Main Cast: Nancy Allen, Bobby Di Cicco, Marc McClure, Susan Kendall Newman, Theresa Saldana
Release Year: 1978
Country: US
Run Time: 104 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
The time is 1964, and the Beatles, already a hugely popular group, are about to go on the Ed Sullivan Show for the first time, an appearance that launched them into a worldwide phenomenon. Already, girls are fainting during their concerts from sheer excitement at being in the same theater with them. Pam Mitchell (Nancy Allen) is happy enough to be getting married but wants to bed one of the "Fab Four" before she does. Grace Corrigan (Theresa Saldana), a dedicated fan, is certain that if she can get some exclusive photos of the Beatles, her career as a photographer will be secured. And then there are two people who feel that the future of civilization as we know it depends on their efforts to ruin the Beatles' appearance on Ed Sullivan's show. In this madcap comedy, when these people (and others besides) descend on the New York hotel the Beatles are staying in, things begin hopping. This comedy was Robert Zemeckis' first feature. A protégé of Stephen Spielberg, he went on to direct Forrest Gump, Back to the Future, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit? among other popular features. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
Review
This amiable period piece is essentially a dry run for the madcap comedic style Robert Zemeckis would later perfect in Back to the Future. The script, which Zemeckis co-wrote with Bob Gale, does a great job of re-creating the atmosphere of Beatlemania and is full of clever bits of period detail. Unfortunately, the characters lack the depth that would really allow the viewers to invest themselves in the story and the pacing periodically lags in the midsection due to too many divergent plot threads (no one character ever becomes the heart of the story). Despite these problems, I Wanna Hold Your Hand remains a fun and worthwhile film thanks to its contagious sense of fun. This spirit is brought to life by a game cast. Nancy Allen adds a bit of emotional weight as an engaged girl who has second thoughts when hit by Beatles fever and Wendie Jo Sperber and Eddie Deezen make the ultimate slapstick comedy couple as they lay waste to everything in their path to get their Ed Sullivan Show tickets. I Wanna Hold Your Hand further benefits from skillful direction by Zemeckis, who shows the flair for comedic set pieces that would serve him well throughout the first part of his career. In the end, I Wanna Hold Your Hand is a lightweight but likable comedy that is worth a look for nostalgic Beatles buffs and fans of Zemeckis. ~ Donald Guarisco, All Movie Guide
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; Wil Albert - Goldman; Luke Andreas - Police Officer in Alley; Derek Barton - Driver; Ivy Bethune - Foreigner; Victor Brandt - Foley; Ed Call - Reporter; Vito Carenzo - CBS Security Guard; Kristine de Bell - Cindy, the Hooker; Michael Hewitson - Neil; Poppy Lagos - Reporter; Gene Lebell - Reese; Sherry Lynn - Cafeteria Girl; John Malloy - Reporter; Bob Maroff - Bartender; Troy Melton - Guard; Dick Miller - Sgt. Bresner; Boyd "Red" Morgan - Peter's Father; Jim Nickerson; George Sawava; Newt Arnold - Barber; Marilyn Fox - Interviewee; Chuck Waters; Marilyn Moe - Woman on Elevator; Roger Pancake - Sergeant; Larry Pines; Dave Adams - Reporter; Nick Pellegrino - Lou
Credit
Peter Jamison - Art Director, Bob Gale - Associate Producer, Rosanna Norton - Costume Designer, Newt Arnold - First Assistant Director, Robert Zemeckis - Director, Frank Morriss - Editor, Steven Spielberg - Executive Producer, Donald M. Morgan - Cinematographer, Tamara Asseyev - Producer, Alex Rose - Producer, John M. Dwyer - Set Designer, Albert J. Whitlock - Special Effects, Curtis Dickson - Special Effects, Don Sharpless - Sound/Sound Designer, Bob Gale - Screenwriter, Robert Zemeckis - Screenwriter, The Beatles - Featured Music, John Lennon - Featured Music
I Wanna Hold Your Hand is a comedyfilm directed and co-written by Robert Zemeckis that takes its name from the 1963 Beatlessong. It was produced and co-written by Bob Gale. The film is about "Beatlemania" and is a fictionalized account of the day of the Beatles' first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show (February 9, 1964). It was released in 1978 by Universal Studios.
