Eric Stevenson What I love about this movie is how authentic it is. I remember reading Roger Ebert's review of it and how interesting it was to learn that he was born on the same day as Paul McCartney! Anyway, what's amazing is how utterly realistic this movie is. It really does seem like a documentary. Most of this movie is just hanging out with the Beatles and them cracking some jokes and being interviewed. We of course get all their greatest songs.You could simply listen to those at day. It's such a relief to watch a good movie after being subjected to all these stupid films I've seen lately. It's funny how they're listed in the credits not as themselves, but as uh, themselves. Anyway, this is a really soft moving film. At first, I thought I would be mad that it was too short but instead the running time made it perfect. I guess you could call me a Beatles fan even if I'm not the biggest one.To a certain extent, this does seem like a really long music video. It does have a steady plot and it makes you feel like you're right there in on the action. It's hard to even believe that these people are acting. Well, they are playing themselves so it's technically not acting. There's tons of quotable dialogue and I especially like, "It's an in-joke!". A must for any music fan or really anyone. ****

calvinnme ...but they were great entertainers, and this film is great entertainment. This is the best of all of the rock and roll films that feature the actual performers. This picture demonstrates The Beatles at the peak of their popularity in the Summer of 1964- wandering about London- with the ultimate soundtrack in the background. A fascinating homage to Beatlemania when viewed now- over half a century later. The inventive boys from Liverpool are displayed at their sarcastic and witty best in this natural setting. A Hard Day's Night is a great example of the early Beatles musical ability, and work product, being that the title tune was written in about 20min between finishing an American tour, a European tour, a plethora of television specials, recording an LP in Paris in German for the Deutschland market, writing and recording the Hard Day's Night LP as well as making this film all within the same year, and before May of that year. After which, they all went on a month long vacation, recorded another album and began work on the next film. These guys were driven workaholics at this time, and their collective creative synergy has never been seen again.There wasn't anywhere The Beatles could go without being mobbed, thus they spent years boxed up in hotel rooms together to the point where they knew each other so well they often finished each others sentences during interviews. As a group of young men going through that type of stress day in and day out, they had to develop coping skills in order to keep it together, it seems they chose humor as their main tool. This movie shows us a little bit of that. Genius casting is evident in Hard Days Night with the inclusion of Irishman Wilfred Brambell as Paul McCartney's incorrigible Grandfather. Brambell was only 52 at the time but looked 82. At the time Brambell was very well known to British audiences due to the popularity of his television character named Albert Steptoe in a show called Steptoe and Son. Brambell's 1960s character Steptoe was the basis for the Fred Sanford character played by Redd Foxx on the 1970s American TV show "Sanford and Son". Look fast for a 13 year old Phil Collins in the audience as a screaming fan and look even faster for 20 year old Pattie Boyd as a schoolgirl on the train ride.

joshuafagan-64214 If this is not the first film to deal with the life of music royalty, it certainly was the first influential one. What the Beatles were to music, their first film was to music biopics. It is cheeky and comic, rebellious in the most British way possible, and the cornerstone for the generations of music films to come. If you are a particularly nitpicky person who is both obsessed with originality and loves music films, don't watch this movie; you'll love it just fine, but all other music films will be ruined for you. Even though I'm not one of those people, I still can see myself pointing out, "Yep, that's from a Hard Day's Night. And that. And that. Only they did it way better than this film," whenever I'm watching a music movie with a group of friends.This film details an exaggerated but still believable day in the life of the Beatles with pizazz and sharpness. They play music, deal with managers, try new things, explore, and so on. There is a scene in which they have to answer questions from reporters.One asks, "Do you consider yourself a mod or a rocker?" To which Ringo responds, "Uh, no, I'm a mocker." Gold (and apparently a real line he said). More importantly, it defines the tone of this film. It is not brash and anger-filled, like would be done if the film were modern or American and certainly if it were both. Rather, it is sharp and confident. It uses a cinematographic style that is typically used for documentaries without trying to push on you that it is a documentary.All and all, it fits the persona and style of The Beatles quite well. For how much people love to complain about the facts that famous people can do pretty much anything without getting caught, this film and this group reminds that such is not necessarily a bad thing. The Beatles were not vile vagrants, nor were they trying to burn everything down. They were simply open-minded artists who acted as they believed all people had the right to act. Great artists lift society.They also lift movies. Little to no effort was put into distributing this film, with it simply being used as an excuse to sell the soundtrack album. But the joke was on film when the movie turned out to be surprisingly good, a classic of the eras. I love it when that happens.Above all, this film is entertaining. There are some parts that fall flat, at least for me, most notably being the scenes involving Paul's grandpa, hence the 9. I do not like this film as much as some; to me, it is more a scenic river ride than a swirling, striking rushing waterfalls of adventure. But still, what a river ride it is. I felt sucked into the atmosphere, into the world they created. I did not want to leave, certainly not after ninety minutes. I feel more connected to the Beatles and their mythos now. If nothing else, I can tell them apart even with their similar haircuts now.

SnoopyStyle The Beatles (John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr) are traveling from Liverpool to London for a TV performance. They bring along Paul's grandfather as well as their various entourage on the trip as they have fun misadventures.This is simply fun and its success suggests the coming marriage of pop music and video imagery. The dry British humor is fun and it's all about the lads' charm. They sell the material better than any experienced actors. They seem to be really enjoying themselves. In that sense, director Richard Lester is lucky and he's also smart enough to let them go at it. And the music is so great. It is a pop icon of the 20th century.