Hard Day's Night, A (1964)

Composer(s):
John Lennon, Paul McCartney

Released in:
1964

Reviews

Mods & Rockers
by filmfactsman (April 28, 2006)
Has fame ever been cheaper than it is right now? In our "people"-addicted culture, the line between real stardom and Paris Hilton stardom grows thinner every day. Yet fame is (or should be) more than just a matter of Being Famous. The public has a powerful need to believe that the famous have earned their place in the heavens and that stars are born because they were meant to be stars, just as we were meant to bask in their light and share in their glamour and then to thank God we don't have to pay the price. However, the trouble with being a fan is that we often want to be the thing we love. Then again, sometimes we want to kill it.

"A Hard Day's Night" captured Beatlemania as it was happening, and more than four decades later, it remains a peerlessly zesty rock 'n' roll fable with a thrilling soundtrack that's all first rate (natch). Director Richard Lester's jump cuts now seem exhilarating as Jean-Luc Godard's, John Lennon's wisecracks as well timed as Groucho Marx's. Yet this original Fab Four movie is innocent in a way no other later rock 'n' roll film could be, and much of the credit must go to the thousands of screaming teenage girls in the audience--the ones who's lips form such magical words as "John!" and "Paul!" and "George!" and "Ringo!" while tears stream down their cheeks. When Lennon and McCartney shake their mop tops in unison after the line "She loves you, and you know you should be glad!" it sends the audience into hyperspace. Watching these Liverpool Lads get their first taste of audience frenzy, you understand why the '60s had to happen.

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