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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.

Rated: Not Rated

Runtime: 1 hr 50 mins

Genre: Television

Theatrical Release:Dec 1, 2000 Limited

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]

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Release:

Nov 14, 1997

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for A Hard Day's Night

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Reviews
Tomatometer Critic Review Category
tomato

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

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Apr., 27 2009 04:46 PM

Channel 4 Film

tomato
5/5

Jim Lane

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.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Aug., 07 2008 03:17 AM

Sacramento News & Review

tomato

Beth Accomando

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

Full Review Source: | comment 1 Comment | Feb., 03 2008 12:28 PM

KPBS.org

tomato

Don Druker

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.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Sep., 10 2007 10:19 PM

Chicago Reader

tomato

Geoff Andrew

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

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jun., 24 2006 04:22 AM

Time Out

tomato
B-

Dennis Schwartz

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.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Aug., 29 2005 07:41 PM

Ozus' World Movie Reviews

tomato
5/5

Ken Hanke

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

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Mar., 29 2004 07:40 PM

Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

tomato
5/5

Jurgen Fauth

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

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Oct., 15 2003 02:02 PM

About.com

tomato
4/4

Jeffrey Westhoff

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

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jun., 19 2003 03:43 PM

Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL)

tomato
4/5

Bosley Crowther

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: | comment Comment | May., 20 2003 05:17 PM

New York Times

tomato

Marjorie Baumgarten

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

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Mar., 10 2003 08:52 AM

Austin Chronicle

tomato
5/5

Brad Laidman

Everything about this movie is a smile.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Dec., 08 2002 08:41 AM

Film Threat

tomato
92/100

Mike Gower

The result still seems fresh and different decades later.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Nov., 30 2002 08:29 AM

Apollo Guide

tomato
A

Philip Martin

...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: | comment 2 Comments | Oct., 30 2002 12:03 PM

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

tomato
3.5/4

Mike McGranaghan

Captures the Beatles when they still looked like they were having fun, back before drugs and psychedelia and Yoko Ono took effect.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Oct., 30 2002 09:59 AM

Aisle Seat

tomato
3/4

Kevin N. Laforest

A breezy slice of silliness that pretty much has the Beatles playing themselves.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Oct., 29 2002 10:35 AM

Montreal Film Journal

tomato
4/4

Margaret A. McGurk

A love letter to innocence and euphoria and the sheer lifting joy of great pop music.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Oct., 15 2002 08:27 AM

Cincinnati Enquirer

tomato
8/10

John J. Puccio

It's hard to estimate the effect the film had on the future of movies, television, and society in general.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Oct., 01 2002 05:02 PM

DVDTown.com

tomato
4.5/5

Christopher Null

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: | comment Comment | Sep., 21 2002 11:41 AM

Filmcritic.com

tomato
5/5

Rob Vaux

A time capsule preserving the Fab Four's charisma, joy, and youthful exuberance.

comment Comment | Aug., 13 2002 06:22 PM

Flipside Movie Emporium

 
 
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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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