A Hard Day's Night - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of A Hard Day's Night or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to A Hard Day's Night

[miriam]

In the first ten seconds of the movie, as the group of kids chase John Lennon, George Harrison, and Sir Ringo Starr down the street, George stumbles, which causes Ringo to stumble. John looks back and hesitates for a moment before continuing to run. The lead pursuer - a tall blonde in a three-piece suit and a mac who had been running close to the wall - moves to the center of the sidewalk, throws both arms straight out to block the kids behind him, and yells "stop!" The other kids stopped just long enough for George and Ringo to regain their footing and start running again.

[richard]

Screenwriter Alun Owen claims that the only Beatle who ad-libbed was John Lennon. The truth is that all four members of The Beatles sparked each other's imagination and improvised.

[ken]

A young Phil Collins appeared in the audience during the "You Can't Do That" number, though the sequence was cut from the movie.

[christina]

John Lennon's and Sir Paul McCartney's mothers were mentioned in the movie, the implication being that they were still alive. Paul's mother, Mary Mohin McCartney, died when he was fourteen and John's mother, Julia Lennon, died when he was seventeen.

[javier]

Sir Ringo Starr was praised for his solo scene at the riverside as a forlorn soul. However, his expression in that scene was actually the result of being severely hung over after a previous night of heavy drinking.

[lena]

Wilfrid Brambell spoke in his natural Irish accent.

[liam]

The German title of the movie is "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah", which refers to The Beatles' song "She Loves You", also featured in this movie. Also the German dialogue differs partly from the original plot. For example, The Beatles refer in this synchronization the book "Die Blechtrommel" by Günter Grass, mention several German songs, think about going into the German movie business and in the dressing room scene they are quoting so-called "Wirtinnenverse", little German joke poems, which are sometimes a little obscene. In the Sir Ringo Starr scene near the river the boy tells Ringo about his love for his teacher and about his business ideas. Also, unlike in the original, the name "Beatles" is mentioned several times.

[jesus]

When they run in the police station the second time and John nods at George to run out again, watch carefully. It happens very quickly, but you can just make out John going out the door first. He then reappears from the right to run out after the police. He must have run round the set and as the camera remained on that scene, someone must have known he was going to do it.

[amber]

The camera's 360-degree pan around Sir Paul McCartney during his performance of "And I Love Her" was achieved by dangling the camera from strings marionette-style and moving it in a circle around McCartney.

[carl]

The whole of the original first day's shooting (the train sequence) was lost because the clapper-loader was mistaken by fans at the station for one of The Beatles. In running away from the screaming fans, he dropped the cans of negative.

[norma]

The name "Beatles" also appears in the concert scene at the end of the movie flashing on after the last song. This makes three references to Beatles in the movie.

[claude]

John Lennon's written answer to the female reporter asking him if he has any hobbies is the word "tits".

[kenneth]

Two scenes were filmed but never used. A sequence where The Beatles are stuck in a traffic jam along with their chauffeur (Frank Thornton) and a solo scene where Sir Paul McCartney meets a Shakespearean actress (Isla Blair) rehearsing in her dressing room.

[wallace]

The question "Are you a mod or a rocker?" is a reference to two mid-1960s British youth subcultures that caused a moral panic by having violent clashes at the time the movie was being produced. The rockers rode motorcycles, wore Marlon Brando-style black leather jackets and caps, and preferred rock-and-roll. The mods rode scooters, wore suits and preferred jazzier music like ska. Mod outfits would evolve into more elaborate designs with an 18th century flare and the scooters would be highly customized with chrome, multiple headlights and with a dozen or more rear view mirrors. Many mods were in dire financial straits as they spent all their money on their outfits and scooters. This look is seen in the Who's Quadrophenia (1979), as is the conflict between the rockers and the mods.Since The Beatles' early music was a fusion of rock-and-roll and ska, it was only natural that Sir Ringo Starr's reply--"I'm a mocker"--represents a fusion of the two groups' names.

[albert]

During their first few years, the band members were known for their "Beatle haircuts". The fact is that while their hairstyles had similarities (bangs, hair over the ears, and collar-length in back) each band member's style was different from the others.

[manuel]

While in the bathtub, John Lennon shouts "Help!", and plays with a toy submarine. In doing so, he unknowingly predicts The Beatles' next two movies, Help! (1965) and Yellow Submarine (1968).

[kyle]

Sir Paul McCartney's comment to the mirror in the dressing room "That this too solid flesh would melt" is a reference from William Shakespeare's "Hamlet", Act 1 Scene 2.