R.I.P. Roger Ebert: A movie fan and a Beatles fan

Friday, April 5, 2013

“It was clear from the outset that 'A Hard Day's Night' was in a different category from the rock musicals that had starred Elvis and his imitators,” he wrote in his book “Roger Ebert: The Great Movies.” “It was smart, it was irreverent, it didn't take itself seriously, and it was shot and edited by Richard Lester in an electrifying black-and-white semi-documentary style that seemed to follow the boys during a day in their lives.”

He said the film had such an effect on its audience that “thousands of young men walked into the theater with short haircuts and their hair started growing during the movie and didn't get cut again until the 1970s.”

But it's difficult to finder higher praise for the film than this: "After more than three decades, it has not aged and is not dated; it stands outside its time, its genre and even rock 'n' roll. It is one of the great life-affirming landmarks of the movies.”

Ebert reasserted his love for the film by appearing as the critical voice in “The Making of 'A Hard Day's Night,'”released by MPI Video in 1998.