A Hard Day's Night is a 1964 British black-and-white comedy film directed by Richard Lester and starring the Beatles—John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr—during the height of Beatlemania. It was written by Alun Owen and originally released by United Artists. The film portrays a couple of days in the lives of the group. The film is considered to be one of the best and most influential musical films of all time. It was successful both financially and critically; it was rated by Time magazine as one of the all-time great 100 films. British critic Leslie Halliwell described it as a "comic fantasia with music; an enormous commercial success with the director trying every cinematic gag in the book" and awarded it a full four stars. The film is credited as being one of the most influential musical films of all time, inspiring numerous spy films, the Monkees' television show and pop music videos. Halliwell encapsulates the plot as "harassed by their manager and Paul...