A Hard Day’s Night-1964
Director Richard Lester
Starring The Beatles
Scott’s Review #154
Reviewed August 18, 2014
Grade: C
Why this rock documentary, a day in the life film, is considered among the Top 100 films of all time completely escapes me. I’m a huge fan of the band The Beatles, but this is a letdown.
The segments consisting of musical numbers performed by the band are excellent, and, humming along, I enjoyed the black and white filming of the “documentary.” Still, the film is not a documentary in the traditional sense and is very difficult to categorize.
Is it a rock opera, a comedy, a documentary, or a musical? It is somewhat of a hybrid as the viewer journeys through a typical day in the life of a Beatle.
But everything else seems fluff to the point of silliness. Countless scenes of the band running through the streets with adoring fans screaming and chasing after them become irritating. The film has little plot.
The Beatles were a huge band. We get it.
Paul, George, Ringo, and John do a capable job in the film, considering they are non-actors. I’d much rather have been exposed to a straightforward documentary focusing on the background of some of the songs or the band members themselves instead of a lightweight tale of a day in the life of The Beatles with silly attempts at humor thrown in.
A Hard Day’s Night (1964) influenced the 1960s television comedy starring The Monkees.
Oscar Nominations: Best Story and Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen, Best Scoring of Music-Adaptation or Treatment
