#5
A Hard Day's Night
A Hard Day's Night
1964
Directed by: Richard Lester
Written by: Alun Owen
Music by and Starring: The Beatles (George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr)
This movie is groundbreaking on so many levels. At first glance though one would think that it was just another attempt to cash in on the Beatles overnight success on both sides of the Atlantic. Something like the Monkees may have been capable of. If you think that, you're wrong. I can't imagine what movies, TV, and music would be today if not for this movie. It's hella entertaining and funny too.
The plot is simple enough. The fab four take a train from Liverpool to London for a live television performance. They bring along Paul's grandfather though whose a bit of a "villain, a real mixer." So he causes problems and after telling Ringo that he has a big nose, he gets upset and goes for a soul searching stroll in the London area. The rest of the band then have to go find him before the show starts. Nothing too dramatic really, but there are some real gem scenes in the movie. This first scene on the train for example is really good. Notice Ringo's failed attempt at acting with is horrid laugh:
The plot is simple enough. The fab four take a train from Liverpool to London for a live television performance. They bring along Paul's grandfather though whose a bit of a "villain, a real mixer." So he causes problems and after telling Ringo that he has a big nose, he gets upset and goes for a soul searching stroll in the London area. The rest of the band then have to go find him before the show starts. Nothing too dramatic really, but there are some real gem scenes in the movie. This first scene on the train for example is really good. Notice Ringo's failed attempt at acting with is horrid laugh:
The Beatles are more than happy to take shots at themselves and their celebrity lives. The opening scene for example is them running way from a crowd of young girls. In doing this it also brought to screen the celebrity lifestyle and craziness that characterized Beatlemania. This, along with the great album that is A Hard Day's Night shows explains just how entertaining this movie is. But as I said it's the fact that it's such a groundbreaking movie that puts it so high on my list.
The camera work in A Hard Day's Night was really ahead of its time. This was released in 1964 you have to remember, but the style resembles modern movies like The Bourne Supremacy. The quick cuts and fast editing created a distinct British-Pop film style which would dominant the rest of the decade. Nowadays it's normal to have around 20 or so cuts per minute, back in the pace of movies was much slower. It would have seemed distracting to many to have something move along so fast and, no doubt, A Hard Day's Night might have given some of its original moviegoers motion sickness. That's the influence of television and music videos which make most modern movies move so fast.
But what influenced the changes in TV and the creation of music videos? It was this movie of course. A Hard Day's Night even been called the very first music video; although an extended one. It was the first movie to be cut according to the rhythm and beat of the music. Just take a look at this excerpt from the movie with the song 'Can't Buy Me Love' and you'll see what I mean:
The camera work in A Hard Day's Night was really ahead of its time. This was released in 1964 you have to remember, but the style resembles modern movies like The Bourne Supremacy. The quick cuts and fast editing created a distinct British-Pop film style which would dominant the rest of the decade. Nowadays it's normal to have around 20 or so cuts per minute, back in the pace of movies was much slower. It would have seemed distracting to many to have something move along so fast and, no doubt, A Hard Day's Night might have given some of its original moviegoers motion sickness. That's the influence of television and music videos which make most modern movies move so fast.
But what influenced the changes in TV and the creation of music videos? It was this movie of course. A Hard Day's Night even been called the very first music video; although an extended one. It was the first movie to be cut according to the rhythm and beat of the music. Just take a look at this excerpt from the movie with the song 'Can't Buy Me Love' and you'll see what I mean:
For greatly influencing the way movies are made today and being the first music video, in my opinion A Hard Day's Night is the 5th greatest movie of the 1960s.
No comments:
Post a Comment