WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.280 --> 00:00:03.720
<v Speaker 1>Rock's Greatest Stories all in one podcast. Here's one from

2
00:00:03.720 --> 00:00:07.240
<v Speaker 1>a recent episode of book Don Rock. Samira Ahmed is

3
00:00:07.320 --> 00:00:10.119
<v Speaker 1>the author of A Hard Day's Night, part of the

4
00:00:10.119 --> 00:00:14.279
<v Speaker 1>British Film Institute's Film Classics series. The book examines one

5
00:00:14.279 --> 00:00:16.679
<v Speaker 1>of the most influential music films ever made. A Hard

6
00:00:16.719 --> 00:00:20.320
<v Speaker 1>Day's Night. That Can't Buy Me Love sequence is classic.

7
00:00:20.359 --> 00:00:23.960
<v Speaker 1>It's such a great representation of youth breaking free from

8
00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:27.440
<v Speaker 1>authority and tradition. It's still there when you watch it.

9
00:00:27.519 --> 00:00:30.079
<v Speaker 1>Probably the most iconic of all the scenes from the film.

10
00:00:30.280 --> 00:00:32.280
<v Speaker 1>You call it the most complex in the entire film.

11
00:00:32.320 --> 00:00:35.039
<v Speaker 1>What makes it so much more sophisticated than it first appears.

12
00:00:35.399 --> 00:00:37.640
<v Speaker 2>Well, I love that it's actually shot in three different

13
00:00:37.679 --> 00:00:40.560
<v Speaker 2>locations weeks apart, because you know, you just assume that

14
00:00:40.600 --> 00:00:42.880
<v Speaker 2>it's just all in the editing. But the scene where

15
00:00:42.880 --> 00:00:44.799
<v Speaker 2>they come out on the fire escape and they go

16
00:00:44.840 --> 00:00:47.679
<v Speaker 2>we're out, that's one location. That's the Hammersmith ODI in

17
00:00:47.799 --> 00:00:51.000
<v Speaker 2>West London as it was in old Cinema, and then

18
00:00:51.000 --> 00:00:53.119
<v Speaker 2>they run down that fire escape. And then when they're

19
00:00:53.200 --> 00:00:56.479
<v Speaker 2>running across the field that was shot in Eiseleworth nearly

20
00:00:56.560 --> 00:00:59.399
<v Speaker 2>through airport. In fact, a community group got in touch

21
00:00:59.439 --> 00:01:00.920
<v Speaker 2>with it, and they did a screening of the film

22
00:01:00.960 --> 00:01:03.880
<v Speaker 2>in those same playing fields just the other weekend to

23
00:01:03.960 --> 00:01:06.319
<v Speaker 2>mark you know, PAUP. McCartney's birthday, which was lovely because

24
00:01:06.400 --> 00:01:08.159
<v Speaker 2>the playing field is still a place you can visit.

25
00:01:08.200 --> 00:01:12.680
<v Speaker 2>I've been there. But the other location is Gatwick Airport, Britain,

26
00:01:12.760 --> 00:01:15.879
<v Speaker 2>London second airport, and they basically had a helicopter and

27
00:01:15.879 --> 00:01:18.840
<v Speaker 2>if you think about it, when they first seemed to

28
00:01:18.920 --> 00:01:21.359
<v Speaker 2>run into the field, they suddenly you're very aware that

29
00:01:21.400 --> 00:01:23.920
<v Speaker 2>it's a judgery shot. It's the helicopter going up, and

30
00:01:23.959 --> 00:01:25.840
<v Speaker 2>that's why they were shot from a distance running around

31
00:01:25.920 --> 00:01:28.640
<v Speaker 2>larking in the field. And what's interesting is that that

32
00:01:28.840 --> 00:01:31.079
<v Speaker 2>was in a way the first part of the sequence

33
00:01:31.120 --> 00:01:34.760
<v Speaker 2>that was shot. But the cameraman was an experienced ex

34
00:01:35.359 --> 00:01:38.079
<v Speaker 2>military cameraman had shot a lot of planes, had shot

35
00:01:37.959 --> 00:01:41.079
<v Speaker 2>to air raids over Germany and stuff for Winston Churchill,

36
00:01:41.159 --> 00:01:44.159
<v Speaker 2>and they footage as sent to number ten Downing Street

37
00:01:44.200 --> 00:01:45.959
<v Speaker 2>for him to monitor what was going on. So he'd

38
00:01:45.959 --> 00:01:47.519
<v Speaker 2>gone up with a helicopter and when he got up

