At The Movies CONEY ISLAND Greek and American Cuisine OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK 154 S. Woodward, Birmingham (248) 540-8780 Helmed, by Jewish director Richard Lester, the Beatles' debut film remains one of the greatest pop musicals ever made. Halsted Village (37580 W. 12 Mile Rd.) Farmington Hills (248) 553-2360 6527 Telegraph Rd. Corner of Maple (15 Mile) Bloomfield Township (248) 646-8568 JESSICA YADEGARAN Copley News Service I don't know why I waited so long to see A Hard Day's Night. Even though the film was made 12 years before I was born, director Richard Lester's rock 'n roll mockumentary kept me and my two friends (all of us in our early 20s) chuckling the entire time. Finally, I know what a feel-good movie is. Visually and digitally remastered by Miramax Films, this reissued A Hard Day's Night peeks inside the life of the young Beatles immersed in screaming-teen, hair-pulling mega-fame, and bril- handy pokes fun at the madness. In the opening scene, our four lads from Liverpool — John Lennon, Paul McCartney; find George Harrison and Ringo Starr themselves on a train accompanied by an old sourpuss (Wilfrid Brambell), supposedly Paul's grandfather. An unspoken mischief bonds the boys, and they spend the next 24 hours dodging their manager, press conferences, sound checks and even the police. It's 1964. Defying authority is a fresh idea. From Lester's fearless filming — in the final concert sequence, he uses six cameras, providing multiple angles of the stage — to its unabashed portrayal of superstardom, A Hard Day's Night was ahead of its time. It captured the frenzy of the rock 'n roll lifestyle as no film had before it: It manages to make us feel zany and thoughtful at the same time. Clearly, too, A Hard Day's Night has influenced rock movies since, from U2's Rattle and Hum to Cameron Crowe's Almost 4763 Haggerty Rd. at Pontiac Trail West Wind Village Shopping Center West Bloomfield (248) 669-2295 841 East Big Beaver, Troy (248) 680-0094 SOUTHFIELD SOUVLAKI CONEY ISLAND Nine Mile & Greenfield 15647 West Nine Mile, Southfield (248) 569-5229 FARMINGTON SOUVLAKI CONEY ISLAND Between 13 & 14 on Orchard Lake Road 30985 Orchard Lake Rd. Farmington Hills (248) 626-9732 Famous. NEW LOCATION: 525 N. Main Milford (248) 684-1772 UPTOWN PARTHENON 4301 Orchard Lake Rd. West Bloomfield (248) 538-6000 HERCULES FAMILY RESTAURANT 33292 West 12 Mile Farmington Hills (248) 489-9777 Serving whitefish, lamb shank, pastitsio and moussaka I 1 Receive 1 : 1 I 0 ° 1' 0 Off 111111 =II IMO MI MIMI NM 111011 NM MIMI 1 not Entire Bill to go with any other offer I 12/22 2000 80 I I with coupon Expires 12/30/2000 =II MIN MON MIMI INII MI MI MN NM Hard Day's Night 1 Perhaps the most endearing thing about A Hard Day's Night — besides watching John play with a toy submarine in the bathtub — is that we really get a feel for each Beatle's personality. They may be on camera, but, for the most part, they are playing themselves. First, they love girls. Paul is the obvious heartthrob who loves to be in the spotlight. John, on the other hand, is absolutely wacky, spitting out so many witty one-liners he practically reduces his manager (Norman Rossington) to tears. George is the band's mys- tery man. Second to John in cheeky humor, his looks and his charm are both off-center. George is the bad boy for the girls who find Paul just a bit too pure. And then there's Ringo. Goofy but pensive, his solo adventure — which begins with a camera and a walk by the river and ends with his being arrested — is sparked by a conversation with Paul's grandfather, who convinces Ringo that the others rake him for granted. Furthermore, the wily grandfather says, musicians don't lead nor- mal lives. They don't know what it means to get their hands dirty and really live. Ringo, takina the old man to heart, disappears for the afternoon and contemplates b his life. Moments like these keep A Hard Day's Night within the grasp of a young, contemporary audience perhaps grappling with the same issues. At the end of the film, following a televised performance before an audience of screaming fans, John, Paul, George and Ringo hop in a helicopter and head to their next gig. Suddenly, the laughing stops and I feel incredibly sad. I want to keep hanging out with them. They're the funniest, cutest, most irreverent guys I've come across in a long time. Most of all, they rock. ❑ A Conversation With Richard Lester A child prodigy who at the age of 2 was capa- ble of reading and writing 250 words, future director Richard Lester entered the University of Pennsylvania at age 15, and gradu- ated with a degree in clinical psychology. Lester, the Philadelphia-born son of Broadway play- wright Elliott Lester, was a successful TV director with CBS by age 20. In 1956, the 24-year-old Lester settled in England, where he soon became associated with Peter Sellers and a new absurdist brand of come- dy. His experimental use of jump cuts with fast slapstick jokes in The Running, Jumping and Standing Still Film impressed the Beatles, and Lester was hired by another Jewish American expatriate, producer Walter Shenson, to direct A , Hard Day's Night. Shenson had worked out a Above: Director deal with Beatles manager Richard Lester Brian Epstein, also Jewish, is the architect before the Beatles' triumphant of today's appearance on The Ed Sullivan MTV-style Show in 1964. pop videos. Lester went on to direct the Beatles a second time in Help, broke into non-musical territory with The Knack and How to Get It, and returned to musical film with the screen version of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, starring Zero Mostel. Lester also directed John Lennon in the satire How I Won the War and followed that with his masterwork, Petulia, starring Julie Christie. He went on to direct a critically praised version of The Three Musketeers with Oliver Reed and Richard Chamberlain, and in 1990, re-teamed with Paul McCartney for the documentary Get Back, which followed McCartney's 1989-1990 world tour. Currently retired and living in England, Lester recalls his groundbreaking film with the Fab Four. Q: You obviously gave a lot to the Beatles in terms of helping them have their personalities defined in A Hard Day's Night. What if anything did they give you or teach you? A: They gave me a film career for starts. I was able to trade on that for about 40 years. So I think that in terms of gratitude, I of them a lot more than they owe me. All I did was try to make sure that they were presented in a way that