I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978)

Director:

Robert Zemeckis

Writers:

Bob Gale (writer)
Robert Zemeckis (writer)

Release Date:

3 July 1985 (France)

Genre:

Comedy | Music | Romance

Tagline:

these youngsters are suffering from a highly contagious disease called beatlemania. The symptoms are...screaming hysteria hyperventilation fainting fits seizures and spasmodic convulsions It isn't fatal but it sure is fun.

Plot:

If they missed Beatles' first appearance in the U.S.A. they would hate themselves for the rest of their lives...

Plot Keywords:

New Jersey | Ticket | New York | New York City | Beatlemania

Cast

Nancy Allen	...	Pam Mitchell
Bobby Di Cicco	...	Tony Smerko
Marc McClure	...	Larry Dubois
Susan Kendall Newman	...	Janis Goldman
Theresa Saldana	...	Grace Corrigan
Wendie Jo Sperber	...	Rosie Petrofsky
Eddie Deezen	...	Richard 'Ringo' Klaus
Christian Juttner	...	Peter Plimpton
Will Jordan	...	Ed Sullivan
Read Morgan	...	Peter's Father
Claude Earl Jones	...	Al
James Houghton	...	Eddie
James Hewitson	...	Neil
Dick Miller	...	Sergeant Brenner
Vito Carenzo	...	CBS Security Guard

Also Known As:

Beatlemania (USA) (working title)
Beatles 4-Ever (USA) (original script title)

Runtime:

104 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | Finland:K-12 | USA:PG

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

Although the movie takes place in 1964, the titles of three of The Beatles' songs from later on in their career are mentioned: "Helter Skelter" (woman in hotel elevator says, "Things are all Helter Skelter"), "Get Back" (what the police tell the teenagers as they attempt to save Janis and Peter), and "909" (as in "The One After 909") - 909 is the room number of the man who wants a call girl.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: At the end of the "Ed Sullivan Show" broadcast in I WANNA HOLD YOUR HAND, the house orchestra is heard playing the "Toast of the Town" theme tune, which had been abandoned by Sullivan's production crew several years prior to the 1963-64 television season.

Quotes:

Rosie Petrofsky: [Rosie and "Ringo" are trapped in an elevator, when Ringo discovers the trap door on the top of the elevator] That looks dangerous!
Richard 'Ringo' Klaus: Not really. It's not as dangerous as when I got thrown off the Long Island Rail Road, and this isn't even moving.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Making of '1941' (1996) (V)

Funny film!

I remember seeing this film at three-thirty in the morning when I couldn't sleep and I was in the sixth grade. It was really funny and kept me awake until about five fifteen in the morning...and I had school to go to! Needless to say I never went back to sleep, and at school all I could talk about was this film. The film, directed by Robert Zemekis and produced by Steven Spielberg, is about the pandemonium that ensued when the Beatles came to America to play for Ed Sullivan. Naturally, this film being about teenagers, it appealed to a younger crowd, but an older one at this day and age, as it was the older crowd who were alive and witnessed this chaos. Nancy Allen and Theresa Saldana are great(what ever happened to her?) Wendie Jo Sperber as usual does a fine comedic performance, while Mark McClure and Eddie Deezen have funny little side roles. Written by Bob Gale and Zemeckis, this one is sure to be a laugh riot, almost as laugh out loud as 1941, but with more real life issues and realistic tones. A Funny Film!