I Wanna Hold Your Hand

I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978) is Robert Zemeckis's feature debut — watch it online on iFILM. February 1964: The Beatles are landing in America for the first time, and a group of New Jersey teenagers decide they absolutely must get into the Ed Sullivan Show taping. No tickets. No real plan. One borrowed limousine.

Nancy Allen, Wendy Jo Sperber and Bobby Di Cicco lead the ensemble — a true believer, an aspiring photographer desperate to get a shot of the band, and a troublemaker who wants to crash the whole thing. Steven Spielberg produced the film, which is how a first-time director got the budget to pull it off.

The Beatles themselves never appear on screen, yet the film captures the particular madness of that week with a comic precision that most documentaries miss. The jokes land because the characters are fully committed. Stream I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978) online on iFILM.