted a screenplay that matched the particular vocal rhythms, and grammatical phrases of John, Paul, George, and Ringo.

As a precursor to the modern music video A Hard Day's Night is just good clean fun showing the band playing another performance on one a leg of their concert tour.

The film is filled with great Beatle hits including "A Hard Day's Night", "That Boy", and others like "I Should Have Known Better," "And I Love Her," "Tell Me Why," "If I Fell," "Can't Buy Me Love”. The introduction of these songs and the way they’re presented are absolutely fantastic and appear as if they were done today.

The DVD features has interviews with the director Richard Lester, the writer Alun Owen, the producer and his request for John and Paul to writer him a hit overnight, and interviews with many of the little people from the film.

One great interview is with producer Walter Shenson who talks about Okaying the script, and not knowing what to expect, and then overwhelmed when it caught fire as it did. This is an especially interesting piece for those burgeoning filmmakers who think that producers are all-knowing seers. This guy was as in the dark as everyone else.

The film itself is a loopy story that stands as an invitation for the viewer to celebrate his own life in the same way.

I got my great disc at amazon.com for 12.99. It is a great treat for anyone who wants to re-submerge himself in this great period- and it’s a goofy and funny film!

Definitely goes best with Swiss Miss Instant Chocolate with Mini Marshmallows.