(Ringo's Theme.) We get on to Ringo Starr's real introduction to the world as an actor, when everyone thought "Hey, he's not bad at this, is he?" In particular he does a great job with Wilfred Brambell in the canteen, convincing us he's slowly becoming persuaded to leave the group. We spend some time parading with Ringo, looking at his interactions with the boy and in the pub.
Links
A Hard Day's Night is often on BBC iPlayer, although not at the moment, and available to rent on a few streaming services
There's also a good quality copy on YouTube at the moment, which might of course be taken down soon. Do yourself a favour and buy the Blu-ray anyway.
Get Samira Ahmed's excellent book about the film, from the BFI Modern Classics series
Ringo's handwritten lyrics to Octopus's Garden
A little article about Paul McCartney's selfie from his Eyes of the Storm exhibition
Ringo's book, Anatomy of a Murder by Robert Traver, a pen name for John D Voelker
Video
The opening sequence of Superman III, in which Gordon Rollings, having had Ringo throw a dart in his sandwich, is part of a domino rally of mishaps
The series
A Hard Day's Night (Part 1: A train)
We kick off our deep dive into the Beatles' 1964 film debut, unpacking the absurdist class comedy of the train carriage scene. "Who's that little old man?"
Listen on Spotify
A Hard Day's Night (Part 2: And a room)
Beatlemania meets magic realism as we continue through the film, from a hotel room stowaway to Ringo's class-conscious dance moves in the nightclub.
A Hard Day's Night (Part 3: And a car)
From press conference chaos to a tender rendition of If I Fell, we compare John Lennon's jokey delivery to Paul McCartney's straightforward And I Love Her.
A Hard Day's Night (Part 4: And a room)
Three solo spotlights in one go: John Lennon, George Harrison and Paul McCartney each get their moment, including Paul's performance of And I Love Her.
A Hard Day's Night (Part 6: And a room)
We reach the film's frantic finale, tracing its Buster Keaton-inspired chase scenes and asking if Ringo Starr's homecoming really resolves anything.