39
00:01:47.560 --> 00:01:50.120
<v Speaker 2>he realized that the battery in the camera was run down,

40
00:01:50.200 --> 00:01:54.120
<v Speaker 2>so the footage was running through at low speeds. When

41
00:01:54.120 --> 00:01:55.680
<v Speaker 2>you played it back a normal speed. It had that

42
00:01:55.719 --> 00:01:59.200
<v Speaker 2>speeded up silent movie slapstick effect. So they shot the

43
00:01:59.200 --> 00:02:01.319
<v Speaker 2>rest of the stuff kind of to match it. So

44
00:02:01.480 --> 00:02:04.239
<v Speaker 2>Richard Lester was very good at responding to an accident

45
00:02:04.319 --> 00:02:06.280
<v Speaker 2>and saying, well, let's make this a feature, because he

46
00:02:06.280 --> 00:02:09.240
<v Speaker 2>loved Buster Keaton. There's the whole sequencer chase sequence later

47
00:02:09.280 --> 00:02:12.000
<v Speaker 2>with the Policeman, which is based on Cops the nineteen

48
00:02:12.039 --> 00:02:14.800
<v Speaker 2>twenty two bus to keep the film, so they shoot

49
00:02:14.800 --> 00:02:18.000
<v Speaker 2>the stuff in the playing field later and they mock

50
00:02:18.120 --> 00:02:19.800
<v Speaker 2>up a version of the helipad so it looks like

51
00:02:19.840 --> 00:02:22.520
<v Speaker 2>it's the same location and they speed up the footage.

52
00:02:22.560 --> 00:02:25.520
<v Speaker 2>But those are three different locations shot weeks apart, and

53
00:02:25.599 --> 00:02:28.280
<v Speaker 2>at one point John Lennon isn't even there because they

54
00:02:28.360 --> 00:02:30.520
<v Speaker 2>used to film, despite the fact that they all had

55
00:02:30.520 --> 00:02:32.520
<v Speaker 2>other commitments, and John Lennon went off to a literary

56
00:02:32.599 --> 00:02:35.639
<v Speaker 2>luncheon for his first book. And so there's moments when

57
00:02:35.639 --> 00:02:37.759
<v Speaker 2>they seem to be doing like a dosey dough on

58
00:02:37.840 --> 00:02:40.439
<v Speaker 2>the helipad and the camera is being held, but what

59
00:02:40.479 --> 00:02:42.319
<v Speaker 2>you assume is John and he points the camera down

60
00:02:42.360 --> 00:02:44.599
<v Speaker 2>at his feet and his beetle boots. That's Richard Lester,

61
00:02:45.280 --> 00:02:49.319
<v Speaker 2>you know, so sometimes they substitute, he substitutes himself for

62
00:02:49.360 --> 00:02:52.039
<v Speaker 2>the missing beetle. So you wouldn't know any of this

63
00:02:52.080 --> 00:02:54.159
<v Speaker 2>and literally unless you weren't looking for the information. And

64
00:02:54.199 --> 00:02:55.840
<v Speaker 2>I read a lot of interviews that he had done

65
00:02:55.840 --> 00:02:59.120
<v Speaker 2>with people like Stephen Soderberg, accounts had given at previous screenings.

66
00:02:59.120 --> 00:03:01.560
<v Speaker 2>Because of Richard Lester is very much still alive, but

67
00:03:01.680 --> 00:03:03.759
<v Speaker 2>just very frail, and he still lives in England. And

68
00:03:04.319 --> 00:03:05.879
<v Speaker 2>I think more than anything, I wanted this book to

69
00:03:05.919 --> 00:03:08.319
<v Speaker 2>be homage to him as an American who made Britain

70
00:03:08.360 --> 00:03:11.439
<v Speaker 2>it's his home, and together with the American producers of

71
00:03:11.439 --> 00:03:12.719
<v Speaker 2>this film, I love that it took a true of

72
00:03:12.719 --> 00:03:15.560
<v Speaker 2>Americans to give the Beatles back to Britain and the

73
00:03:15.560 --> 00:03:18.719
<v Speaker 2>world as the most exciting new British phenomenon.

74
00:03:19.240 --> 00:03:21.240
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I wonder how much of A Hard Day's Night, Oh,

75
00:03:21.319 --> 00:03:23.719
<v Speaker 1>is It's magic to accidents like you mentioned, like the

76
00:03:23.759 --> 00:03:26.199
<v Speaker 1>sped up film effect only because the camera battery is

77
00:03:26.280 --> 00:03:28.520
<v Speaker 1>running low and that Richard Lester was smart enough to

78
00:03:28.639 --> 00:03:32.639
<v Speaker 1>keep I mean, how much of the movie has those moments?

