Tag: Richard Lester

A HARD DAY’S NIGHT Screens July 31st at Schlafly Bottleworks

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“The Beatles?…..Oh yes, I seem to recall their off-key caterwauling on the old Sullivan show”….Montgomery Burns

Head down to Schlafly Bottleworks in Maplewood Thursday July 31st where A HARD DAY’S NIGHT screens at  at 7pm.

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A HARD DAY’S NIGHT was the Beatles’ first, and best, feature film of their career. Unlike the confused and confusing HELP! or the simplistic and message-oriented YELLOW SUBMARINE – in which the Beatles only appeared briefly — this film has sharp editing, good supporting characterization, and the good sense not to rely too much on the Beatles themselves for more than some good quips and great music.

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Richard Lester’s compelling and innovative cinematography and editing underscores the fact that these four young Liverpool lads are going to change the world, well before they actually had begun to do so. Rather than making a throwaway flick for the fans, Lester crafted a minor masterpiece for rock and roll movies that has never been equaled or even attempted. The Beatles exploit their public persona to the max here — loverboy Paul, sardonic John, quiet and naive George, and cuddly Ringo. Wilfrid Brambell steals the show to the extent possible as Paul’s grandfather, “a real mixer” as Paul says, who seems to delight in starting fights and causing trouble.

Next Thursday, July 31st, lucky St. Louisans will get the chance to take in A HARD DAY’S NIGHT when it plays at Schlafly Bottlework’s big screen.

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A Film Series is presenting the Rockumentary film series – A HARD DAY’S NIGHT will be part of it next Thursday, July 31st at Schlafly Bottleworks in Maplewood (7260 Southwest Avenue, Maplewood, Missouri 63143). The movie begins at 7pm.

Doors open at 6:30. Come on in for dinner and a movie.

Six bucks suggested for screening.

Food and drink available for purchase from Schlafly.
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This series provides a crowd funded source of support for our pet projects Helping Kids Together and A Universal Design Project. HKT is the cornerstone project of our social enterprise and focused on promoting cultural diversity and social awareness. Funds left over after screening costs from A Film Series contribute to keeping both HKT and AUDP moving forward with producing universally designed events, programs and other business related activity that relates to improving the world at large.

A Facebook invite for the event can be found HERE

https://www.facebook.com/events/1507072556191931/

Schlafly Bottleworks site can be found HERE

ROBIN AND MARIAN, THE THREE MUSKETEERS Director, Richard Lester, Receives BFI Fellowship

Director Richard Lester (SUPERMAN II, A HARD DAY’S NIGHT) has been presented with the BFI’s highest accolade, the BFI Fellowship, following a screening of one of his best-loved films, Robin and Marian at BFI Southbank. The award was presented by BFI Chair, Greg Dyke.

Richard Lester said ‘When my career was just beginning, the elegant TV critic Bernard Levin came to see me in rehearsal with Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers. He wrote: ‘he seems an amiable young man who climbed into a lion’s cage and realised he’s forgotten his chair and his whip.’

Some 50 years later, I still haven’t found a whip, but with this extraordinary honour, the BFI has kindly given me a chair.’

Greg Dyke said, ‘Richard Lester has created a unique body of work which has enriched the lives of millions with his brilliantly surreal humour and innovative style. Although born in America he has lived in Britain for 60 years and created some of the most enduring and influential creations of British cinema.’

The BFI Fellowship is awarded by the BFI Board of Governors and it is presented for outstanding achievement in film and television. Previous recipients include Ralph Fiennes, David Cronenberg, Dame Judi Dench, Isabelle Huppert and Martin Scorsese. The full list is a roll call of the leading lights of the world of film and television.

Richard Lester is perhaps best known for his ground-breaking films with the Beatles, A Hard Day’s Night (1964) and Help! (1965), which retain a vividly authentic flavour of the 60s zeitgeist. His quirky, surrealist humour is considered a key influence on the Monty Pythons. He is a boldly original filmmaker whose originality and creativity have inspired several generations of filmmakers and actors.

Although born in the USA in 1932, Lester came to England in 1956, having become a television director at the age of 20. He has remained resident in the UK ever since. Key to Lester’s creative output was his working relationship with Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers, seen in the television series A Show Called Fred (ITV, 1956), the eleven-minute short The Running, Jumping and Standing Still Film (1959) and the savagely absurdist The Bed-Sitting Room (1969), adapted from the play by Spike Milligan and John Antrobus.

Richard Lester’s work with Milligan and Sellers brought him to the attention of the Beatles and the films they made together A Hard Day’s Night(1964) and Help! (1965) were both huge international critical and commercial successes and they remain hugely influential. Lester won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival in 1965 for The Knack…and How to Get It, which starred Rita Tushingham and Michael Crawford.

Lester’s adaptation of the Sondheim stage musical A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966) boasts Phil Silvers and Buster Keaton in its cast. He worked with many big budget Hollywood productions in the 1970s and 80s including a highly successful series of films based on The Three Musketeers starring Oliver Reed and Richard Chamberlain. Robin and Marian (1976) starring Audrey Hepburn and Sean Connery is a highly rated late work.

Richard Lester has a long association with the BFI. He presented the first John Player lecture in 1968, stepping in when Jean-Luc Godard refused to appear.