Directed by Richard Lester and released in 1964, A Hard Day’s Night is the Beatles’ first full-length film and features the fab four during the peak of their popularity. The movie was written by Alun Owen, who was specifically chosen by the Beatles to write the script because of his aptitude for Liverpudlian dialogue. A Hard Day’s Night gives a half-fictional, half-true inside look at a life with the band as told through the character of Paul McCartney’s grandfather, played by Wilfrid Brambell.
To achieve accuracy in giving an inside look on the Beatles’ success, Alun Owen reportedly spent several days with the group, after which he told them that their lives revolved around a room and a car and a room and a car and so on and so forth. It is from this viewpoint that Owen wrote the script for A Hard Day’s Night — how the Beatles had become imprisoned by their own fame, keeping up with busy performance schedules, studio recordings, etc.
The film crew didn’t have any trouble making the crowd scenes realistic, as the Beatles really were constantly followed and mobbed by fans wherever they went. The movie also depicted scenes when members of the Beatles would go off on their own just to escape from the craziness of it all — George Harrison retreating to a van to find peace and quiet, and Ringo Starr walking around town and drinking in a pub on his own.
Hailed by Time magazine as one of the greatest 100 films of all-time, A Hard Day’s Night was an international success — in terms of ticket sales as well as movie reviews. This official movie poster for A Hard Day’s Night is a must-have for vintage film-lovers, and all die-hard Beatles fanatics, as it marks a milestone in the fab four’s career and popularity.
