A hard day's night (The Beatles)

(Amazon UK link)

We’ve had the DVD of the classic film ‘A hard day’s night’ on our shelves for years. I have no idea how or when we acquired it. But last night we decided, at last, that we would watch it. We knew nothing about it, other than that it featured The Beatles.

The film was made in 1964, but was in black-and-white. This didn’t worry us, after a moment’s initial surprise. And while there is, of course, quite a bit of Beatles music featured, the film doesn’t feel like a standard musical. Instead, it’s a story - fictional, but based loosely on the kinds of things that might have happened - starring the four Beatles as themselves.

We first see them chased and almost mobbed by screaming young women, but getting onto a train with their manager Norm (Norman Rossington) and his sidekick Shake (John Junkin). They are also accompanied by Paul’s grandfather (Wilfred Bramble). I could not understand the frequent references to Grandfather as ‘a very clean man’, until we watched one of the ‘extras’. Apparently he was better known in a sitcom from the same era, ‘Steptoe and Son’, where he played an elderly man who was known for being very grubby. 

Gradually personalities start to emerge amongst the Beatles. Ringo Starr, the drummer, seems to feel as if he’s overlooked. He’s teased about his looks, not very politely, by George Harrison. Paul McCartney comes over as the nicest one, and John Lennon as something of a cynic. I sometimes forgot who was whom, as their hairstyles and clothes all looked the same, but it didn’t really matter.

The plot takes place over a couple of days, leading up to the climax where the group is supposed to be doing a show on television. Their managers try to keep them all together, but Grandfather keeps escaping - he likes wine, women and gambling - and has to be rescued. The young men themselves also want to party, and spend time dancing or drinking rather than sitting in their hotel rooms.

Then Ringo, after talking to Grandfather, decides that he really is too much in the background. So he decides to go out on his own and look for adventure - which is not a good idea when they’re due to have an important rehearsal before their show. Unsurprisingly he gets into trouble, and is arrested…

Lots of the film is caricatured, with some humour, though nothing that made us laugh aloud. There are innuendoes galore, though nothing explicit; the 12 rating on our DVD seems about right, though apparently it was originally PG. I don’t recall any bad language at all, and there’s no violence or gore. 

Inevitably there’s some Beatles music, performed by the ‘fab four’; but most of it is as part of the story, rehearsing or on stage, rather than taking a break from the story in normal ‘musical’ style. I quite like Beatles music, and appreciated that each of the songs was relatively short, so there was no time to get bored.

It was interesting, seeing the background, with the frenzied fans, mostly young women and schoolgirls, presumably based on what really happened. I was a very young child at the time so this passed me by, and I was slightly surprised to see it - yet I know of the ‘swinging sixties’, with mini-skirts and a lot of freedom, so I probably should have expected this kind of thing.

We agreed that it was quite a fun film, and good to see… once. As it’s a classic, we’ll probably keep it, in case visitors or friends want to see it. But I doubt if we’ll watch it again. 

Our 'special edition' set has a second DVD with extras on it. We did watch one of the interviews, and the section entitled 'a clean old man'. But there were a lot, and it would have taken another entire evening to watch them all.

Review copyright 2026 Sue's DVD Reviews