Back in February, 1964, mobs of hysterical American teenagers thronged together to stage a series of near-riotous demonstrations that were unequaled even by their own mothers' ranting, raving, clawing and swooning over Frank Sinatra in the early 1940s. The "youth explosion" in 1964 was over the Beatles, who came to New York to make their first American appearance, "live" on the Ed Sullivan television show. At the airport, in front of the Beatles' hotel and in the balcony of the theatre used for the Ed Sullivan broadcast, the "turned on" youngsters sang, shouted, screamed and shrieked their welcome to their new-found idols. To this day, Beatlemania persists—somewhat less frantic in its expression but nonetheless potent in its appeal.

Saluting this continuing phenomenon is the raucous comedy, I Wanna Hold Your Hand, a movie which follows the wild adventures of six appealing youngsters from New Jersey who journey to New York to become part of the Beatles-inspired mass hysteria and, more important, to somehow get their hands on the prized tickets that will get them into the Ed Sullivan TV show audience to see and hear the fabulous four mop-tops in-the-flesh. In this quest, no holds are barred and anything goes.

I Wanna Hold Your Hand was produced by Tamara Asseyev and Alex Rose, with Steven Spielberg serving as executive producer. (The film is Spielberg's first as a producer.) An exciting ensemble of young talents star, including Nancy Allen, Bobby Di Cicco, Marc McClure, Susan Kendall Newman, Theresa Saldana, Wendie Jo Sperber and Eddie Deezen. The movie was the directorial feature debut of Robert Zemeckis, who co-wrote the screenplay with Bob Gale, who also served as associate producer. Zemeckis and Gale would go on to create rowdy and raunchy comedy Used Cars for producer Steven Spielberg before launching into movie history with the team's Back to the Future series.