Davy Jones Said The Monkees ‘Copied’ This ‘Corny’ Scene From The Beatles’ ‘A Hard Day’s Night’

The Beatles‘ movie A Hard Day’s Night inspired the creators of The Monkees‘ sitcom. Davy Jones once dismissed the idea that The Monkees was similar to A Hard Day’s Night. On the other hand, Jones once said a scene from The Monkees was directly lifted from A Hard Day’s Night.

Davy Jones felt The Monkees’ show was very different from the Beatles movie that inspired it

Bobby Hart co-wrote a handful of The Monkees’ songs. In his book Psychedelic Bubble Gum: Boyce & Hart, The Monkees, and Turning Mayhem into Miracles, he said The Monkees’ show was inspired by The Beatles’ movie A Hard Day’s Night. Despite this, Jones thought the similarities were minimal.

At one point in his book They Made a Monkee Out of Me, Jones dismissed the idea that The Monkees’ sitcom was similar to The Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night. “[Monkees writers Paul Mazursky and Larry Tucker] were true to their word and came up with this idea for a show,” he said. “It was based on The Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night — four rock ‘n’ roll musicians trying to make it — living together in a house on Malibu beach — sea, sand, surfboards.

“Replace the Pierre Cardin suits with bathing costumes … the two-two-down terraced houses of Liverpool with a rambling, California beach house … well, maybe it was nothing like A Hard Day’s Night,” Jones added. “Four guys in matching suits, I’ll give you that.”

Davy Jones acknowledged the similarity between The Monkees’ show and ‘A Hard Days’ Night’

Subsequently, Jones discussed shooting the pilot episode of The Monkees. “It was shot at this private club on some huge estate,” he recalled. “We copied the romp scene straight out of A Hard Day’s Night — all sped-up stuff with us falling down, doing handstands, bumping into each other. Real corny — but it worked. I suppose it was the first time it’d been done on television.” Jones said the editing style of The Monkees seemed to come from that episode.

The way the world reacted to the music from The Beatles’ ‘A Hard Days’ Night’

Whether it was similar to The Monkees or not, A Hard Day’s Night included some popular music. The film’s soundtrack album, A Hard Day’s Night, reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200, staying on the chart for 56 weeks. The album’s title song lasted 13 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, topping the chart for two weeks. 

The soundtrack of A Hard Day’s Night was popular in the United Kingdom as well. According to The Official Charts Company, the soundtrack spent 21 weeks at the top of the chart and 39 total weeks on the chart. Meanwhile, the title song spent three weeks at No. 1 and thirteen total weeks on the chart. A Hard Day’s Night was a pop culture phenomenon — and it definitely inspired a scene from The Monkees.