I Wanna Hold Your Hand

source: I Wanna Hold Your Hand

This takes places on February 8 1964 when the Beatles first appeared on the Ed Sullivan show. It's about 6 teenagers (4 girls, 2 boys) who want to see them for various reasons. Rosie (Wendie Jo Spreber) LOVES the Beatles; Janis (Susan Kendall Newman) hates them and wants to protest; Pam (Nancy Allen) is along for the ride and is getting married the next day; Grace (Theresa Saldana) is a reporter who wants an interview with them; Tony (Bobby DiCicco) is a hood and Larry (Marc McClure) drives them from NJ to NY to see them. Various complications occur. I'm way too young to remember back then (I was only 1!) but I heard this perfectly captures exactly what it was like back then with the hundreds of screaming girls trying to see the Beatles. The film is full of gags flying fast and furious. Not every one works and the film does have its dead spots (Allen being in their hotel room is kind of silly) but, all in all, this is lots of fun. The cast is young and appealing--Allen and Sperber especially are good. Also Will Jordan doing Ed Sullivan is more than a little amusing and it's always good to see Dick Miller (playing a police sergeant). Unfortunately Eddie Deezen is in this too and I find him completely annoying. Still, this is a must for Beatles fans and anyone who wants a good funny comedy. This was completely ignored when it came out but has since acquired a cult. Scenes to watch for: Jordan's opening talk to staff, a barbershop sequence (you'll know it), the concert sequence at the end (beautifully shot) and listen closely to Jordan's final line. Fast, funny and loads of fun. "I want you to be prepared for excessive screaming, hysteria, hyperventilation, fainting, fits, seizures, spasmodic convulsions even attempted suicide--all perfectly normal. It merely means these youngsters are enjoying themselves."

One of the funniest comedies I've seen in years. These teens went way beyond the call of duty in order to see the Fab 4 and their antics were truly hilarious. An absolutely perfect story showing the enthusiastic excitement of Beatlemania; including loads of old Beatle songs and a ending which was just right. What a trip!

This film is simply the best film to ever show how "Beatlemania" really was, it really gives you a feel of what it must have been like for the teens of 1964 anticipating the arrival of The Beatles on Ed Sullivan. Lots of familiar faces in the cast, especially the gorgeous Nancy Allen, and the dude who plays Jimmy Olsen in the original Superman films. Of course you have to suspend belief to a small degree, you have to ignore that the actors playing The Beatles live don't have the moves shown on the real Ed Sullivan show at the same time on TV monitors down totally even, but that can be easily forgiven because that's a tough job. Plus as all Beatlesheads know, the group didn't perform just one song on the show (anytime they were on Sullivan they always played more than one). But hey this is a movie so dramatic license is needed, and watching the crowd go completely nuts as The Beatles perform "She Loves You" brings everything to a satisfying climax, in more ways than one apparently for Nancy's character. And a great ending! Of course this can't begin to touch "A Hard Day's Night" but it is second only to that film in showing what Beatlemania was in 1964 as the band took over America. And two years before John's "we are bigger than Jesus" comment (taken out of context of course, but John WAS a wimp for apologizing) it is good to see that God wasn't going to allow anything to stop The Beatles broadcast! The one bad thing about this film is that it has Steven Spielberg's name on it, because he is an overrated hack, but thankfully he is just the "executive producer" and didn't actually direct the film, because then it'd be horrible.

As someone who never experienced Beatlmania when it first started, "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" helps me experience it as best as possible. The plot centers on some teenage girls who want to see the Fab Four on "The Ed Sullivan Show" in 1964. But the movie's highlight is geeky Eddie Deezen as Richard "Ringo" Klaus. His performance alone pretty much carries the movie. Of course, the movie's real star is the music. With all of the Beatles' songs, there's never a dull moment in the movie. Also really funny is Bobby DiCicco as Beatle-hating Tony Smerko; he has some great scenes. It's hard to believe that Robert Zemeckis started here. As an extra note, many of the cast members appeared in "1941" the next year. Needless to say, Eddie Deezen played the same sort of character.

