Sure, Elvis made lots of movies, but as in rock and roll, he was setting the stage upon which Liverpool's Fab Four would build. The Beatles' 1964 feature film debut, "A Hard Day's Night," was also their best movie and an influential one.
"A Hard Day's Night" is now being re-released with a new 35mm negative and a restored soundtrack.
Based on a day in the life of The Beatles, "A Hard Day's Night" follows the band on its journey down to London for the taping of a television show. Along for the ride is Paul McCartney's (fictitious) "very clean" grandfather -- portrayed by Wilfred Brambell -- who is unable to steer clear of mischief and mayhem and has a knack for stirring up resentment between band members.
The fast-paced film really comes alive as fans begin to recognize John, Paul, George and Ringo and set upon them in full-tilt Beatlemania. The result is 90 minutes of dry one-liners from the band members, who spend the entire trip attempting to elude both fans and their minders -- a pair of not-so-bright fellers -- in hopes of getting some time to enjoy themselves.
Along the way there are performances of familiar Beatles tunes like "She Loves You," "If I Fell" and the title song. The actual TV show performance features a string of perennials, set to a backdrop of screaming teens.
While funny, "A Hard Day's Night" is also an important film. It was the first rock and roll film in which the stars portrayed themselves and focused on their stardom. Watching them make light of their shut-in status serves to remind us how difficult The Beatles' lives must have been at moments during their astonishing ascent when they were prisoners of their own fame.
The film, with its fast pace, rapid-fire editing and reliance on music certainly provided the blueprint for the music videos that would become all the rage with the birth of MTV two decades later. "A Hard Day's Night" was also a landmark mock-umentary and set the stage for brilliant films like "This is Spinal Tap."
While Elvis seemed to be making films that made him someone other than he was, The Beatles were looking inward at their own situation and finding comedy in it. It's not easy to laugh at oneself and it's harder still to make an enduring comedy about your own, arguably unfunny, life.
Grade: A
"A Hard Day's Night" opens Fri., Dec. 22, at Landmark's Downer Theatre.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
