I WANNA HOLD YOUR HAND

Three girls from New Jersey set their sites on going to New York to see The Beatles who are going to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show. Pam (Nancy Allen) wants to go to bed with one of The Beatles as her last fling before getting married. Grace (Theresa Saldana) wants to get some photos of The Beatles to start a career as a photographer and Rosie (Wendie Jo Sperber) just wants to see The Beatles, she's the representative of the pure fan.

I Wanna Hold Your Hand was Robert Zemeckis's (Back To The Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Forrest Gump) debut directorial effort. And he only got the chance because Steven Spielberg promised to step in and take over the directing if the movie wasn't going so good. Zemeckis also co-wrote the script.

I Wanna Hold Your Hand really captures the essence of Beatlemania Hysteria. All of the actors are believable with only Eddie Deezen, sometimes being a little over the top. The scene with Nancy Allen and her "love attack" on The Beatles hotel room is one you won't easily forget, especially between her and Paul's bass guitar. I won't say anymore about it since I don't want to give too much away.

The real standout among the cast is Wendie Jo Sperber, she really makes you believe that she is one more rabid Beatles fan. I was sad to find that she had died in 2005, but at least we have her portrayal of Rosie in I Wanna Hold Your Hand on film to treasure for years to come.

There's different little references to Beatles songs throughout the movie, but my favorite is that over and over many of the characters say "Yeah Yeah Yeah". All the songs on the soundtrack are Beatles songs and the movie is able to have The Beatles in I Wanna Hold Your Hand, without actually having them in the movie, an example of which I'm including below