The Fab Four from Liverpool--John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr--in their first movie. No
body expected
A Hard Day's Night to be much more than a quick exploitation of a pas
sing musical fad, but when the
film opened it im
mediately seduced the
world--even the stuffiest critics fell over themselves in praise (highbrow Dwight Macdonald called it "not only a gay, spontaneous, inventive comedy but it is also as good cinema as I have seen for a long time"). Wisely, screenwriter Alun Owen based his script on the Beatles' actual celebrity at the time, catching them in the delirious early rush of Beatlemania: eluding rampaging fans, killing time on trains and in
hotels, appearing on a
TV broadcast. American
director
Richard Lester, influenced by the
freestyle French New Wave and British
Goon Show humor, whips up a de
lightfully upbeat circus of per
petual motion. From the opening scene of the mop tops rushing through a train
station mobbed by fans, the movie rarely stops for air. Some of the
songs are straightfor
wardly presented, but others ("Can't Buy Me Love," set to the foursome gamboling around an empty field) soar with ingenuity. Above all, the Beatles express their irresistible personalities: droll, deadpan, infectiously cheeky. Better examples of pure cinematic joy are few and far between.
--Robert HortonPrice: $14.99
Click here to buy from Amazon
How To Make Money Online Fast?