A Hard Day’s Night: dir Richard Lester (1964)

The Beatles before they became a studio-only band and got fed up with fame, fortune and each other: Richard Lester’s anything-goes direction and a decent lots-of-laughs script plus some good acting from British stalwarts of the time (like Wilfrid Brambell as Ringo’s grandpa) made for a great film, one that captured much of the sense of fun of being young in the early 1960s. The boys obviously enjoyed it, showed some acting chops, and contributed several excellent songs, too – and unlike other band films of the era the numbers do occur naturally as part of the plot (it helps that the story is basically about our heroes going to swinging London to perform on a TV show). The Independent‘s summary is as good as any: “Part musical bonanza, part laugh-out-loud farce, part satirical social document … As invigorating and funny now as it was on its original release half a century ago, A Hard Day’s Night offers both a perfect showcase for the Beatles and an intriguing snapshot of fast-changing, early-1960s British society”. Recommended, whether or not you feel the need to recapture your youth or see what all the fuss was about…