Senior Prom

Yeah, I can see the producer pitching this one..."And there will be none of that damn Rock and Roll in MY picture...we'll feature REAL music!" Of course the "real" music is hammed-up show tunes with warmed over melodies and lyrics, sung by actors(?) that came straight off of Hollywood's D list.

Now they did have Louis and Keely, but you had to suffer through to the bitter end to see them. And who the hell were all the other "big names" that appeared at the prom? I was in High School in '58 and didn't recognize many of them...maybe Ed Sullivan.

And the biggest curse of all in this lame little loser? Tom (Billy Jack) Loughlin getting his butt whipped by some fair-haired fairy dude.

How did MST3K miss this one?

Terrible movie with unappealing leads is not the time capsule you were hoping for. This simplistic story about college students who act like 12-year-olds bills itself as a musical and boasts a number of star names as guest performers. Instead we get a tedious story and a parade of hideous songs sung by Paul Hampton, Jill Corey and others.

Hampton plays a hayseed who cuts a record (and it's AWFUL) and courts local rich girl (Corey) but she's been going with local rich boy (Tom Laughlin) who thinks they are engaged. Oh dear! Comic relief by James Komack and Barbara Bostock falls flat. Anyway, Hampton's song becomes a hit and he appears on 'The Ed Sullivan Show" and meets some "big stars" who show up at the prom.

The "big stars" include 10-second snippets of Bob Crosby, Connee Boswell, Jose Melis, Mitch Miller, Freddy Martin's Band, and Toni Arden. The big pull is the first film appearance of Louis Prima and Keely Smith. In the last minutes of the movie, they finally come on and sing their super rendition of "That Ol' Black Magic" with Sam Butera on sax.

Prima and Smith are terrific, but the wait is excruciating. The film completely bypasses anything that's even close to rock and roll of the era, despite the huge popularity of Elvis Presley, Ricky Nelson, Buddy Holly, etc.

Frieda Inescort is stuck playing the society mother, and Francis De Sales plays the golfing father. The rest of the "college students" are played by nobodies.

"Senior Prom" is a real movie musical comedy. It is nothing like the early Rock 'n Roll movies made by Columbia, as well as other studios, during this period. There is a Broadway quality score with music by Don Gohman and lyrics by Hal Hackady. Hackady was a good theatrical writer who never seemed to be able to hit it big on Broadway. His work compares well with other Broadway writers of this period. The film is filled with integrated musical numbers performed by Jill Corey, Jimmie Komack, and Barbara Bostock. The plot isn't much. Singer Paul Hampton, in his first real acting role, has recorded a song, but it hasn't received much of a push. For a subplot, Tom "Billy Jack" Laughlin is trying to get Louis Prima and Keely Smith to appear at his prom. Hampton is a bit stiff as an actor and weak as a singer. Jill Corey, as his romantic interest, sings well (as always), and is quite natural as an actress. It is a shame that she did not appear in any other film. Jimmie Komack, who was a hit as the Alfred E. Newman look-a-like in "Damn Yankees", has the major comedy role. He is quite good, even though he doesn't have the best material to work with. Komack later became a successful producer-director-writer, especially for television. Somewhere in the film there are incomplete cameo musical appearances by Bob Crosby, Toni Arden, Mitch Miller (playing the oboe), an older Connee Boswell, and Freddie Martin and his orchestra. Here we are cheated. I only wish these performers had been given full numbers. During the show sequence, Jill Corey sings a new pop song by Lee Pockriss and Peter Udell that should have been a hit, but they did better with "Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikinis Sealed with a Kiss"!

The strangest aspect of the film is its time and music. It should be using early Rock 'n Roll, but luckily for us, we get a Broadway style score with big band style pop interpolations. The setting of the film seems more like 1948 than 1958. However, it is a pleasant way to spend 85 minutes.

When i tuned into this unfamiliar film on TCM today, i had not planned on sticking around long for at first glance it appeared to be your run-of-the-mill 50's boring Leave It To Beaveresque high school Love/Crush romp. And besides it only scored 2 out of 4 stars on the cable film guide but what i found is that i never wanted to change the channel.

I must say it was pretty cool seeing Tom Laughlin in an early role as i was a big Billy Jack fan when i was a kid (still am). He showed the same raw intensity in this film as Carter Breed the 3rd, steely eyes and gritting teeth, as he did in his 1971 landmark part Indian role as the karate sheriff/punk ass kicking Billy Jack.

The film is filled with entertaining and memorable cameo musical performances by entertainers of the era. Seeing Ed Sullivan in his small cameo presenting an award in a seemingly half scripted, half ad-libbed sort of way brought a smile.

I made my entrance expecting to mill about for a short time and quickly depart for more exciting filmdom adventure but found the atmosphere quite appealing and cozy so i stuck around longer than was expected to the happy end. All around good natured light hearted fare to pass a little time.