A Hard Day's Night is a 1964 British black-and-white comedy film directed by Richard Lester and starring The Beatles—John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr—during the height of Beatlemania. It was written by Alun Owen and originally released by United Artists. The film was made in the style of a mockumentary, describing a couple of days in the lives of the group. It was successful both financially and critically; it was rated by Time magazine as one of the all-time great 100 films. British critic Leslie Halliwell described it as a "comic fantasia with music;... an enormous commercial success with the director trying every cinematic gag in the book" and awarded it a full four stars. The film is credited with having influenced 1960s spy films, The Monkees' television show and pop music videos. The screenplay was written by Alun Owen, who was chosen because The Beatles were familiar with his play No Trams to Lime Street, and he had shown an aptitude for Liverpudlian dialogue. McCartney commented, "Alun 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.
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| Release date: | July 6, 1964 |
| Directed by: | Richard Lester |
| Rated: |  |
| Runtime: | 87 Minutes |
| Producer: | Walter Shenson |
| Editor: | John Jympson |
| Music by: | George Martin, The Beatles |
| Cinematography: | Gilbert Taylor |
| Screenplay by: | Alun Owen |
| Genre: | Comedy, Musical |