At the Movies: 'A Hard Day's Night' still a thrill after 50 years

In August 1964, I couldn’t wait to see “A Hard Day’s Night,” so I badgered my mom into taking me and my brother from Curtis to the metropolis of North Platte and the Fox Theater where the Beatles movie was playing.

From the opening scene in which the suit-clad Fab Four runs through a train station pursued by a horde of teenage fans to the final “concert” set of songs, I was one transfixed and thrilled second-grader.

In the intervening five decades, I’ve seen “A Hard Day’s Night” dozens of times via VHS and on TV, most recently a month ago when Turner Classic Movies aired the cleaned-up, remastered version to mark its 50th anniversary.

But I still got something of the same thrill I’d had at the Fox Theater when I watched “A Hard Day’s Night” in its glorious black-and-white on the big screen Monday at the Ross Media Arts Center.

That’s a measure of how well Richard Lester’s manic musical comedy has held up over the years -- and also of the grip the Beatles still hold, at least on me.

I’m far from nostalgic -- my interests are in history, not some hazy sentimental recollection of long ago. But sitting in the theater watching John, Paul, George and Ringo playing and making fun of themselves, it was like being transported back to 1964 and the excitement of Beatlemania and all that followed.

The movie couldn’t have been better timed.

The Beatles had their first American hits in late 1963 and made their debut on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in February 1964. With the radio filled with Beatles song after Beatles song, “A Hard Day’s Night” hit theaters at the height of Beatlemania, providing a rare opportunity to see the Mop Tops as they really were.

Beatlemania was a pop culture phenomenon that has not yet nor likely ever will be repeated. The movie captures it in all its screaming teenage girl glory while reflecting a simpler and more innocent music industry and world.

“A Hard Day’s Night” is more than just a fictionalized documentation and subtle satire of Beatlemania.

It’s one of the most influential movies of the last half-century, having set the template for dozens of rock films to come. That list includes, in an odd way, its polar opposite, “This Is Spinal Tap,” Rob Reiner’s hilariously dead-on portrait of a band in the “where are they now?” file.

It also spawned “The Monkees,” the 1966-68 TV show about the life and hijinks of a band that was assembled for the show, made a movie, put out hit records and continues to tour nearly 50 years later.

“A Hard Day’s Night” is returning to theaters across the country for one week beginning Friday. The new version is also available for home viewing on DVD and Blu-ray with all the expected extra features, including a documentary about the making of the movie. I’ve got my copy ordered.

But whether the Fab Four on film has been with you for decades or you’ve never seen "A Hard Day’s Night,” I’d recommend taking this rare opportunity to see it in a theater and experience it the way it was intended to be seen 50 years ago.

I’ll probably see it one more time at the Ross. That will be on Sunday to get ready for a movie talk, where I’ll be joining University of Nebraska-Lincoln music professor Scott Anderson and "Beatles freak” and musician Tery Daly in a post-screening discussion of the picture. The movie talk is free and open to the public. It will begin at about 2:30 p.m.

Reach the writer at 402-473-7244 or [email protected]. On Twitter @LJSWolgamott.

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