The movie was Robert Zemeckis' directorial debut. Even though the film was modestly budgeted, in order to convince Universal to bankroll the film, Steven Spielberg had to promise studio executives that, if Zemeckis was seen to be doing a markedly poor job, he would step in and direct the film himself.[1]
Despite positive previews and critical response (The New York Times wrote that "the whole film sparkles with a boisterous lunacy" and called its plot "positively dazzling"),[2] the film was not a financial success and was considered a flop, unable to recoup its rather modest $2.8 million budget. Zemeckis later said, "One of the great memories in my life is going to the preview. I didn't know what to expect [but] the audience just went wild. They were laughing and cheering. It was just great. Then we learned a really sad lesson....just because a movie worked with a preview audience didn't mean anyone wanted to go see it."[3]
Over a year later, in December 1979, four of the film's stars - Bobby DiCicco, Wendy Jo Sperber, Nancy Allen and Eddie Deezen - appeared in the Spielberg-directed comedy movie 1941, which was written by Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis.
The time is 1964; The Beatles are about to go on the Ed Sullivan Show for the first time. Girls are fainting during their concerts from sheer excitement at being in the same theater with them. Pam Mitchell (Nancy Allen) is about to get married but wants to bed one of the guys before she does. Rosie Petrofsky (Wendie Jo Sperber), a very huge fan, just wants to be in the show with her idols, and Grace Corrigan (Theresa Saldana), is certain that if she can get some exclusive photos of The Beatles, her career as a photographer will be secured.
Soundtrack
The film's soundtrack also features a total of 17 original Beatles recordings. They are:
The song "She Loves You" was featured twice toward the end of the film. The first time was during the group's appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show on Sunday - February 9, 1964. For this sequence of the film, stand-in Beatle-lookalike doubles, dressed in identical attire and holding the same type of musical instruments in a similar manner, were seen mimicking the group's performance of the song from that show while being shown on the stage floor, albeit from a distance so as not to see their identities, while the actual footage of The Beatles on The Sullivan Show of 02/09/1964 was revealed from the camera operator's point-of-view. These two elements were combined together, along with reactions from the studio audience to recreate a brilliant moment in time. The second time "She Loves You" was featured occurred during the film's end credits.
Other songs by the Beatles, that were to be published years after their appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, are referenced as in-jokes throughout the film. They are:
"Helter Skelter", mentioned by an aristocratic woman who sojourns at the Beatles' hotel ("Things are all helter skelter!");
"Get Back", mentioned by a cop trying to calm a riot against his arrest of a very young Beatles' fan ("Get back girls, get back!");
"One After 909", "909" being the number of the hotel room of a man who is searching for a hooker in New York;
"Polythene Pam", in the name of "Pam Mitchell", the girl that manages to sneak inside the Beatles' room and then has fetishistic behaviours towards objects and musical instruments belonging to the group. "Polythene Pam" was inspired by an evening that John spent with poet Royston Ellis and his girlfriend, Stephanie. The three wore polythene (a common British contraction of the word and the IUPAC version of the word polyethylene) bags and slept in the same bed out of curiosity about kinky sex.
"Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)", mentioned by a member of the Beatles' staff named Neil (probably a reference to the Beatles' road manager and personal assistantNeil Aspinall) while speaking to a cop after Pam has been discovered lying under John Lennon's bed ("Is that the bird that was under Lennon's bed?", a reference to a widespread interpretation that sees in "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" a confession of adultery).
"Girl", once again during the scene in which Pam is discovered: the cop doesn't get the aforementioned "bird" allusion, and Neil promptly states: "Girl"; to make this reference even clearer, the cop answers: "Girl, girl" (mimicking the chorus of the song). Noticeably, as the dialogue goes on, Neil speaks about an arrangement he made with Brian (a reference to the real Beatles' manager Brian Epstein) concerning how to handle the situation with the press.
References
^ Shone, Tom. Blockbuster: How Hollywood Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Summer. New York: Free Press, 2004. p. 125. ISBN 0-7432-3568-1
