There are a few movies that just have it all. Brilliant witty dialogue, boundless energy, beautiful black and white cinematography, a first-rate soundtrack, a cantankerous (but very clean!) old grandfather, and The Beatles.
A Hard Day's Night is, in my rather biased opinion, the greatest movie musical ever made. Although I also have an inordinate fondness for such classics as Oklahoma and West Side Story, it was A Hard Day's Night that liberated this genre from its Broadway roots and injected it with the 60's British Invasion rock 'n roll aesthetic, following "a day in the life" of the Fab Four, as they are "unleashed on the unsuspecting south" (of England, that is).
If you don't feel good after watching A Hard Day's Night, in the words of jazz great Louis Jordan, "Jack you're dead."
But it's this scene in particular, a line from which provides the sub-heading of my blog's banner, which continues to amaze me with its prescience. George accidentally stumbles into a television production office, and what happens next is a four-minute summation of everything that's wrong with advertising and television and popular culture. The only thing that has changed in the nearly fifty (!) years since this movie came out is the technology that is used to manipulate us.
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Comments
I haven't seen "Across the Universe" yet. As a die-hard fan of all things Beatles, I have no excuse, and I have just added it to my Netflix queue.
Rated with hugs
I should check it out.
Lea, yes, between The Beatles, who as Roger says, were absolute naturals on film, director Richard Lester, writer Alun Owen,and the other actors (most notably Wilfrid Brambell as Paul's grandfather, Norman Rossington as Norm, John Junkin as Shake and Victor Spinetti as the Director), it was just an astounding amount of talent and creativity. If I was a better writer, I would be able to describe how this movie makes me feel. (But it is kind of bittersweet, knowing that two of them are gone, and we're all getting older.)
aka, 'tis true I can hardly believe that! I really hope you do. It still holds up so well after all this time.
Roger, you need to see it again! It is amazing how natural they were. (Lots of people think the dialogue was improvised, but it was all carefully scripted. Which means that they were all very good at reading lines.)
My favourite musicals are the Sound of Music and Grease. What are your thoughts on those two?
A. Walrond, I think this one is also available on YouTube, in 10-minute segments, if you want to watch it that way. I hope you like it even half as much as I do! "The Sound of Music" is a classic, but it's never been one of my favorites. That's just a matter of personal taste, I guess, because I know how well-loved it is, and I certainly don't dislike it. Who can really explain these things, right?
I have very fond memories of Grease. I saw it when it first came out at a drive-in with my high school boyfriend, who drove a really cool 1951 Ford. Honestly, though, I think the songs are a little sub-par. (But again, this is coming from someone who also thinks "Surrey with the Fringe On Top" is a masterpiece. So go figure!)
Ha. Honestly I remember going to see Help and thinking that this one was much better.
Thanks for sharing this. Such fun.
Scarlett, yes, you don't see many of these nowadays, do you? :-)
Glad you made the pilgrimage to the Hall of Fame. We sure fought to get it in Cleveland! (I was always a "George girl". So sad when he died.)