10. July 2014
25 Facts: A Hard Day’s Night
By Walter Price
Riding the super fan and media hyped wave of Beatlemania The Fab Four, John, Paul, George and Ringo unleashed a campy debut film in the summer of ’64 that would go on to inspire, intrigue and further elevate what is (disputed) the greatest pop & rock band of all time. A Hard Day’s Night was the film and it has stayed significant to this day.
If you haven’t seen this cinematic gem you certainly sang the songs from the movie and subsequent soundtrack; “A Hard Day’s Night”, “I Should Have Known Better”, “I Wanna Be Your Man” , “Can’t Buy Me Love”, “And I Love Her”, “Tell Me Why” and “She Loves You”. If you haven’t it begs to me to ask, What’s wrong with you?
Anyhoo, this summer marks the 50th anniversary of the release of director Richard Lester’s contribution to music and film history. So, yes, there is a DVD/BlueRay special edition on the market and tributes by the thousands on the webs, which I have tried to enjoy as much of them as possible. The one that caught my attention the most was this fascinating read by Alison Nastasi over at Flavorwire called 25 Things You Didn’t Know About ‘A Hard Day’s Night’. Oh yeah, it is cool as all that.
I checked out the facts and they are true as can be and extremely interesting all in one sweet package. I thought I’d share with you the 10 things I discovered from the article and then please hop over and check out the remaining 15. Then perhaps pick up the special edition DVD at your fave purveyor of all things Fab Four shop and have a sweet weekend.
- The film’s working title was Beatlemania, but a new title was agreed upon when Ringo made an off-the-cuff comment after an exhausting day, inventing the phrase “A hard day’s night.”
- A Hard Day’s Night competed for two Academy Awards, but lost in the Best Screenplay (Alan Owen) and Best Adapted Score (George Martin) categories. Weirdly enough, The Beatles didn’t win any nominations for their original songs.
- The movie was called Yeah Yeah Yeah in Germany, Tutti Per Uno (All for One) in Italy, Quatre Garçons Dans Le Vent (Four Boys in the Wind) in France, Yeah! Yeah! Tässä tulemme! (Yeah! Yeah! Here We Come!) in Finland, and Os Reis do Iê-Iê-Iê (The Kings of Yeah-Yeah-Yeah) in Brazil.
- “The Beatles” is never mentioned in the movie’s dialogue, but the band’s name appears throughout the film.
- A teenage Phil Collins appears in the audience during a scene set to “You Can’t Do That,” but it was cut from the film.
- Studio United Artists was concerned about how the Beatles would appear on film and even considered dubbing their voices, replacing them with those of trained actors. Lester refused to allow that to happen.
- There were two million advance orders for the movie’s soundtrack.
- The Le Cercle gambling club Ringo is invited to is the same nightspot where James Bond makes his first appearance in Dr. No.
- Lester greatly admired the work of the French New Wave directors and aimed to copy their style using hand-held cameras, swish pans, jump cuts, and more.
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The movie’s title track was written in one day, eight days before filming. The band played it for producer Walter Shenson in their dressing room the following morning.
There ya go, coolness… You’re not done yet, check out the rest of the facts Alison Nastasi compiled HERE!
Win the new Dual-Format (DVD + Blu-Ray) edition for “A Hard Day’s Night” (courtesy the Criterion Collection) with a Special Contest beginning this Friday, July 11!!! Check out Ken Michaels’ contest page HERE!
*Global Texan Chronicles has nothing to do with this contest. For all details, restriction and more visit Ken Michaels website, HERE.