July, 1964 - Bridgeport, CT. A 14 year old Mama Metaldams, money in her purse for a ticket and love in her heart for Paul McCartney, hears the sound of young estrogen filled screams piercing the air as she heads closer to the door. The screams get louder and pandemonium is witnessed as the young teenaged females producing the screams are now in full view as Mama opens the door. Unable to resist, she joins in on the screams, running around, arms flailing in the air. Surely I’m describing the scene of a Beatles concert, right? Well, not exactly. Mama Metaldams would eventually see The Beatles in concert August 1965 and August 1966 at Shea Stadium. This July 1964 event I’m speaking is for a screening of A HARD DAY’S NIGHT. Surely The Beatles must have made some type of guest appearance for the girls to be acting like that, right? Wrong. Beatlemania was so crazy in 1964 that the mere sight of seeing John, Paul, George and Ringo on the big screen was enough to send young girls into a frenzy. This is exactly the audience A HARD DAY’S NIGHT was targeting and it succeeded ten fold.
I paint a vivid picture of the target audience because if you listen to modern critics, some will say comically, The Beatles were close to The Marx Brothers and Ringo in his solo scene could have been the second coming of Chaplin. A little about that -
First, the Marx Brothers thing. Yes, The Beatles, all four of them, are blessed with natural charisma and personality. The way they get around every witticism and indignity when dealing with the higher class older gentleman on the train early in the film is actually very Marx Brothers like. There are lots of witty one liners throughout, but the key is this - you gotta edit quite fast with these boys. As much personality as The Beatles had, they were amateurs in acting. Very, very good for amateurs, but amateurs nonetheless. I could not picture these guys pulling off an extended scene like “Viaduct,” “Sanity Clause,” or “Tootsie Frootsie.” That takes years of training to pull off. The one part that comes close and is also The Beatle comic highlight is John running into that lady with John saying, “I’m not” and the lady saying, “you are.” It then progresses into a few minutes of word salad, snowballing into absurdity about her reputation. Really a well played scene and John is excellent here and proves to me maybe he could have been a comic actor if he chose to be. The rest of the Beatle comedy is a bunch a great one liners and carried by their personalities, but man, you gotta edit fast. As far as Ringo being Chaplin? In his solo scene where he looks downtrodden like The Little Tramp, Ringo had an acting coach - alcohol. Ringo was hungover and has admitted so in interviews over the years.
The comedy as a whole is further carried by professional comic actors. Paul’s lecherous and very clean Grandfather is played wonderfully by Wilfrid Brambell. He’s a definite highlight of the film and fun to watch whenever he’s on screen. Norman Rossington and John Junkin getting into the running gag about being taller and Victor Spinetti and his fuzzy sweater are wonderful as the crazed director. These are comic professionals and I do see the contrast with The Beatles, who are diamonds who haven’t really been polished in comedy. The fact The Beatles are good at all is a testament to their natural ability, but I’m not ready to compare them to the comic greats. As musicians, however.....
Ah yes, the music. This is the main reason I enjoy A HARD DAY’S NIGHT. The seven songs that take up the A side of their third U.K. album that shares the title of this film plus their recent hit single “She Loves You” are all featured. Those of you who read my Abbott and Costello reviews know the music there is a drag from the comedy (for the most part). Here, it’s the opposite. I breath a sigh of relief when The Beatles start performing. I love watching George’s 12 string Rickenbacker and John’s harmonica in “I Should Have Known Better.” Love watching Paul fling that lightweight Hofner violin bass. Love Ringo rushing to the drum set in “If I Fell.” Love the little pre MTV montage in “Can’t Buy Me Love.” Of the eight songs, six are John’s and two are Paul’s as John was more prolific in the early years, but Paul had quality with the already mentioned “Can’t Buy Me Love” and the unbelievably beautiful “And I Love Her.” Love watching him sing that song and pluck that bass while George is next to him playing those guitar arpeggios, my favorite shot in the film. Speaking of George, he only had one released written song at this point, not in this film, so he was given John’s “I’m Happy Just to Dance With You” to sing. Ringo, poor Ringo, didn’t sing a thing here. He got his Beatles film revenge singing the title track to YELLOW SUBMARINE years later. But hey, every song here is amazing here and among the best of their Beatlemania years, no doubt.
A HARD DAY’S NIGHT was marketed to the teenage girls of 1964 described in the first paragraph. Merely putting The Beatles on the screen and playing their songs was enough to make that audience happy. The plot to this film is a bit Helter Skelter, the comedy is good but lacking next to the greats we’ve discussed in other reviews, but none of that is really important. A HARD DAY’S NIGHT sold like hot cakes in 1964 to those young girls and in 2020 it’s a great cultural artifact and an excuse to hear some good tunes. That alone makes this a classic. I appreciate “Lydia, the Tattooed Lady” but never thought to compare it to the music of The Beatles.
Random trivia. One of the girls in the train scene is none other than Patty Boyd Harrison Layla Clapton. Yes, this is where George met Patty. Also, though I don’t believe he can be seen too well, one of the audience members at the concert in the end of the film is none other than Phil Collins.
