Line #67 Film/IWannaHoldYourHand


1	[[quoteright:305:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/i_wanna_hold_your_hand_movie_poster.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:305:''"[[MockingSingSong YEAH, YEAH, YEAH, I wanna hold yer GLAAAAAND.....]]"'']]
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4	->''"I want you to be prepared for excessive screaming, hysteria, hyperventilating, fainting, fits, seizures, spasmodic convulsions, even attempted suicides; it's all perfectly normal. It merely means that these youngsters are enjoying themselves."''
5	-->-- '''[[Series/TheEdSullivanShow Ed Sullivan]]''', in the intro [[note]]played by impersonator Will Jordan[[/note]]
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7	''I Wanna Hold Your Hand'' is a 1978 [[ComingOfAgeStory coming-of-age]] comedy film that marks the directorial debut of Creator/RobertZemeckis, as well as Creator/StevenSpielberg's first movie as an executive producer. The cast includes Creator/NancyAllen, Bobby Di Cicco, Creator/MarcMcClure, Susan Kendall Newman, Theresa Saldana, Creator/WendieJoSperber, and Creator/EddieDeezen.
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9	It's February 9th, 1964, and Music/TheBeatles are bringing the fever of Beatlemania to the United States for the first time. Specifically, it's the band's debut on ''Series/TheEdSullivanShow'', and they're about to be greeted with a history-making reception in America (and potentially go deaf from [[{{Squee}} their newfound fanbase]]).
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11	This movie follows a group of teenagers--[[FanGirl hysterical fangirl]] Rosie (Sperber), recently-engaged Pam (Allen), aspiring photographer Grace (Saldana), Beatle-hater Janis (Newman), [[{{Jerkass}} obnoxious bully]] Tony (Di Cicco), and Larry ([=McClure=]), who's driving--as they travel from Maplewood, New Jersey into Manhattan on their quest to see the Fab Four in person, both for their appearance at the Ed Sullivan Theater and at the hotel where they're staying. Upon arriving in the city, they have to contend with a ''rabid'' crowd of Beatlemaniacs outside the hotel, a ton of security, and Richard (Deezen), a Beatles superfan. HilarityEnsues.
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13	The soundtrack features many early Beatles hits: "I Want to Hold Your Hand," "Please Please Me," "I Saw Her Standing There," "Twist and Shout," "Money (That's What I Want)," "She Loves You" and much more.
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15	----
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17	!!Tropes associated with ''I Wanna Hol''- OH MY GOD!!! OH MY GOD IT'S [[Music/PaulMcCartney PAUL]]!!! I'M GONNA DIE!!!
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19	* AbusiveParents: In New York, we meet Peter, a young boy with a mop top haircut, but shortly afterward we meet his grouchy, domineering, shaming father who stole Peter's Ed Sullivan tickets from him and won't give them back unless he buzzes off his hair.
20	* ActorAllusion: When Tony's trying to pick up the two girls at the diner, one of them says he looks like Paul - not knowing they mean Music/PaulMcCartney (which pushes his BerserkButton), he claims to resemble Creator/PaulNewman. Susan Kendall Newman, who plays Janis, was Newman's daughter.
21	* AndImTheQueenOfSheba: When a security guard catches Grace on the stage, she claims she's a member of the press taking pictures, to which the guard retorts, "Yeah, and I'm Series/CaptainKangaroo."
22	* BeenThereShapedHistory: At the end, after Grace and Larry [[spoiler:failed to get in]], [[spoiler:the Beatles themselves end up in their car after the show and they get to drive them away]].
23	* BigApplesauce: By way of {{Joisey}}.
24	* BroadStrokes:
25	** The band are depicted as the last act of the night, with the sole performance of "She Loves You." In actuality, they performed twice on the show, and played some other songs as well, including "All My Loving," "Till There Was You," "I Saw Her Standing There" and "I Want To Hold Your Hand." This may be a case of RuleOfDrama.
26	** Ed Sullivan (well, this universe's version of Ed Sullivan) claims he first saw the Beatles perform in England while on a trip with his wife, but in actuality, he first saw their performance on the CBS Evening News. The booking was based on Sullivan seeing the huge reaction to the Beatles at London's Heathrow Airport, which delayed his flight.
27	* CelebCrush: Rosie, Pam and Grace all have this to varying degrees, but Rosie goes ''hard''.
28	* CelebrityParadox: When Ed Sullivan mentions the show that's coming on the following week, among the acts scheduled is Will Jordan, who is playing Sullivan in the movie.
29	* CelebrityResemblance: A RunningGag. The huge crowd at the hotel go nuts at anything that even ''looks'' like a mop top hairdo.
30	* CrowdSong: The crowd make one up while waiting to catch a glimpse of the band.
