I Wanna Hold Your Hand (Robert Zemeckis, 1978)

I watched this comedy about Jersey teens trying to score tickets to see the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show immediately after Some Like It Hot and it's the far more raucous film. And far more violent too! Zemeckis' teens are Merrie Melodies characters tossed about like so much cel animation. They fall off cars, jump from moving cars, jump into moving cars, crash into other cars, pile drive through other teens, tumble down stairs, get electrocuted, crash through glass, etc. I yelled out in horror several times, just like I did in the putative comedy The Long, Long Trailer (Vincente Minnelli, 1954). Much of this activity comes from the great physical comedian Wendie Jo Sperber and it's enough to mourn the richer career she deserved.

And there's something to the proceedings of the delirious irrational enlargement practiced by the Surrealists. This isn't just a function of inserting fictional characters into a real event but having one of those characters try to prevent that event from ever happening. Just imagine how history might have changed had a crazed greaseball managed to destroy the CBS transmitter thereby depriving millions of screaming to the Fab Four. Well, not much; the mania had long since conquered the USA and the Fab Four's appearance was meant to consecrate it. Nevertheless, I Wanna Hold Your Hand never takes a breath and, as such, is one of the most accurate representations of fandom on film. 

Grade: A