‘I Wanna Hold Your Hand’: the Beatlemania comedy from Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis
Over the years, there have been countless movies that relate to The Beatles. From the films that the band themselves starred in during their time together to other works of cinema that explore the cultural legacy of the best-selling recording group of all time, like Sam Taylor-Johnson’s Nowhere Boy or Danny Boyle’s Yesterday.
In the late 1970s, American film legends Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis both got in on the Beatles act with the 1978 historical comedy I Wanna Hold Your Hand. Zemeckis was brand new to the feature-length directing game and made his debut with the movie, which also served as the first time that Spielberg had executive produced.
The film takes its title from the famous Beatles song of the same name, released back in 1963, and tells of a group of teenagers desperate to get into The Beatles’ first live appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964 with Zemeckis delivering a raucous comedy filled with fan service and moments of cultural nostalgia.
Nancy Allen, Bobby Di Cicco, Marc McClure and Susan Kendall Newman all feature in Zemeckis and Spielberg’s exploration of “Beatlemania” – the wave of cultural obsession that had gripped both the United Kingdom and the United States following the arrival of the Fab Four on the British music scene and their subsequent impact on the international circuit.
Zemeckis was at the time an untested director, so Spielberg, who had already enjoyed success with Jaws by the late 1970s, had to give Universal his word that if Zemeckis failed to do an adequate job in his first directing role, then he would step in and direct the film himself. Zemeckis did seem to do a good job with the movie, as it received a good preview and a positive critical response upon release. However, there was an issue with the marketing of the project that led to a poor box office.
The first-time director admitted that going to the preview for I Wanna Hold Your Hand was “one of the great memories of my life”, where the “audience just went wild [with] laughing and cheering. Sadly, though, Zemeckis had to learn a “sad lesson” that “just because a movie worked with a preview audience didn’t mean anyone wanted to go see it.”
The problem wasn’t that Zemeckis’ directorial debut wasn’t suitable for a wider audience, but that Universal seemed to not actually be interested in promoting the film properly. In an interview with DGA, the director of Forrest Gump and Back to the Future claimed that I Wanna Hold Your Hand turned out to be a “complete disaster”.
“I learned some sad news: it’s not an automatic thing that, if you make a good movie, everyone wants to see it,” he echoed. The numbers for the fresh filmmaker’s debut were “really high”, but a big lesson was laid down when it was finally released. “The job isn’t done when you’re finished making the movie,” Zemeckis explained. “You have to really get involved in the marketing.”
Still, Zemeckis and Spielberg’s I Wanna Hold Your Hand saw the two legendary directors tap into their love for The Beatles and the cultural nostalgia that they both grew up around. The joy and excitement found in many of Zemeckis’ future films can be found with a Beatles twist, taking audiences back to one of the most memorable musical events of the 20th century.
Check out the trailer for the film below.
Never Miss A Beat
The Far Out Beatles Newsletter
All the latest stories about The Beatles from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.