Looking at the life of John Lennon through his guitars

Credit: Bent Rej

Dick Lester: the film director who said no to John Lennon

Wed 23 November 2022 19:30, UK

John Lennon was not used to hearing the word ‘no’. Typically, the Beatle had his way, but that wasn’t the case on the set of the film, A Hard Day’s Night, with director Dick Lester unafraid to say no.

The opportunity to work with The Beatles was Lester’s big break, and he was still relatively new to life as a director. He knew it was important to stamp his authority on the four-piece, despite them being some of the most famous faces on the planet. However, when it came to filmmaking, Lester was the expert, and he made sure to remind everyone of that fact.

During the filming, Lennon struck up a friendship with Lester, which had a lasting impact on the director. “John was not known to suffer fools, and I probably fell into the fool category,” Lester said (via the Express). “He was always willing to skewer the pomposity around him, and I think there can’t be any more pompous person on a set than the director. So, I have wounds. But I have a huge, huge admiration for John.”

He added: “I think I can take all his criticisms [as] they were meant in the best possible taste. I hope I formed a relationship with all of them. I spent a lot of time with John; I was never less than impressed. He’s one of the three or four people in my life that shaped me.”

Lester always took the time to listen to Lennon’s criticism, even if he didn’t take it on board. On one occasion, they disagreed over the track, ‘I’ll Cry Instead’, which Lennon had written exclusively for the film, yet, Lester had no interest in using it in the production.

Speaking to David Sheff in 1980 for Playboy, Lennon confessed: “I wrote that for A Hard Day’s Night, but Dick Lester didn’t even want it. He resurrected ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’ for that sequence instead. I like the middle eight to that song, though – that’s about all I can say about it.”

The song still appeared in the soundtrack album for the film, but it didn’t make the motion picture as Lennon envisaged. On ‘I’ll Cry Instead’, he wrote about growing tired of the fame and success which surrounded him despite it once being everything he craved. Simultaneously, his marriage was collapsing before his very eyes, altering his mindset on life.

For his first wife, Cynthia, ‘I’ll Cry Instead’ is a heartbreaking song which reminds her of a dark time. She once said it reflects “the frustration he felt at that time. He was the idol of millions, but the freedom and fun of the early days had gone.”

Listen below to ‘I’ll Cry Instead’ and decide whether Lester was correct to leave it out of A Hard Day’s Night.