I Wanna Hold Your Hand movie storyline. Beatlemania has swept the US, most specifically New York City, on the eve of The Beatles’ first ever performance in the country on Toast of the Town (1948) on Sunday, February 9, 1964. Teenaged friends Pam Mitchell, Grace Corrigan and Rosie Petrofsky of nearby Maplewood, New Jersey are as big Beatles fans as anyone.
Grace, who wants to take exclusive photographs of the Beatles to launch her photojournalism career, comes up with a plan for the three of them to get into the hotel where the Beatles are staying. Pam goes along despite her own previous plans to elope with her boyfriend Eddie Lupus the next night, the night of the show.
Also along for the ride are their friend Janis Goldman, whose primary activity in life is to protest for a cause (in this case how the Beatles have unfairly taken over all aspect of life), tough guy Tony Smerko who hates the “Limey fairies” but loves Janis, and Larry Dubois whose father has the necessary vehicle to pull off the plan.
As they arrive at the hotel on the morning of the show, as the Beatles themselves move between the hotel and the studio for their rehearsal and performance, and as the friends try to track the Beatles movements during the day, the friends get separated. But their day is spent with other people who have their own Beatles related objectives.
I Wanna Hold Your Hand is a 1978 American comedy film co-written and directed by Robert Zemeckis, which takes its name from the 1963 song “I Want to Hold Your Hand” by the Beatles. 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 Pictures. The film is the feature film directorial debut of Robert Zemeckis and also the first film that Steven Spielberg executive produced. Even though modestly budgeted, in order to convince Universal to bankroll it, 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.
Despite positive previews and critical response, 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.”
Over a year later, in December 1979, four of the film’s stars—Bobby DiCicco, Wendie Jo Sperber, Nancy Allen and Eddie Deezen—appeared in the Spielberg-directed comedy film 1941, which was also written by Gale and Zemeckis. Susan Kendall Newman, who played Janis Goldman, is the daughter of Paul Newman and Jackie Witte.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack features 17 original Beatles recordings:
“I Want to Hold Your Hand”
“Please Please Me”
“I Saw Her Standing There”
“Thank You Girl”
“Boys”
“Twist and Shout”
“Misery”
“Till There Was You”
“Love Me Do”
“Do You Want to Know a Secret?”
“P.S. I Love You”
“Please Mister Postman”
“From Me to You”
“Money (That’s What I Want)”
“There’s a Place”
“I Wanna Be Your Man”
“She Loves You”
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 February 9, 1964. For this sequence, stand-in Beatle lookalikes, dressed in identical attire and holding 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. The actual footage of the Beatles was revealed from the camera operator’s point of view. These two elements were combined with reactions from the studio audience to recreate a historic moment in time. The second use of “She Loves You” came during the end credits.
I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978)
Directed by: Robert Zemeckis
Starring: Nancy Allen, Bobby Di Cicco, Marc McClure, Susan Kendall Newman, Theresa Saldana, Wendie Jo Sperber, Eddie Deezen, Christian Juttner, Kristine DeBell, Richard Singer, Claude Earl Jones
Screenplay by: Robert Zemeckis, Bob Gale
Cinematography by: Donald M. Morgan
Film Editing by: Frank Morriss
Costume Design by: Rosanna Norton
Set Decoration by: John M. Dwyer
Art Direction by: Peter Jamison
Music by: The Beatles
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Universal Pictures
Release Date: April 21, 1978
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