The most important thing about the Beatles arriving in America in January of 1964 to appear on the Ed Sullivan Show is not even mentioned in I Wanna Hold Your Hand. The fact is we were a nation in mourning with our young president slain. The Beatles coming to America was the first thing as a country we got any kind of excited about. I Wanna Hold Your Hand is the story of four young teen girls from New Jersey, Nancy Allen, Wendy Jo Sperber, Susan Kendall Newman, and Theresa Saldana and their quest to see the Beatles up close and personal and maybe get tickets to the Ed Sullivan Show. They inveigle young Marc McClure who is the son of a funeral director in their town to use his limousine, the better to get up to the hotel the Liverpool Lads are staying at. They also pick up Bobby DiCicco who hates the Beatles as foreigners and who are taking the place of his idols the Four Seasons. He's on a mission of his own to halt the broadcast by fair or foul. As history tells us he failed, but you got to see what intervened to prevent him from carrying out his task. Best in the film is Wendy Jo Sperber, the Beatlemaniac on steroids. She is hilarious in her attempts to get to her Fab Four. Most annoying in the film is Eddie Deezen the nerdy kid she teams up with in her quest. I mean he comes off like SuperNerd, his lack of social graces is painful to watch. Pieces and whole songs from The Beatles are heard throughout the film, fans will love it. Robert Zemeckis who directed and wrote the film had a real feel for those crazy times in New York in 1964.

I rented this film on a spur of the moment thing. I saw it in the comedy section of my local video store and thought, oh a film about The Beatles and their fans, this ought to be a gas. Wrong. The historical footage is very well integrated in the film. You never see the faux Beatles up close and you see the "real" Beatles on various TV sets and so on. That's good. Now that the only good element of the film has been taken care of, let's go explore the bad points. First off: the characters! My God are they common, stereotypes and annoying! Okay, we all expected girls to cry, to yell, to shout, to faint. Fine, but did they all have to have such powerful annoying voices? And i think about the main character here, Miss Rosie. It's an easy slapstick adventure, when people fall constantly, stupidity rules and luck has everything to do with the movie. There are very few Beatles songs in the film, and it seems it's always the same ones that play over and over again. I don't want to continue, this is bringing me down. Don't rent this unless you're deaf.

Group of girlfriends scheme to see The Beatles when they come to New York City to appear on Ed Sullivan's television program in 1964. Fresh, fast-paced representation of obsessed fandom, coupled with canny recreation of an nostalgic era. Unfortunately, the story has nowhere in particular to go in the third act and resorts to ridiculous slapstick. Still, for the first three-quarters of the way, a very bright, sometimes exhilarating feature which never found its audience (the majority of the press it generated was in regards to Steven Spielberg's co-producer association). The young cast is quite good, though they are sometimes encouraged to overdo it. **1/2 from ****

When you think about the 60's, what do you remember from that decade? The Beatles of course! And this movie tells about the 60's and the Beatles. And there are these American teenagers who just have to see this British group called the Beatles. And what would be a better way to see them than go to Ed Sullivan show, where the Beatles perform.And believe me, it's not going to be that easy. I Wanna hold your Hand is a great movie with great actors. Although this movie was made in the 70's, it shows you what the 60's was all about.

There is a scene that takes place about three quarters of the way through this film that is not only one of the ten funniest scenes in the history of movie-making, but probably does even a better job of summing up what the year 1964 was all about than Dr. Strangelove. It involves Christian Juttner, who must confront an evil looking one-eyed barber, and a snake-like pair of electric clippers. And forget Burt Lancaster & Deborah Kerr on the beach in "From Here To Eternity." For sheer lustful passion, that scene doesn't even come close to Nancy Allen's roll in the hay with Paul McCartney's Hoffner bass. A flawless masterpiece!