Paul was the cute, playful Beatle, though he's surprisingly low-profile in "Night," in part because his solo scene, in which he chats up a rehearsing actress as he searches for the missing Ringo, ended up on the cutting room floor. After "A Hard Day's Night," Lennon was forever the sardonic one (in one scene he pretends to snort a bottle of Coke), Ringo was the forlorn butt of all jokes and Harrison was the youthful skeptic of the bunch, a mere 21 at the time. Lester and screenwriter Alun Owen had the good sense to pare back the plot of this near-documentary-even love interests were omitted-and instead showcase the Beatles' personalities, which weren't yet fixed in the public imagination. Before the curtain rises, they must navigate around their screaming fans and resist the urge to shirk the duties of celebrity, like answering fan mail and arriving anywhere on time. The story, such as it is, revolves around the Beatles' escapades as they rehearse for and eventually perform on a live television show. Still a marvel of verve and bone-dry wit, the movie has been treated kindly by time, considering that it aspires to nothing grander than introducing four young men and their songs. Thirty-six years later, "Night" will mock its naysayers yet again: With digitally restored sound and picture, it's being re-released in theaters nationwide. had funded the project in order to earn a bundle in soundtrack sales through its record division, so the movie's budget was as tight as its eight-week shooting schedule. Not bad for a film conceived as little more than a sales gimmick. British critics likened the Fab Four's antics to the Marx Brothers', and Andrew Sarris of the Village Voice pronounced it "the 'Citizen Kane' of jukebox movies." It wasn't just kids who swooned for this nearly plot-free film about a rock band's preshow high jinks. By the late summer of '64, John, Paul, George and Ringo were inspiring ever greater teenage pandemonium-200,000 would greet the group at the film's Liverpool premiere-and the studio had a hit that earned millions in its initial run. The doubters, of course, were in for a shock. In early 1964, director Richard Lester was under orders by United Artists, the studio behind the film, to complete it in time for a July release, since studio executives and plenty of others at the time figured Beatlemania wouldn't outlast the summer.Īs Lester later explained, "We had to do it quickly so that the company wasn't left with a film about some has-beens." If "A Hard Day's Night" seems rough-hewn at moments, that's because its creators were in a hurry.
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