A Hard Day's Night

Hotly pursued by fans, Paul, John, George and Ringo embark on a train for London, where they are to do a television show. They are accompanied by their harassed manager Norm, his assistant Shake and Paul's grandfather. Grandfather maliciously sows seeds of discord everywhere, adding to Norm's worries; in London, the boys sneak out to a twist club instead of staying in their hotel, and keep disappearing during rehearsals, much to the disgruntlement of their television director. Finally, spurred on by Grandfather who points out the drawbacks of being a teenagers' idol, Ringo disappears completely. A frantic search ensues, but eventually all four turn up at the studio, the show is successfully completed, and the business start up all over again as they dash off to their next engagement.

"The Four were growing and the world was taking notice of them. The cinema, then the most widespread of the mass media, was an effective and powerful vehicle for a revolutionary way of communicating and of being. Producer Walter Shenson succeeded in combining the mix of the Beatles, Owen, and Lester in an explosive way. The semidocumentary structure turned out to be the perfect frame inside of which to etch the irreverent vitality of the Four. It was a flexible container for a piece of society that was beginning to become aware of itself happily refusing preconceived values. It is surprising to discover how many instinctive hunches materialize in that film. The stylistic hunches materialize in the continuous use of unusual shots and perspectives which are bound in a montage certainly indebted to the nouvelle vague, but free of its ideological implications. The narrative hunches materialize in the invention of what will be called the music video (Can't Buy Me Love and I Should Have Known Better are the unequalled examples) and in the freedom of the story which makes the plot into a pretext and not an end in itself. The collusion between the little more than twentyyearold Beatles and the fortyyearold Lester has created a work which is entirely sincere and perhaps devoid of the complications that most contemporary films had. This film can give us a genuine and realistic snapshot of an unrepeatable moment whose long wave is still washing the coast of our way of being." (Marco I. Zambelli, All You Need Is Beatles in Beatles, edited by F. Bianchi, G. Castaldo, M.I. Zimbelli, Reggio Emilia, Comune di Reggio Emilia, 1988, p. 33)

Director: Richard Lester.
Screenplay: Alun Owen.
Director of photography: Gilbert Taylor.
Editor: John Jympson.
Art director: Ray Simm.
Costume designer: Julie Harris.
Direzione musicale: George Martin.
Songs: John Lennon, Paul McCartney.
Sound: H.L. Bird, Stephen Dalby.
Cast: John Lennon (John), Paul McCartney (Paul), George Harrison (George), Ringo Starr (Ringo), Wilfrid Brambell (il nonno), Norman Rossington (Norm), John Junkin (Shake), Victor Spinetti (il direttoreregista televisivo), Kenneth Haigh (l'uomo della pubblicit`), Anna Quayle (Millie), Deryck Guyler (il sergente di polizia), Richard Vernon (un viaggiatore pomposo), Michael Trubshawe (il direttore del club), Eddie Malin (il cameriere).
Production company: Walter Shenson per la Proscenium Films