A Hard Day's Night (1964)

All Critics (76) | Top Critics (25) | Fresh (79) | Rotten (1) | DVD (23)

At best, it is fun. But "fun" is not an aesthetic experience: fun remains on the surface. I have nothing against the surface. But it belongs where it is and shouldn't be taken for anything else.

January 18, 2013 Full Review

Jonas Mekas

Village Voice

Top Critic

American-born director Richard Lester serves up a helping of what, on this side of the pond, we came to think of as kicky, mod British filmmaking.

September 10, 2007 Full Review

Don Druker

Chicago Reader

Top Critic

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

June 24, 2006 Full Review

Geoff Andrew

Time Out

Top Critic

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.

May 20, 2003 Full Review

Bosley Crowther

New York Times

Top Critic

Not only has this film not dated, it may even look fresher than it did in 1964; the zigzag cutting and camera moves, the jaunty ironies and pop-celebrity playfulness, are all standard issue now on MTV and its offspring.

January 22, 2002 Full Review | Comments (2)

Peter Rainer

New York Magazine

Top Critic

To watch the final concert segment is to look back decades and realize, as you do seeing vintage footage of Duke Ellington or Frank Sinatra or John Coltrane, that it's never really gotten any better.

January 19, 2001

Terry Lawson

Detroit Free Press

Top Critic

Richard Lester's inventive, humorous mockumentary of the Beatles had a huge impact, forever changing the definition and limits of the musical movie genre.

June 8, 2011 Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Beatles classic as fabulous as the Fab Four.

December 21, 2010 Full Review

Nell Minow

Common Sense Media

The best British film of the 1960s.

September 14, 2010 Full Review

Tim Brayton

Antagony & Ecstasy

For fans this is a chance to enjoy The Beatles' legendary music and charisma with unprecedented clarity.

April 27, 2009 Full Review

Film4

Director Richard Lester and writer Alun Owen (who has never gotten the credit he deserves) treat us to a fanciful day in the life of the Beatles, filmed in 1964 at (they thought) the peak of the Fab Four's popularity.

August 7, 2008 Full Review

Jim Lane

Sacramento News & Review

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

February 3, 2008 | Comment (1)

Beth Accomando

KPBS.org

It's by no stretch of the imagination a good film, but it gets over as a curio and a landmark in modern Western culture.

August 29, 2005 Full Review | Comments (2)

Dennis Schwartz

Ozus' World Movie Reviews

See it for no other reason than it's all too rare you can spend 87 minutes smiling and feeling positive about life.

March 29, 2004 Full Review

Ken Hanke

Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

That Lester and the Beatles got away with the irreverent and superb Hard Day's Night is, by today's standards, a miracle.

October 15, 2003 Full Review

Jurgen Fauth

About.com

The cinema has had many landmarks, but few have been as entertaining.

June 19, 2003 Full Review

Jeffrey Westhoff

Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL)

The kind of timeless artifact that, decades after its making, still hits the senses like a burst of fresh air.

March 10, 2003 Full Review

Marjorie Baumgarten

Austin Chronicle

Everything about this movie is a smile.

December 8, 2002 Full Review

Brad Laidman

Film Threat

The result still seems fresh and different decades later.

November 30, 2002 Full Review

Mike Gower

Apollo Guide

...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.

October 30, 2002 Full Review | Comments (4)

Philip Martin

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

• 1. Paul McCartney: We're a community, majority vote, up the workers and all that stuff!
  – Submitted by Jessica C (6 months ago)
• 1. John Lennon: He's a nice old man, isn't he?
  2. Paul McCartney: He's very clean.
  – Submitted by Shishuraj K (7 months ago)
• 1. Society reporter: What do you call that haircut?
  2. George Harrison: ARTHUR.
  – Submitted by Humberto F (7 months ago)
• 1. John Lennon: I now declare this bridge open!
  – Submitted by Geraldo G (9 months ago)
• 1. Society reporter: [to John Lennon] Tell me, how did you find America?
  2. John Lennon: Turn left to Greenland.
  – Submitted by Jerid N (10 months ago)
• 1. Norm: Ringo what are you up to?
  2. Ringo Starr: Page five.
  – Submitted by Jessica C (10 months ago)