Movie Nights with Dad

A Hard Day's Night (1964) wasn't trying to invent anything — and it invented everything. This week Riley and Mark review Richard Lester's Beatles mockumentary, the film widely credited with creating the music video format and directly inspiring the Monkees' TV show, all on a seven-week shoot with four non-actors and a modest budget. They dig into whether the Beatles are actually performing or just being themselves, why Ringo gets the most genuine character work of any of the four, what it means that a film with almost no plot holds together as well as it does, and how accidental genius compares to intentional filmmaking. Mark brings his theater lens to four of the most famous performers of the 20th century — none of whom trained for a single day — and Riley makes the case that Ringo Starr is the only one in the film actually acting.New episodes every Sunday at 5PM CT. Find us on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and everywhere you listen.