Running Time: 87 minutes

Release Date: July 6, 1964

Producer: Walter Shenson

Director: Richard Lester

Starring: The Beatles, Wilfrid Brambell, Norman Rossington, Victor Spinetti, John Junkin

Availability: Video Cassette, Laserdisc, DVD, CD-ROM

A Hard Day's Night, released in 1964, marked the Beatles debut on the silver screen. This film follows the Beatles through a day of early "Beatlemania" and their journey to do a television performance. Along for the ride is Paul's (fictional) trouble making grandfather. Throughout the movie, the Beatles have to dodge screaming fans, avoid the press, disobey their managers, and try to keep Paul's grandfather in check. The film ends with the fabs giving a wild television performance and moving on to the next show.

The British soundtrack album for A Hard Day's Night (pictured above, left), released July 10, 1964 on the Parlophone label consisted of the following 13 songs:

Side 1: A Hard Day's Night, I Should Have Known Better, If I Fell, I'm Happy Just To Dance With You, And I Love Her, Tell Me Why, Can't Buy Me Love

Side 2: Any Time At All, I'll Cry Instead, Things We Said Today, When I Get Home, You Can't Do That, I'll Be Back

The U.S. soundtrack album for A Hard Day's Night (pictured above, right), was released by United Artists on June 26, 1964 and consists of the 9 songs performed by the Beatles in the film as well as the instrumental film score. The following is the track listing for the U.S. version of A Hard Day's Night:

Side 1: A Hard Day's Night, Tell Me Why, I'll Cry Instead, I Should Have Known Better (Instrumental), I'm Happy Just To Dance With You, And I Love Her (Instrumental)

Side 2: I Should Have Known Better, If I Fell, And I Love Her, Ringo's Theme - This Boy (Instrumental), Can't Buy Me Love, A Hard Day's Night (Instrumental)

John: "Normally in pictures, you do things back to front, like the end, you make a film of that on one day and then the next day you do the beginning. But in this one, we almost did it in sequence."

Paul: "...so it was very exciting, we got on a train at Marylebone Station one day, and so the train took off and we were in a film...and there were these little girls, schoolgirls in gym slips who were actually models, and we were of course, quite fascinated with them and George married one, Patti, Patti Boyd who's one of the girls on the train."

Ringo: "It was all so romantic, there were these lights and, you know, coming to work in the limo, I mean the gettin' up early in the morning wasn't the best thing we could do. The scene in "A Hard Day's Night", the one I got all the credit for was the walking by the canal with the camera and that, like the lonely guy scene. That came about, you know, because I came to work, very unprofessionally, straight from a night club. And I was a little hung over to say the least, you know, I was just so out of it so they said, 'let's do anything,' so my version of it was just let me walk around and film me. And why I look so cold and dejected is because I felt like shit. So, no acting going on there, I just felt so bad. I was less embarrassed than the othe rs, you know that? But I think John also got into the movie too."

John: "All of us liked the bit in the field where we all jump about like lunatics because that's pure film, as the director told us, you know, it's pure filming and we could've been anybody, but we enjoyed it."

George: "Alun (Owen, the screenwriter) tried to write a scene of us being harassed by the press, which was part of our daily duty, really, and they were saying things like, 'How did you find America? Turned left at Greenland; What do you call that ha irstyle? Arthur'...."

Paul: "Alun (Owen) hung around with us and was careful to try and put words in our mouths that he might've heard us speak, so I thought he did a very good script.."