Please Please Me | With the Beatles | A Hard Day's Night | Beatles for Sale | Help! | Rubber Soul | Revolver
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band | Magical Mystery Tour | The White Album | Yellow Submarine | Abbey Road | Let It Be
Past Masters | The Beatles Anthology | The Beatles: Get Back
- All There in the Manual: The original script and novelization based off said script make Grandfather's motives a little bit clearer, cementing him as more of a Jerk with a Heart of Gold than the final film depicts him. He only riled Ringo out of boredom, and after he stormed out, his smile of triumph is followed by an Oh, Crap! as he realizes that the show will be ruined if he doesn't come back, hence why he quickly informs George of what he did. His later apologies to Norm and Shake are completely genuine, and his abashed demeanor after they've gotten Ringo back is genuine remorse. John's good-natured "The Reason You Suck" Speech is meant to cheer him up and give him his spunk back.
- Ascended Fanboy: The police sergeant was played by Deryck Guyler, who was a great admirer of The Beatles and jumped for the chance to work with them.
- Breakthrough Hit: For Richard Lester.
- Creator Backlash:
- While he doesn't dislike the film by any means, Richard Lester has often said that it's annoying to have film history classes lecture about how most of the entirely accidental filming techniques used were, in fact, well-orchestrated cinematography worthy of an art-house picture. When told that this film made him "the father of MTV", he replied "I want a DNA test."
- John Lennon later admitted to not caring for Alun Owen's screenplay. The Beatles were initially excited to work with him, since he was from Liverpool and they'd liked his Liverpool-set TV play No Trams to Lime Street, but the much older Owen came off as aloof when he hung out with them for a few days during the research phase, and Lennon felt that Owen just exaggerated a few little quirks of each band member instead of giving them well-rounded personalities, as well as calling Owen's dialogue "shitty".
- Cut Song:
- "You Can't Do That" was cut from the concert scene at the end of the film, but the scene in which it is performed is still intact.
- "I'll Cry Instead" was written for the film but replaced with "Can't Buy Me Love", because Richard Lester didn't like it.
- Deleted Role:
- A young Phil Collins appeared in the audience during the performance of "You Can't Do That", which was cut from the film.
- Isla Blair appeared as a Shakespearean actress who Paul bumps into, which was dropped from the film.
- Frank Thornton as the Beatles' chauffeur.
- Deleted Scene:
- It was reported in contemporary press cuttings that 15 minutes was later cut from the film, including scenes involving a London double-decker bus. The Beatles autographed the ceiling of this bus, which was by that time privately owned by Tim Lewis of Twickenham. Many years later, in 1987, David Thrower purchased the bus in a derelict state, from Wicksteed Park, Kettering, and it is now fully restored to the condition it was in when used in the film — though the signatures of the Beatles on the ceiling are long gone, unfortunately.
- The crew filmed a scene where Paul flirts with a young actress (Isla Blair) and discusses the ups and downs of life in show business ("I'm dead lucky 'cos I get paid for doing something I love doing"). It was cut for being less comedic than the rest of the film, and because it was felt that it would be a mistake to have any romance in the film. This explains why, in the finished film, Paul is the only Beatle who doesn't get a scene without the others.
- Enforced Method Acting: Ringo Starr's hangdog expression during the riverside scene wasn't entirely down to good acting — he was hungover as a result of partying the night before.
- Fake Brit: More like "Fake Scouse
". Actor John Junkin, who plays the Beatles' roadie Shake, was born in Ealing, a suburb in West London but was told after being cast to pretend to be from Liverpool when he met the Beatles to make them feel more at ease. The Beatles were annoyed at first when they find out a few weeks later but forgave him. - Playing Against Type: Kenneth Haigh, who plays the cynical trendmonger Simon Marshall, the orchestrator of teen conformity, was best known in Britain for creating the role of the rebellious individualist Jimmy Porter in Look Back in Anger.
- The Red Stapler: Demand for the Rickenbacker 360/12 12-string guitar skyrocketed after George Harrison used one throughout the movie.
- Romance on the Set: George Harrison met his first wife, Pattie Boyd, while shooting this film. She played the blonde schoolgirl who says "Prisoners?" when Paul tries to flirt with her on the train.
- Studio Hop: The film was originally a United Artists release, and was licensed from its original owner, American film producer Walter Shenson. After UA lost the rights in 1979, Shenson regained the rights to the film, and since then, three different Hollywood studios have released it: Universal Pictures in 1982, Miramax Films in 2000, and Janus Films in 2014.
- Throw It In!:
- In the very first shot of the movie, George Harrison accidentally tripped and fell, and Ringo Starr accidentally fell on him. The falls and the Beatles' laughter about it lent the shot an increased sense of energy and motion, so that footage was left in.
- John Lennon wasn't meant to be in the bathtub when George was teaching Shake how to shave, but when Lester found Lennon already there, they decided to work it in.
- Director of Photography Gilbert Taylor said that the sped-up aerial shots in "Can't Buy Me Love" came about because the battery in his camera started to die, causing the footage to be "undercranked" and fast-motion. When director Richard Lester saw the rushes of the footage, he immediately arranged for more sped-up aerial shots.
- Uncredited Role:
- Julian Holloway as Adrian.
- Marianne Stone as a society reporter.
- Sheila Fearn as a makeup lady.
- John Bluthal as a car thief.
- Underage Casting: Richard Vernon, who played the elderly businessman whom the Beatles annoy on the train, was only 39 at the time of filming, but looked far older due to his prematurely grey hair.
- What Could Have Been:
- Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman were asked to produce the film, but they decided to produce Call Me Bwana instead.
- Sidney J. Furie was asked to direct based on his success with Cliff Richard films, but he declined.
- Working Title: The movie's working title initially was The Beatles, then Beatlemania, until Ringo Starr who was exhausted after a long day coined the phrase A Hard Day's Night, which was accepted by the studio.
