A Hard Day's Night

A Hard Day's Night (1964) is Richard Lester's music comedy, and you can watch it online on iFILM. The film follows one frantic day in the life of The Beatles as John, Paul, George and Ringo ride the train from Liverpool to London for a televised concert, dodging screaming fans and prying reporters the whole way.

The four drive their frazzled manager to the brink, fend off Paul's troublemaking grandfather, who stirs up chaos at every turn, and keep landing one another in hot water. When Ringo walks off to wander the city just before the broadcast, the others scramble to track down their missing drummer in time. Between the gags come "Can't Buy Me Love," "I Should Have Known Better" and the title track.

Lester shot it almost like documentary — handheld camera, jump cuts, loose improvisation — and in doing so wrote the grammar that pop music videos would borrow for decades. Alun Owen's screenplay was up for an Academy Award, and the film itself became the template for the genre. Think of it as a capsule of Beatlemania at full boil, not just a concert reel. Stream A Hard Day's Night (1964) online on iFILM.