Meet the Beatles! Just one month after they exploded onto the U.S. scene with their Ed Sullivan Show appearance, John, Paul, George, and Ringo began working on a project that would bring their revolutionary talent to the big screen. This film, in which the bandmates play slapstick versions of themselves, captured the astonishing moment when they officially became the singular, irreverent idols of their generation and changed music forever. Directed with raucous, anything-goes verve by Richard Lester (The Knack . . . and How to Get It) and featuring a slew of iconic pop anthems—including the title track, “Can’t Buy Me Love,” “I Should Have Known Better,” and “If I Fell”—A Hard Day’s Night, which reconceived the movie musical and exerted an incalculable influence on the music video, is one of the most deliriously entertaining movies of all time.
Streaming Options
Release Information:
Technical Specifications
Supplements
- Audio commentary featuring cast and crew
- In Their Own Voices, a program featuring 1964 interviews with the Beatles with behind-the-scenes footage and photos
- “You Can’t Do That”: The Making of “A Hard Day’s Night,” a 1994 documentary by producer Walter Shenson including an outtake performance by the Beatles
- Things They Said Today, a 2002 documentary about the film featuring Richard Lester, music producer George Martin, screenwriter Alun Owen, and cinematographer Gilbert Taylor
- Picturewise, a program about Lester’s early work, featuring a 2014 audio interview with the director
- The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film (1960), Lester’s Oscar-nominated short
- Anatomy of a Style, a new piece on Lester’s methods
- Interview from 2014 with Beatles biographer Mark Lewisohn
- An essay by critic Howard Hampton and excerpts from a 1970 interview with Richard Lester