A Hard Day's Night


Cast: John Lennon, Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, George Harrison
Director: Richard Lister

Story John, Paul, George and Ringo goof their way across England, chased - literally - by screaming teenage girls at every turn. The loose script includes a few running gags (the presence of Paul's trouble-making "grandfather," Ringo feeling like the group oddball), but mostly consists of the charismatic pop stars being themselves in various absurd situations. When they aren't loafing around making wisecracks, they frequently break into performances of their lighthearted early hits.

Acting The Beatles' deadpan comic delivery in this film, released the year of their big breakthrough in the U.S., helped define their mythical images as witty, irreverent lads bouncing from one silly adventure to another. All four ooze natural screen charisma, but it's the authority-challenging jokester John who consistently steals the show. (How did the group find America? "We turned left at Greenland," he quips.)

Direction In this effort and its 1965 follow-up, "Help!," American helmer Richard Lester hit on the energetic, fun-loving style that not only characterized his own later pictures ("A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," "The Three Musketeers"), but also influenced rock 'n' roll filmmaking into the MTV era. Though "A Hard Day's Night's" secondary characters can be tiresome and the repetition of various songs seems curious today, a combination of swift pacing and Beatles magic allows the film to hold up well three-and-a-half decades after it was made. The concluding mini-concert alone is worth the price of admission. This sparkling re-release features a fully restored picture and soundtrack.