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Movies / On DVD / A Hard Day's Night
A Hard Day's Night

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A Hard Day's Night (1964)

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Reviews Counted:71

Fresh:71

Rotten:0

Average Rating:8.2/10

Consensus: A Hard Day's Night, despite its age, is still a delight to watch and has proven itself to be a rock-and-roll movie classic.

Runtime: 1 hr 50 mins

Genre: Television

Synopsis: A HARD DAY'S NIGHT, nominated for two Academy Awards and featuring the Beatles in their feature film debut, is one of the greatest rock-and-roll comedy adventures ever. The film has a fully... A HARD DAY'S NIGHT, nominated for two Academy Awards and featuring the Beatles in their feature film debut, is one of the greatest rock-and-roll comedy adventures ever. The film has a fully restored negative and digitally restored soundtrack.

The year is 1964 and four young lads from Liverpool are about to change the world – if only the madcap world will let them out of their hotel room. Richard Lester's boldly contemporary rock n' roll comedy unleashes the fledgling Beatles into a maelstrom of screaming fans, paranoid producers, rabid press and troublesome family members, and reveals the secret of their survival and success: an insatiable lust for mischief and a life-affirming addiction to joy.

The film takes on the just-left-of-reality style of a mock-documentary, following "a day in the life" of John, Paul, George and Ringo as fame takes them by storm. On their way from Liverpool to a London television stage, they must evade a teenage mob, outwit a press conference, answer fan mail and give one of their trademark, faint-inducing performances. But even this manic schedule gets interrupted as Paul has to oversee the shenanigans of his irrepressible grandfather (WILFRID BRAMBELL), a "real mixer" whose love of dissension threatens to break the band apart. Soon John and grandfather are butting heads, George is considering a modeling career and Ringo goes missing in the streets of London.

Throughout it all, witty one-liners, classic pop songs and world-class charm build up to happy-go-lucky moments of liberation that capture the sheer exuberance, innocence and rock n’ roll spirit of four young men trying to make their own rules in a world determined to confine them. [More]

Starring: Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison

Starring: Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Wilfred Brambell, Norman Rossington, Victor Spinetti, John Junkin, Anna Quayle, Kenneth Haigh, Richard Vernon, Eddie Malin

Director: Richard Lester

Director: Richard Lester
Screenwriter: Alun Owen
Producer: Walter Shenson
Studio: Miramax Films

[See More Credits]

Reviews for A Hard Day's Night

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1 - 20 (sorted by comments; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 >> >|
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For fans this is a chance to enjoy The Beatles' legendary music and charisma with unprecedented clarity.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
04/27/09
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Great band, great music, great film. Not only that, it remains a fascinating portrait of Britain on the cusp of change.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
04/17/01
Bob McCabe
Bob McCabe
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The mop-tops are likeably relaxed, with Lennon offering a few welcome moments of his dry, acerbic wit.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Geoff Andrew
Geoff Andrew
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Richard Lester's innovative film, the Beatles' debut feature, is a timewarp memento of that brief 1963-4 phase in their history known as Beatlemania.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
04/17/01
George Perry
George Perry
BBC
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

One of the most influential films of the past 40 years gets the spit and polish for a reissue -- and it still hasn't aged at all.

Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
12/10/01
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall

...if you don’t like the Beatles, you don’t like rock ’n’ roll. And if you don’t like A Hard Day’s Night, you don’t like movies.

Full Review Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette | comment 2 Comments
10/30/02
Philip Martin
Philip Martin
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

The film moves with such joy, humor and fluidity that you can't help getting swept up in the frenzied action.

Full Review Source: KPBS.org | comment 1 Comment
02/03/08
Beth Accomando
Beth Accomando
KPBS.org

Younger fans can see what Beatlemania was really all about.

Full Review Source: San Jose Mercury News | comment 1 Comment
01/19/01
Steve Marinucci
Steve Marinucci
San Jose Mercury News

A sure-fire boxoffice smash.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
01/01/00
Boxoffice Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Charged with vitality, and inventiveness.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
01/01/00
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Director Richard Lester's pop masterpiece is back and better than ever.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
01/01/00
TV Guide's Movie Guide
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Without question, this is a Night to remember.

Full Review Source: E! Online | comment Comment
01/01/00
E! Online
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The film is mad, mad and crazy, shrewdly designed for the teenage and calculated also to attract the curious and the oldsters who enjoy this sort of thing.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
01/01/00
Al Finestone
Al Finestone
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

There will always be Beatles revivals, but we're way overdue for a major Richard Lester revival.

comment Comment
01/01/00
Andy Klein
Andy Klein
New Times

The film was easy to dance to and had a sound comic rhythm. It still does.

Full Review Source: Jam! Movies | comment Comment
12/22/00
Bob Thompson
Bob Thompson
Jam! Movies

It's a fine conglomeration of madcap clowning in the old Marx Brothers' style, and it is done with such a dazzling use of camera that it tickles the intellect and electrifies the nerves.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
05/20/03
Bosley Crowther
Bosley Crowther
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Everything about this movie is a smile.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/08/02
Brad Laidman
Brad Laidman
Film Threat

Filled with unforgettable moments, most having to do with the music.

comment Comment
01/19/01
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press

Richard Lester's tangential, effortlessly clever ode to the Fab Four, given the re-mastered print and soundtrack treatment, still feels fresh and alive.

Full Review Source: Dallas Morning News | comment Comment
12/07/00
Chris Vognar
Chris Vognar
Dallas Morning News

The deadpan humor and non-sequiturs are delivered with such dry perfection you often find yourself rewinding to see if you really heard what you think you did. (And you did.)

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
09/21/02
Christopher Null
Christopher Null
Filmcritic.com
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by comments; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 >> >|
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Latest News for A Hard Day's Night

September 12, 2007: Total Recall: Across the Universe And The Beatles On Film
This week, Across the Universe hits theaters. Julie Taymor's film, starring Evan Rachel Wood and Jim Sturgess as a young couple in the midst of the heady, chaotic 1960s,... More...

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