79
00:03:33.479 --> 00:03:36.520
<v Speaker 2>A lot has it, and I think one of the

80
00:03:36.560 --> 00:03:39.000
<v Speaker 2>best of those moments is that within the first two

81
00:03:38.960 --> 00:03:42.280
<v Speaker 2>to three seconds of the opening film when you suddenly

82
00:03:42.280 --> 00:03:45.120
<v Speaker 2>start with that cord of the opening track and you

83
00:03:45.159 --> 00:03:47.520
<v Speaker 2>see through the Beatles are running down that alley next

84
00:03:47.560 --> 00:03:51.039
<v Speaker 2>to Marlybone station, and George trips over and falls flat

85
00:03:51.199 --> 00:03:53.520
<v Speaker 2>hard on his face. Ringo lands on top of him.

86
00:03:53.639 --> 00:03:56.039
<v Speaker 2>They get up and they keep running, you know, And

87
00:03:56.280 --> 00:03:58.360
<v Speaker 2>that happens a couple of times, things like that. I mean,

88
00:03:58.400 --> 00:04:00.400
<v Speaker 2>in that whole sequence, there's a lot of fans falling

89
00:04:00.439 --> 00:04:03.280
<v Speaker 2>over quite badly in the crush, So you have that

90
00:04:03.319 --> 00:04:06.879
<v Speaker 2>sense there's real peril, there's real jeopardy. If they hadn't

91
00:04:06.879 --> 00:04:08.759
<v Speaker 2>got up and run again, you know, would they be

92
00:04:08.759 --> 00:04:10.960
<v Speaker 2>able to shoot that sequence? Everything shot as fast as

93
00:04:10.960 --> 00:04:13.120
<v Speaker 2>it can be because they never know when the police

94
00:04:13.120 --> 00:04:14.919
<v Speaker 2>are going to shut down shooting, as they sometimes did.

95
00:04:14.960 --> 00:04:16.759
<v Speaker 2>They said the crowds are too big, or the crowd

96
00:04:16.879 --> 00:04:20.519
<v Speaker 2>might get out of control. And you know, they had

97
00:04:20.920 --> 00:04:22.680
<v Speaker 2>a moment after the first day of shooting on the

98
00:04:22.720 --> 00:04:26.240
<v Speaker 2>train where the young technician was carrying the cans of film,

99
00:04:26.759 --> 00:04:28.120
<v Speaker 2>looked a bit like a Beatle and he starts to

100
00:04:28.160 --> 00:04:30.480
<v Speaker 2>being chased by girls and he tried to outrun them

101
00:04:30.480 --> 00:04:32.199
<v Speaker 2>and he dropped a load of the film and they

102
00:04:32.199 --> 00:04:34.879
<v Speaker 2>had to abandon some of the tape that got lost,

103
00:04:34.920 --> 00:04:37.759
<v Speaker 2>so the whole film has a sense of urgency about it.

104
00:04:37.839 --> 00:04:41.319
<v Speaker 2>And there's another moment when they're rehearsing a number in

105
00:04:41.519 --> 00:04:44.759
<v Speaker 2>the studio when George leans on his amp and it

106
00:04:44.879 --> 00:04:47.439
<v Speaker 2>kind of starts to always fall off its stand and

107
00:04:47.680 --> 00:04:50.000
<v Speaker 2>you actually hear the thump of it. So I think

108
00:04:50.040 --> 00:04:53.399
<v Speaker 2>all that adds to a sense of authenticity, doesn't it

109
00:04:53.399 --> 00:04:55.000
<v Speaker 2>that he left all these accidents in.

110
00:04:55.279 --> 00:04:57.360
<v Speaker 1>Maybe that's why it stands up so well over time

111
00:04:57.399 --> 00:05:00.480
<v Speaker 1>as well, because there are those real moments. Suggests that

112
00:05:00.519 --> 00:05:02.800
<v Speaker 1>A Hard Day's Night helped create the modern music video.

113
00:05:02.959 --> 00:05:06.439
<v Speaker 1>When people talk about the birth of MTV modern music video,

114
00:05:07.000 --> 00:05:09.079
<v Speaker 1>does the camp Bind Me Love sequence deserve to be

115
00:05:09.160 --> 00:05:11.560
<v Speaker 1>at that center of the conversation?