31	* CutTheJuice: A particularly grandiose example gets ultimately [[AvertedTrope averted]]. [[spoiler: Tony steals a fire axe from the CBS studios, climbs the tower outside and attempts to cut the satellite signal to "end this Beatles bullshit once and for all!" Fortunately, lightning strikes his axe and he falls.]]
32	* DidntThinkThisThrough: Rosie refuses to get off a hotel elevator with the others because she wants to try and get closer to the Beatles. She's literally caught by security at the next floor up.
33	* DoggedNiceGuy: Larry.
34	* DrivesLikeCrazy: Larry on his way to the theatre near the end, with a terrified Grace in tow.
35	* DrowningMySorrows: Poor Larry does this after [[spoiler:Grace runs off to impersonate an escort]].
36	* {{Expy}}: Each of the four girls shares the first letter of their first name with one of the Beatles, and has a personality that corresponds loosely to that Beatle's public persona:
37	** Pam = Paul (according to the authors' outline, both are "together and cute")
38	** Janis = John ("worldly, cynical")
39	** Grace = George ("quiet and serious")
40	** Rosie = Ringo ("clutzy and short")
41	* TheFaceless: In person, the Beatles' faces are never clearly seen except through real footage. Only their feet and the backs of their heads are.
42	* {{Fangirl}}s: [[PeripheryDemographic And some]] {{Fanboy}}s, like Peter!
43	* ForeignCultureFetish: Rosie, because the Beatles are British.
44	* GroupieBrigade: As is typical in any portrayal of Beatlemania, but this movie plays it up to the point of it being a RunningGag.
45	* {{Hatedom}}: In-universe example. A Beatles backlash gets some time in the plot, most often through Janis and Tony.
46	* [[spoiler:HeelFaceTurn: Janis finally warms up to the phenomenon in the latter half.]]
47	* {{Hipster}}: Janis is a 60s version of this.
48	* InnocentInnuendo: The scene where Grace is forced to hide in a hotel room closet, and hears a man and a female escort giggling and moaning. By the time she gets out, [[spoiler: she finds her rubbing mayonnaise on his bald head.]]
49	* ITakeOffenceToThatLastOne: Richard, when he and Rosie are confronted by a cop.
50	-->'''Sergeant Brenner:''' Now I got you, you little shithead!\
51	'''Richard:''' Who are you calling "little?"
52	* ItsPopularNowItSucks: Invoked. Rosie accuses Janis of being this kind of person.
53	* {{Jerkass}}: Tony is a lecherous, bullying, spiteful, lunkheaded prick. In his first scene, he invites himself on the trip by jumping from his buddies' car to theirs, then steals Larry's wallet and rifles through it.
54	** Also, Peter's stern, old-fashioned dad, who insists on cutting Peter's hair to "look like a marine."
55	** [[spoiler: Pam's fiance, Eddie, turns out to be a grouchy stick-in-the-mud, and Pam calls the engagement off before the show.]]
56	* TheOldestProfession: [[spoiler:Grace]] attempts this, in a last ditch effort to get money for the tickets. [[GoneHorriblyWrong It doesn't exactly work out as planned.]]
57	* {{Otaku}}: Richard, to ridiculous levels.
58	* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: The main cast, of course, most of whom are obviously great friends (besides [[{{Jerkass}} Tony]]), but all of whom have radically different ways of dealing with the stress of New York, and the madness that is Beatlemania.
59	* SeriousBusiness: All things Beatles, especially to Rosie and Richard.
60	* ShoutOut: ''So'' many Beatles references. An old lady complains in an elevator to Rosie that fans are behaving "all [[Music/TheWhiteAlbum helter skelter]]."
61	** Hell, one of the main characters is named Pam. As in, "[[Music/AbbeyRoad Polythene Pam]]".
62	** An old man requests an escort to come to his room. What room? [[Music/LetItBe 909]].
63	** Security fending off angry Beatlemaniacs during a scuffle with Janet in the street: ''"Get back! GET BACK!!"''
64	* {{Slapstick}}: There's a lot of chases and tumbling over things in this movie. Rosie is usually involved.
65	* {{Squee}}: TheMovie.
66	* StalkerWithACrush: Non-romantic example... [[OnSecondThought maybe]]. While Rosie is a screaming fangirl, Richard is absolutely ''obsessed.'' He even set up a StalkerShrine in the hotel. [[spoiler: And it's not even his room!]]
67	* [[StopHavingFunGuy "Stop Having Fun" Girl]]: Janis, whenever she goes on her anti-Beatle tirades. She even interrupts an ENG report on the street to yell ''"Exterminate the Beatles!"''
68	* TheVamp: Grace pulls this trope to get Larry to drive them all to New York. [[spoiler:And almost does it again to impersonate a female escort.]]
69	* WeNeedADistraction: [[spoiler:Takes two tries at this to get the tickets away from Peter's dad.]]

Context Film / IWannaHoldYourHand