Hard Day’s Night, A

Director Richard Lester and writer Alun Owen (who has never gotten the credit he deserves) treat us to a fanciful day in the life of the Beatles, filmed in 1964 at (they thought) the peak of the Fab Four’s popularity. In time, of course, the group would ascend from Pop Phenomenon to Cultural Colossus, and Lester and Owen’s exuberant little film would be seen as a nostalgic snapshot of a more “innocent” time. For this reissue, the film has been duded up with a 21st-century Dolby Digital soundtrack, but the icing is hardly needed—this is still the most enjoyable rock movie ever made, filled with great music (“I Should Have Known Better,” “Can’t Buy Me Love,” “And I Love Her,” etc.), propelled by an irresistibly driving beat and bubbling over with the giddy, lightheaded joy of new-found fame.