Mr. Rock 'n' Roll: The Alan Freed Story

OK, so it is a TV movie. And it didn't cost 100 million to make. But there are several charming story lines throughout the movie, and you do get to re-live some of the songs and performances you loved as a teenager. The actors do passable impersonations of the real stars of yesteryear. Give it a look when it is broadcast, you'll not be disappointed!

Judd Nelson gave an excellent performance as Alan Freed the disk jockey who coined the term Rock & Roll. All of the performances were fine and the songs of course were great. The lady who played his wife was a new face and very classy. The actor who played the heavy role was also quite good. Well worth watching.

I didn't see this movie, but was looking for another one about Alan Freed. If you enjoyed this movie, though, you should also see the movie, which doesn't appear to cross reference, American Hot Wax....and the soundtrack is pretty awesome,too. It also tells about Alan Freed, and the start of Rock and Roll.

If you love music history, or even just the RockaBilly sound of early Rock, then this movie should be a part of your collection....It came out in 1978 or so, and I had the soundtrack, until a friend decided they liked it too much to let me keep it.....Can't tell you if it is still available....but it's definitely one to have if you love Rock, if it is.

I bought this movie on DVD because I like Judd Nelson and I like the music. I didn't know who Alan Freed was before watching the movie, I had heard the name and knew he had something to do with Rock n Roll, but that's it. I'm afraid I still don't know that much about him after watching this movie. There were quite a couple of scenes (especially those which showed his private life) when I was like "hello, did I miss something?". Sometimes there didn't seem to be much of a connection between the scenes...there simply was too much music (which by the way was great!) and very little story. I know Judd Nelson as a gorgeous character actor and I read he wanted to do this movie because he loved the music, so I'm sure he put some effort in it. I guess there simply was too little time to support any real character development, or else the movie was made for people who already know about Alan Freed's work and don't mind about the gaps. Anyway, I gave the movie 6/10, but not necessarily as an Alan Freed Story, but a Rock n Roll story.

OK it could have been better, but overall I thought it covered the lift of Alan Freed quite well. There are bound to be gaps but the main message got through. It is amazing how racist the music industry was and still is and one producer in the film said 'there are plenty of white acts doing rock and roll now, we don't need to feature blacks anymore' It was good that Mr Freed stood up to this. The actors playing the various Rock&Roll stars varied in how good they were. As usual they often over act and make it look so obvious they are miming. Watch the original Little Richard etc and you will see the charisma coming through in a way that the actors can't seem to get. Leon playing Jackie Wilson? Leon seems to play every black singer. he was David Ruffin in the Temptations story and Little Richard in the film about his life, but here as Jackie Wilson he just didn't seem right. I would recommend this film to any fan of Rock or anyone interested in the struggle of black artists.