"Now there's only one thing I've got to say to you John Lennon… you're a swine" . Those are the last words in Richard Lester's musical movie masterpiece "A Hard Day's Night", spoken by "manager" Norman Rossington to the main man. Norman knew Lennon was the leader, Norman differed to Lennon, Norman was in the war of nerves with Lennon. And Lennon leads with ease, "He told us to stay, right?" John inquires, before leading the other Beatles out of a Hotel room to a nightclub.
"A Hard Day's Night" is a couple of days in the life of the Beatle as the band travels North to South and eventually to a TV studio in London where they record a live show. They take along McCartney's Grandfather played by Wilfred Brambell, a great Irish actor and in a popular sitcom of the time. Cast to type, Brambell is "a mixer" (troublemaker) nursing a broken heart. The movie is a mockumentary, featuring 7 new made to order Beatle songs, with an "She Loves You" encore. The band leave the studio and take a helicopter to the next gig.
Filmed at the height of Beatlemania in the UK, the Mop Tops played their roles as a more acerbic than lovable foursome, drawing the line between "surging" with the women they come in contact with and evading the howling young girls who chased them everywhere. Alun Owen wrote the 90% scripted dialog and Richard Lester perfected the surrealistic handheld camera style he invented with the comedy troop the Goons, the blueprint for music videos.
The acting was all pretty damn good. And whatever you think of Lennon, he sure missed his calling when he didn't really pursue movies. Lennon was excellent in "How I Won The Years" several years later and is superb in the "Mistaken identity" segment here. "What Have You Heard?" a woman asks, "I stuck up for you", Lennon replies. Better than Starr's "Act naturally" wander around London, this was the acting highlight of the movie
What was less evident at the time was that , unlike the Beatles other four movies, this was the story of an extended family. That familial gentleness at the heart of the matter, the way McCartney joins his Grandfather behind bars on the train, and then is joined by the rest of the band, allows Beatlemania to take a humane glow.
Even less evident, especially for an American audience, is the class commentary and political hubris that runs through it. From Starr's bitter "Southerner" stab to Brambell's "All policemen are scum" slam, the Beatles were lower castewhen the term meant something. But worse, Brambell's "one nation, one nation" cry was a reference to Ireland. Which would make McCartney at least a quarter Irish. In the real world, John once said "My name is Lennon and you can guess the rest". If you can't, let me spell it out: This is from a website on Irish Genealogy: "Lennon, a surname found throughout all of Ireland, is the anglicized form of O LeLennon, or O Leannáin, or O Lionnáin, which has also been anglicized as Linnane and Leonard." England was a country that had legends like "No Dogs, Blacks Or Irish" on establishment doors. So the Beatles were specifically outside the establishment.
Also, between the "We fought the war for your lot" upperclass disdain (Lennon's reply: "Bet you're sorry you won"), McCartney's brutal "Give Lassie his kennel" and Harrison's, shrugging "No I won't" -there is also age warfare that bubbles over constantly throughout the film.
Look at it this way it: "A Hard Day's Night" is about a family of outsiders and you can join em if you're cool enough to love them. Who couldn't buy into that? That will sell. That did sell. It ended the Second World War and Paradise Postponed in one fell swoop and lead directly to MTV.
I haven't mentioned the music, the energy, barely touched on the humor, but that's the stuff of legend by now and doesn't need yet another iteration. Instead let's leave with another Lennon line: "Give us a kiss".
Grade: A+