A Hard Day's Night (1964)

The Beatles! There was nothing like them when they appeared and they stayed that way for decades. The movie captures their start-up and you can easily see why it caught on so well. These boys were handsome and talented and Everyone agreed with them and their music. Speaking of which we get to experience some of the best start-up songs of any professionals career and they still hold well to this day. Memories for those that grew up with this and for those that didn't, enjoy a decent song with words that make sense about the oldest subject in the world i.e. love. Wait no longer as this movie is...

I watched this on the HULU channel via my ROKU stick. Great fun to see the Beatles in their very early days.I was a teenager in 1963 to 1965, the years when the Beatles made their big splash here in the States. I remember their splash very well although I never became a big fan. Their music is pleasant with nice harmonies but nothing I ever got excited over. This was likely filmed in 1963, or maybe very early 1964, when Lennon was maybe 22, McCartney was maybe 21, Harrison was maybe 20, and Starr was maybe 23. When you see them in this movie they look quite young indeed and they act like kids. It is very refreshing to see them before they were as big as they ultimately became.They are all from Liverpool and, except for Lennon, from Merseyside. I recall back then hearing "Ferry Cross the Mersey" by Gerry and the Pacemakers and I had no idea what it was about. Now I know it is about the River Mersey, the lifeblood of Liverpool. In a similar manner Lennon's "Strawberry Fields Forever", my personal favorite Beatles recording, was inspired by Lennon's memories of playing in the garden of Strawberry Field, a Salvation Army children's home near where he grew up in Liverpool. Point being as a kid growing up in the States I heard the lyrics but had no idea what their connections were, later in life and with great use of Google searches I know a lot more!This little movie is a contrived, humorous story about their journey by train from Liverpool to London for a recording session and a performance. There are lots of hijinks but magically everyone arrives just in the nick of time. Nice little movie to understand how much fun these kids were able to have on the cusp of turning into an international sensation.The Beatles are John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr.

I'm not here to tell you that, hey, the Beatles are one of the most successful pop/rock groups of all time and that they actually sucked; I realize that the album that the film promotes is nearly flawless, its pretty much a template for every pop/rock album promoted since, but the film just didn't click with me personally.The main problem is that it constantly employs a standard comedy approach, where the Beatles are young northerners, outsiders representing the youth audience, and in each sequence they outsmart or out-cool the establishment, basically anyone that appears wealthier than them, or in a position of power - its much the same routine as Ivan Reitmans later "Ghostbusters" picture, if anyone notices.My other issue with the film is that the group don't really appear as themselves, but as slangy, Northern teenagers; they typify a youth culture that they've actually outgrown. The film is for the bands audience, rather than people interested in the band themselves.I like the idea of comedy, rather than an earnest series of interview segments, and this movie was a massive commercial hit (they were the biggest act in the world at the time), but I found the experience oddly thin and disappointing. Some great use of camera and editing though, which had an influence on the coming of music video.

In the space of 10 years the Beatles completely changed the face of music. A Hard Day's Night, the Beatles' film debut, was released a little over a year after their first album Please Please Me. Not even two years later they'd release the double-punch of Rubber Soul and Revolver, and just a year after that they'd rewrite the rock-and-pop rulebook with the seminal Sgt Pepper. Their energy must've been ferocious. A Hard Day's Night captures this energy. We're introduced to them as they run, beaming, from their frenzied fans. They jump on a train. They catch their breath, but the frame doesn't; the British countryside roars past the window. They get off the train and run some more. They talk for a bit. They dance for a bit. They sing for a bit. Then they run again. The black-and- white photography and quick edits makes the thing feel like a slice of European New Wave, but injected with wry British humour and punctuated with a handful of the finest pop songs of the 60s.The clang and subsequent clamour of the opening minutes is a dizzying amalgam of music and images. It's a giddy experience. Immature? Sure, but euphorically entertaining. http://thepictureinner.wordpress.com/2015/01/06/a-hard-days-night/