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a+hard+day+s+night | Year: 1964 Directed: - Richard Lester Actors/Actresses: - John Lennon - Paul McCartney - George Harrison - Ringo Starr The Beatles' first film A Hard Day's Night (1964.) The first Beatles movie. INTRODUCTION:<BR>Following their early 1964 trip to America, the Beatles had really made a name for themselves. For their next project, rather than just releasing another studio album, they decided to do a film. How does the band's first major film, A Hard Day's Night, measure up? Read on for my review. BASIC PLOT:<BR>Essentially, this film shows the band's views on how they felt about becoming legends overnight. Through the course of the movie, the band is forced to run from screaming fans, perform gigs, and basically keep each other out of trouble. FILM OPINIONS:<BR>This film is an instant classic - no questions asked. Although the storyline of this film is questionable, it's still a very enjoyable film to watch. The band had a contract to make three films, and this movie was the first of them. An interesting note about this film - George Harrison's future wife Patty Boyd has a small appearance, and even future pop star Phil Collins makes a cameo as a screaming fan! DVD:<BR>The DVD is great because it has a ton of interviews with cast and crew, but it's not great in the aspect of the audio. As another reviewer stated, the audio could have been WAY better. It's not a huge problem, but it's just enough of a problem to be annoying. I hate to say it, but I think the old VHS version had better audio than this DVD! Oh, well. OVERALL:<BR>Overall, this was a very good first film for the Beatles. It's not necessarily their finest hour on the silver screen, but it's still a good film overall (although I remain confident that the band was best at recording music, not starring in movies.) If you like the band's early stuff, check this movie out - I doubt you'll be disappointed. Great Movie, Lousy Presentation. Beware! First--A HARD DAY'S NIGHT is truly one of the greatest *movies* ever filmed, let alone one of the best musicals or the Beatles' best film. It's a must-own for any music fan or fan of good film. Having said that, Miramax has almost completely ruined this release. No trailers for the movie, no outtakes ("You Can't Do That" was available on the documentary of the same name), no Director's Commentary, no "I'll Cry Instead" prologue from 1981, and no mono soundtrack. And believe me, with this horribly remixed pseudo-stereo, echo-enhanced soundtrack, you're going to desperately want a mono soundtrack. On the up side, the images are super: crisp, clear and gorgeous B&W. And the interviews are interesting, but not likely to be watched more than once or twice by anyone other than a devoted fan. (But why wasn't Victor Spinetti interviewed extensively?!) Strong warning: Buyers beware. This DVD could have and SHOULD have been so much better. The three stars are for the movie only, NOT the DVD packaging. You might want to hold out for a later release. Seriously Lacks Originality An overrated band starring in an overrated documentary. I was under the impression that the goal of a film such as this was to convey a sense of time and place, and realism, but apparently the cliched "flop tops" couldn't be bothered for that. In 90 minutes, these third-rate musicians skip a television rehearsal almost ruining the entire program, neglect responding to fan mail, harass their manager, harass young women, harass old women, harass the police, encourage school drop-out, endanger the elderly, and let's not forget play horrible generic pop music (which is obviously lip-synched, completely destroying any realism the director might have been going for). I'm surprised they weren't arrested, seeing as how all of their deeds were caught on film. If anyone had a Hard Day's Night from this film, it was me from the nightmares I had after seeing it. God bless Aaron Carter - now there's a candidate for a documentary! The Beatles' first film A Hard Day's Night (1964.) The first Beatles movie. INTRODUCTION: BASIC PLOT: FILM OPINIONS: DVD: OVERALL: Buy A Hard Day's Night at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on A Hard Day's Night Search with the Priority Search Engine on A Hard Day's Night This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
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