Noche de rock

This might be Corman's most interesting film. Having just gone through all of Joel Schumacher's work, I was reminded of his Amateur Night at the Dixie Bar and Grill along with the obvious Robert Altman influences on Schumacher's early work, and here's Corman doing something similar right about the same time Altman was releasing his first documentary. I don't think it quite works, though. The script by Griffith is mostly undone by a weird structure that feels repetitive and then delayed in weird ways, but there's an actual attempt at character that works decently well. It really feels like about 2 years into their careers as director and writer, having made nearly a dozen films already, that Corman and Griffith are just getting better at this movie-making game.

At a little dive bar run by Al (Robin Morse), we see The Platters sing a song before they disappear from the film after the first ten minutes (reading up on the film, this was a production issue that Corman's tight scheduling both created and couldn't solve). Into this comes Shorty (Dick Miller), an irate, confrontational young man who contradicts just about everyone. Also, into this comes Sir Bop (Mel Welles), an odd promoter with a fake, greaser patois who's trying to push a new singer, Julie (Abby Dalton) onto Al. After the Platters perform and disappear, the movie focuses on Julie's stage fright, Shorty's unvarnished critique of her performance under those circumstances, Sir Bop's efforts to sell her act anyway with any band who will play, and some side business with more minor characters in the bar. The most entertaining of these is a couple played by Chris Alcaide and Jeanne Cooper who seem so detached from everything happening that they feel like a Greek chorus commenting on the action.

The film is only an hour long, there's a great need for efficiency in storytelling, and wasting the first ten minutes on a musical act who doesn't come back while spending the next twenty minutes on small dramatic business without any hint of the larger story (that does come in) is a mistake from a scriptwriting point of view. It's when Jigger (Russell Johnson) shows up, having just robbed a place and being pursed by cops, that things actually get interesting.

It's the pressure cooker of emotion that a threat like Jigger represents, waving a gun around and shouting at people to keep quiet. He makes people focus on who they are, and since the character writing is actually half-way decent, especially around Julie and an up and coming boxer, Lester (Beech Dickerson). It's where Julie finds her voice and Lester discovers that despite his profession as a pugilist, he's actually a coward. It's decent stuff.

I just wish Jigger was introduced early and there was this sense of tension around who this guy was...does he have something to do with the reports on the radio of a robbery?...that sort of thing. Instead, we get that staccato structure that permeate Griffith's scripts where one section feels completely different from the next. This needed smoothing, something a rewrite could have accomplished had Corman given him the time to do it.

The little arcs people have get resolutions. It's nice. Shorty shows he's more than a mouth. Julie shows she can sing. It's good stuff. It is weird that Jigger forces Julie to sing to a record that supposedly only has backup singers on it, though.

So, it's actually nearly successful. There are structural issues around the first half that really hold things back, but ultimately, it's a little bottle drama that almost kind of works. Corman is getting better, and it's nice to see.

Rock All Night (1957)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

This quickie from AIP is basically two films rolled into one but fans of Corman and his cast of characters will probably find themselves entertained. The first half of the movie is a "rock and roll" picture as we countless musical acts including The Platters doing "I'm Sorry," and "He's Mine" as well as The Blockbusters doing "Rock All Night," "I Wanna Rock Now," and "Rock 'n' Roll Guitar" but the fun doesn't stop there as we get two more numbers. Then, the "other" part of the film takes place as a small group of characters are in a bar when a couple killers break in and hold them hostage while they think of a way to escape the police. It's amazing but this 65-minute flick is mainly just musical acts or filler if you will. The first thirty-five minutes feature non-stop music and between the tracks we're introduced to the characters that will take center stage in the second half. I must admit that I thought the film had a terrific flow to it and it turned out to be much better than I was expecting. For starters, the music itself is very good and it was fun seeing The Platters doing their numbers. I think the low-budget nature of the film hurt especially during the lip-syncing stuff because a lot of times the music isn't matching up with the lips. When the "crime" portion of the film started I think the main joy is seeing Corman regular Dick Miller getting to play the lead and not just the lead but a tough punk. Seeing Miller getting to play a tough guy not scared to fight anyone was very fun simply because you don't get to see that from him very often. I thought Miller handled the part quite well and it was just an all around kick seeing him play the tough guy. Robin Morse is also fun as the owner of the club and Mel Welles plays a "hipster" who is trying to promote a new singer played by Abby Dalton. Fan favorite Jonathan Haze is also on hand. You have to tip your hat to Corman who when bad could be really bad but when he got something right it was usually a lot of fun and he did it for very little money. ROCK ALL NIGHT isn't a masterpiece but it's fun to see the director try to mix two genres together and do it in such little time. The movie flies by without any slow moments so if you enjoy this type of film then it's certainly worth watching.

If you are like me and are interesting in seeing musical acts you can not see anymore like The Platters or The Blockbusters then this movie may be for you. If it doesn't in any way interest you than you might want to steer clear of this one. For this Roger Corman 50s flick is padded with musical numbers. Just think the duration of the movie is 62 minutes and I believe there are 7 songs in it! But it works as it is entertaining to see the acts perform and the pretty thin story isn't bad.

Dick Miller plays a cool cat they call Shorty. The film takes place in Cloud Nine which is a bar and is taken over by two punks (Russell Johnson and Jonathan Haze). Would have been interesting to extend the picture as in get more into the lives of the people in the bar and keep the hostage situation lasting much longer than it does. Seems like it only lasted 10 minutes and I knew the movie was ending soon. Sadly there wasn't much tension on the end. Good to see Miller in a starring role though and he is quite good in it. Screenplay by Charles B. Griffith, Story by Charles P. Harmon.

I watched this on YouTube because the Platters did a couple of numbers. Unfortunately the sound was out of sync through the whole movie, but I just ignored that. The opening was great, when a really cool-looking 1957 DeSoto (I think it was) with fins about as big as they ever got pulled up in front of the bar. I assumed the movie was going to be one of those kid rock festival things, like so many other 'rock' movies of the time, but it turned into a psychological drama. Not what I was looking for, but it was interesting enough that I kept watching. The fact that it was only 62 minutes long helped. It was really surprising to see Russell Johnson, the Professor from Gilligan's Island, as a bad guy. I looked at his credits, and I never realized before what an extensive career he had. As for the movie, I think the fact that it all took place in one spot, the bar, made it more interesting. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I think it could make an interesting play. Retro, of course. Kind of a study of 50's mentality. I'd say that the people's interactions were highly unrealistic, but that's part of 50's mentality - isn't it?

Roger Corman's films tend to be cheap and cheerful but this one's mostly just cheap. Mind you, the thin plot (baddies take a group of hostages) has been used for some $100,000,000 movies as well. Thirty minutes of talk, padded out with irrelevant songs. Mr Cameo himself, Dick Miller, turns up in a rare main role. (4/10)