It was 50 years ago…
In 1964, the legendary rock band The Beatles starred in a black and white comedy film, which was directed by Richard Lester. That year was the “height” of Beatlemania, the phenomenon that marked the beginning of the 60s and also the rock music industry. “A hard day’s night” portrays a couple of days in the lives of the band, or, as the writer Alun Owen said, their lives were like “a train and a room and a car and a room and a room and a room”.
Released on the 6th of July 1964, which was also Ringo Starr’s 24th birthday, the film starring the Beatles enhanced the Beatlemania, and a lot of fans were excited to see how a day in the life of the four members was like, even though it was, in fact, fiction. The men were allowed to be themselves on set, and the writer actually embraced the fact that they were natives from Liverpool. “Alun hung around with us and was careful to try and put words in our mouths that he might’ve heard us speak, so I thought he did a very good script.” Said Paul McCartney.
George Harrison met his wife to-be, model Patty Boyd, on set. She portrayed a schoolgirl on a train, who, as expected, fawned over the members of the band. A soundtrack album was released, entitled as the name of the movie, being the third studio album of the band, and also one of the best-selling albums of The Beatles. All the tracks are credited to John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
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The success of the movie was massive, being one of Time’s all-time great 100 movies. It got over 12 million dollars from the ticket sales, and its budget was 189 thousand pounds. “A hard day’s night” was also nominated for two Academy Awards, specifically Best Screenplay and Best Score. In 2014 the film has been re-mastered for BBC Four in the United Kingdom. Even now, after more than 50 years since their debut on stage, The Beatles are still one of the most downloaded artists on iTunes, and the films and documentaries that were made with and about them keep the old and new fans excited.