I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978)

Beatlemania comes to New York and four friends, each with a different motivation, are desperate to get tickets for The Beatles’ debut on the Ed Sullivan Show. With my own recent Beatles obsession, it seemed an opportune time to watch director Robert Zemeckis’s first feature film. I’m incredibly surprised that I had never seen this before and how perfect it was in encapsulating that one specific pop culture moment while barely even showing the actual musicians. I remember reading that the foursome on Sex and the City television show tried to cover the various opinions that women would have on any subject and the four girls here do the same: stereotypical Beatles fan Wendy Jo Sperber dreaming of a future as Mrs. Paul McCartney, ambitious Teresa Saldana trying to get a rare photo of the band, cynical Susan Kendall Newman staging a protest at their mere existence, and engaged Nancy Allen wanting one last fling with her friends. Aside from being relateable, it’s also incredibly entertaining.