Considered by many the greatest rock band of all time, the Beatles have influenced many rock artists all over the world. The “Fab Four“, as the Beatles were often called, brought many changes not only in music, but also in hairstyles or fashion. They also appeared in five films, with A Hard Day's Night beeing the most successful of them.
Considered by many the greatest rock band of all time, the Beatles have influenced many rock artists all over the world. Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Nirvana or Oasis are just few of them. The “Fab Four“, as the Beatles were often called, brought many changes not only in music. One of the major cultural events in the 60s was the change of haircut brought by the band. Although all of the Beatles idolized Elvis Presley, their long hair style replaced that of Elvis characterized with combing hair back from the forehead and using hair grease. Teenagers also copied their dress up style including collarless shirts, tight jeans and the so-called Beatle boots. The band´s impact on music is worldwide. It can be heard in pop music in song structure, harmonies, or lyrics. Besides 12 studio albums, 13 EPs and 22 singles, the Beatles also appeared in five films, with A Hard Day's Night beeing the most successful of them. The film represents the band´s debut on the silver screen and is considered to be the best rock & roll movie ever. The director Richard Lester shot it in about six and a half weeks on a $500,000 budget, and the movie was released in 1964. It´s a black-and-white, documentary-style film which follows the Beatles during a day of early “Beatlemania“ and their journey to do get to the Big Show on time. The film depicts how the Beatles became prisoners of their own fame. Alun Owen, the screenwriter, spent several days with the Beatles, who told him their lives were like "a train and a room and a car and a room and a room and a room". George says about the screenwriter: "Alun 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 hairstyle? Arthur'...." Most of the humorous scenes in the film depict Paul McCartney´s efforts to keep his (fictional) trouble making grandfather in check. Throughout the film the Beatles also have to escape from the press and screaming fans, and disobey their managers Norm (Norman Rossington) and Shake (John Junkin), who carry on a battle just because one man is taller than the other. The songs used in the film include the title song and the songs "And I Love Her," "Tell Me Why," "I Should Have Known Better," "If I Fell," and "Can't Buy Me Love". Much more money was spent on the second Beatles’ feature film, Help! made in colour in 1965, but it wasn´t as successful as A Hard Day's Night. It is an action/adventure film regarded by many as a parody of contemporary Bond films. Some also consider it the forerunner to contemporary rock musicals and pop videos. The movie is directed by Dick Lester and mixes the Beatles´ own sense of humour with that of the main actors such as Leo McKern, Eleanor Bron, Victor Spinetti and Roy Kinnear. At the beginning of the film Ringo receives a ring from his fan. It later turns out to be the sacrificial ring of an Eastern cult, known as Kali, which the cult needs to complete its sacrificial rites. Unfortunately, the ring gets stuck on Ringo´s finger. Throughout the film a viewer can follow the group´s attempts to escape the mysterious cult and a pair of mad scientists, Professor Foot and Algernon, who also want to get the ring, because it would give them power to rule the world. The chase leads the band from England to exotic locations including the Bahamas and the snowy mountains of Austria. During their journey Paul is shrunk, Ringo is nearly eaten by a Bengal Tiger, John is nearly run over by a tank, and many other strange things happen. Ringo says about the shooting: "It was fabulous, of course the problem was we went to the Bahamas to do the hot scenes, and of course it was freezing. Of course, we had to ride around and run around in shirts and thin trousers and it was absolutely bloody cold." The film includes several tracks such as You’re Going To Lose That Girl, Ticket To Ride, and the title track, Help! The Beatles even tried to direct and produce their own television film, Magical Mystery Tour, but the results were quite amateurish. The group provided the songs for the psychedelic animated feature film Yellow Submarine, and made a short appearance in the closing scene, with their fictional characters voiced by other actors. The director of the movie, George Dunning, a great perfectionist, created the "Lucy in the Sky" sequence, and although many people worked on the film, it was Dunning who made it a quality artistic piece. The twelfth and final studio album by the Beatles Let It Be was used as a soundtrack album for the film of the same name, which is often referred to as a documentary intended to show the making of an album but instead showing the break-up of a band.
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds (from Yellow Submarine)
Considered by many the greatest rock band of all time, the Beatles have influenced many rock artists all over the world. The “Fab Four“, as the Beatles were often called, brought many changes not only in music, but also in hairstyles or fashion. They also appeared in five films, with A Hard Day's Night beeing the most successful of them.