116
00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:14.079
<v Speaker 2>I think it does. And in fact, even before that,

117
00:05:14.279 --> 00:05:16.480
<v Speaker 2>the very first pop video I'd argue is when they're

118
00:05:16.519 --> 00:05:18.959
<v Speaker 2>on the train and they go into that guard's character

119
00:05:19.000 --> 00:05:21.759
<v Speaker 2>they're playing cards, and the music starts up of I

120
00:05:21.800 --> 00:05:24.040
<v Speaker 2>should have known better? I think think it is, isn't it?

121
00:05:24.519 --> 00:05:27.519
<v Speaker 2>And if you watch that sequence, it's the first time

122
00:05:27.600 --> 00:05:31.519
<v Speaker 2>in cinema that you start to hear the song before

123
00:05:31.639 --> 00:05:34.040
<v Speaker 2>you see them singing or performing it. And then it's

124
00:05:34.040 --> 00:05:36.000
<v Speaker 2>suddenly jump cuts to them in the same seats, but

125
00:05:36.040 --> 00:05:38.439
<v Speaker 2>they're playing instruments. We take it for granted that pop

126
00:05:38.480 --> 00:05:40.920
<v Speaker 2>videos work this way. No one had ever done this before.

127
00:05:41.000 --> 00:05:43.519
<v Speaker 2>It's all in the editing. The way that Paul even

128
00:05:43.560 --> 00:05:45.560
<v Speaker 2>looks like he's miming along or jiggling his head to

129
00:05:45.600 --> 00:05:47.879
<v Speaker 2>hearing the song on the radio, the next moment singing

130
00:05:47.879 --> 00:05:50.319
<v Speaker 2>it out loud, and then the Can't Bind Me Love

131
00:05:50.360 --> 00:05:52.160
<v Speaker 2>sequence is the kind of you know, it's arguably the

132
00:05:52.160 --> 00:05:54.600
<v Speaker 2>inspiration for the Monkeys. I mean, the whole TV show

133
00:05:54.800 --> 00:05:58.680
<v Speaker 2>spins out of these running zany foursome of guys playing

134
00:05:58.720 --> 00:06:01.519
<v Speaker 2>around in a field in a slapstick way. There's a

135
00:06:01.600 --> 00:06:05.000
<v Speaker 2>huge amount of slapstick in sixties pop music cinema, even

136
00:06:05.040 --> 00:06:08.639
<v Speaker 2>before the MTV comes along. And I find it quite ironic,

137
00:06:08.800 --> 00:06:12.360
<v Speaker 2>Eric that MTV has basically been shutting down across Europe.

138
00:06:12.360 --> 00:06:14.920
<v Speaker 2>It's very much in retreat, and that this film has

139
00:06:14.959 --> 00:06:18.000
<v Speaker 2>outlived the art film that had invented. I mean, they

140
00:06:18.040 --> 00:06:20.399
<v Speaker 2>famously gave him a Vanguard Award in nineteen eighty four

141
00:06:20.639 --> 00:06:23.120
<v Speaker 2>as the father of the the pop video, and he

142
00:06:23.360 --> 00:06:26.279
<v Speaker 2>jokingly demanded a paternity test. But you know, he's outlived

143
00:06:26.279 --> 00:06:28.720
<v Speaker 2>his child. Yeah, and again and the other one I'd

144
00:06:28.759 --> 00:06:30.279
<v Speaker 2>pointed out looking ahead a bit, because I look at

145
00:06:30.279 --> 00:06:32.920
<v Speaker 2>the other films that they made, and including Help, which

146
00:06:33.000 --> 00:06:35.160
<v Speaker 2>is their follow up with Richard Leicester. Those films all

147
00:06:35.160 --> 00:06:38.439
<v Speaker 2>shot the pop music treatments in that film in the

148
00:06:38.519 --> 00:06:41.399
<v Speaker 2>studio with a cigarette smoke, sort of filtered through blue lights.

149
00:06:41.480 --> 00:06:44.120
<v Speaker 2>Or they're in the Bahamas with these beautiful girls, all

150
00:06:44.120 --> 00:06:46.680
<v Speaker 2>again shot through beautiful sunlight. I mean that interspitual the

151
00:06:46.720 --> 00:06:49.800
<v Speaker 2>Juranjuran exotic videos of the nineteen eighties, like Rio, doesn't

152
00:06:49.800 --> 00:06:52.879
<v Speaker 1>It here the full episode wherever you get your podcasts.