Richard Lester is the Brian Epstein of film. Or maybe the George Martin. Knowingly pop yet classically grounded, Lester made films with a unique stamp. Artful camera work, action shot simultaneously from several viewpoints, and rapid cutting techniques are hallmarks of...
[more]Richard Lester is the Brian Epstein of film. Or maybe the George Martin. Knowingly pop yet classically grounded, Lester made films with a unique stamp. Artful camera work, action shot simultaneously from several viewpoints, and rapid cutting techniques are hallmarks of his work, which combines elements of French New Wave and Russian epic with the style of TV commercials.
That's why it's no wonder he directed the Beatles in their first two screen ventures, "A Hard Day's Night" (1964) and "Help!" (1965). These films would solidify the band's reputation as one of the most profound cultural forces in England -- and far beyond. The pseudo-documentary style deftly constructs a personality for the fan-mobbed lads that is carefully intimate and satisfying. Lester fashioned a kind of frenetic, bouncy, as-the-mood-strikes-you attitude with sequences of the band alternately cavorting on hill sides or devoting themselves to their music with utter earnestness. The musical segments, some of which show the band playing and some of which use the music as a background, laid the foundation for what would later become the music video: MTV owes a great debt to Lester.
"Help!" parodies James Bond adventure flicks in an even greater attempt to transform celebrity into a full-time art form. In the movie, the Beatles travel around the world in order to save Ringo from a human-sacrifice cult in India. The film begs for a Post-Colonial analysis, but for its day it pushed the limits of cultural juxtapositioning, irreverent humor, and quick cutting.
The American-born Lester was precocious from the start; he entered college at 15 and was a successful director for CBS by age 20. He would give that up, though, to embark on a two-year bum's ride around the States, playing the guitar or piano for a meal. After this interlude, he came back to television; he fell in with Peter Sellers, who compounded his wacky sensibility, while spending time in England. Their relationship led to the television masterpiece "The Goon Show."
Lester wasn't always completely the nut -- but he was eclectic. He could embrace by turns the blockbuster ("Superman II, III"), the Western ("Butch and Sundance: The Early Days"), or the swashbuckler ("The Three Musketeers," "The Four Musketeers"). He could also move into serious drama. "Petulia" surprised many critics for its mature and honest exploration of romantic relationships. The film dwells heavily on mood, characterization, and psychological ambiguity, and became a source of inspiration to the American directors of Coppola's generation.
Calling him a genius would be too much. However, he kept testing himself, kept moving in new directions, and kept exploring. Art is supposed to be a serious affair, but Richard Lester showed that there's as much art in fun as there is in searching the soul.
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