First off, when I say “I Wanna Hold Your Hand,” I don’t mean the movie starring The Beatles. That’s an awesome movie and all, but the one I’m talking about was made in 1978 and was directed by Robert Zemekis and executive produced by Steven Speilberg. Yes, those guys.
I remember watching this movie growing up and always loving it because, I too, was a boy band fan girl. But these girls, these girls were the original boy band fangirls for The Beatles.
Thankfully the other day, I finally found a DVD copy of it on Amazon (click here if you want to get your own copy). I was so ecstatic… I’ve been looking for it for years. I had a bootleg copy I had burned on DVD, but finally, I have the real thing.
So what’s the movie about? The movie is about some kids from New Jersey, mostly three girls. One of them loves The Beatles. Like, she’s in love with Paul McCartney. Another can’t be bothered by them because she’s secretly going to elope with her boyfriend. The other? She’s a journalist and who just wants to get an exclusive photo of the boys when they are in New York City for “The Ed Sullivan Show.”
The girl above, that’s Rosie, the ecstatic Beatles fan. She reminds me a lot of me, but a lot more crazier than me. She’s passionate. She knows everything.
So the girls get the help of a guy whose father has a limo because a limo is really the only way you can get up to the door of the hotel in New York City. With another girl and two more guys, the teenagers set out for New York City.
Rosie is so crazy that she literally jumps out of a speeding car so that she can try to win tickets to “Ed Sullivan” off the radio.
And she doesn’t even bother putting the change in the payphone, she just throws the coins at it.
I won’t give away too much about the movie in case you haven’t seen it and want to see it, but even though it takes place in the early 1960s and is about The Beatles, there’s a lot of similarities when it comes to the things we do for the Backstreet Boys or New Kids on the Block.
I mean, on the cruise, people will stake out on the floor where the guys are staying. You’re on a boat with them in the middle of the ocean, is that not close enough? It’s very reminiscent of what fans did back in the Millennium days for Backstreet Boys.
The traveling by car with friends to try and find the boys and see them? Be there, done that.
Trying to win tickets on the radio to see them? If you only knew.
Seeing one of the guys’ guitars and looking at it in awe? Done it.
The movie is about a whole other generation, but it speaks volumes to me. I think every boy band fangirl should watch it somehow. Not only is it entertaining, but oh my God, if Backstreet Boys were in the 1960s and we were in that time period, this would have been a lot of us.
Best movie ever.
