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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.

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.

The movie is fun. The atmosphere, setting, acting, characters, and dialogue are well-done. I like the music. At only 100 minutes or so, the movie is more like an episode of a TV show than a movie. There isn't much filler, and the climax comes at the right time.

I think that Al, the bartender, steals the show from Shorty, who gets the protagonist role. As a result, the ending doesn't feel as satisfying as it should. One death scene is poorly executed. I didn't like the conclusion for Julia, the singer. Certain character details and backgrounds are neglected. The plot as a whole relies on several coincidences.

But it's still a decent movie.

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.

Like Corman's "Teenage Doll," "Sorority Girl" and several others of his AIP era, this is basically a bleak little existential melodrama masquerading as a lurid exploitation movie, with talky, unpleasant human relationships in a couple cheap interior settings poorly disguising the lack of action and "fun." Only those other movies were often conceptually outlandish (and stylish) enough to be sorta fascinating in their perversity.

"Rock All Night" front-loads a couple songs by The Platters, but otherwise it's just two long scenes of people arguing in bars--first comically (at a nightclub), then dramatically (at a dive). At around the two-thirds point all this yakking gets more heated as the story turns into "The Petrified Forest," with everybody being held hostage by a couple fugitive hoods (including, yes, The Professor from "Gilligan's Island").

Dick Miller gets to play his usual wiseguy, albeit a heroic one this time, and future game show regular Abby Dalton plays a bad amateur singer who inexplicably is given more airtime than any other act here. The combination of Corman, early rock and AIP should provide plenty of guilty pleasure, at the very least. But "Rock All Night" is really just pretty dull--and in a way that's primarily like a weak one-act off-Broadway play of the time, with lots of generic angst and generically lowlife characters yelling at each other. In other words, as the Mel Welles quasi-beatnik character might say, yawnsville.

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)

Back in the 1950s and 60s, Roger Corman made a long string of low budgeted films that managed in all but one case to make money. Amazingly, the one that lost money was one of his best..."The Intruder". Here he is again with "Rock All Night"...a film far, far better than you'd expect given its production values and very simple plot.

The entire film is set in a bar. One by one, various folks come and go into the place until, ultimately, two hoods show up and hold everyone hostage...and killing one of the innocent patrons. The only guy who isn't afraid of these thugs is Shorty (Dick Miller) and, inexplicably, the pair don't seem to know what to do with him as he mocks them. What's next? See the film.

There are quite a few reasons to watch the movie. First, the music is often amazing--with the Platters singing a couple of their best tunes and the little-known Blockbusters singing a delightful theme song. Sure, Julie (Abby Dlaton) sings a few klunkers--but she is supposed to be singing poorly. Second, seeing Miller was a treat and this familiar character in Corman films is at his best. Third, the craziest of the two thugs is played very colorfully by Russell Johnson...one of the last guys you'd expect to be playing such a part, as he was the Professor on "Gilligan's Island"! But he was very good...and the film quite enjoyable and yet another example of the quality pictures that filmmakers CAN make if they are stuck with limited funds. Well worth seeing.

Nice individual acting by Dick Miller, Russell Johnson, Jeanne Cooper, and Robin Morse helped make up for a bare bones plot. The biggest problem is the illogical behavior of so many people. First of all, the band complains about being cold but then doesn't go inside to listen to Abbie Dalton sing. Abbie Dalton has a chance to have Sir Bop take her home but chooses to stay in the bar despite the almost psychopathic behavior of Miller. Plus the police don't stick around to get the names and numbers of all the witnesses. Dick Miller is all too willing to use his knife on a guy who just wants him to move his hat but leaves it in his pocket when another guy threatens to kill him. There are probably a couple of others I've forgotten, but the big one is at the end, and I don't think this qualifies as a spoiler because evidently Roger Corman didn't think it mattered, but what about the dead body in the back room? No one even mentions it. And finally, it all wraps up much too quickly and too neatly.

The best thing about this movie was hearing "The Platters" sing, as well as the performances by the other musicians. It was also nice to spot some familiar faces from popular TV shows. Any "Gilligan's Island" fans would recognize the face (though hardly the character) of the Professor. Those castaways would sure be shocked by his criminal past! Russell Johnson more often than not played an outlaw, or anyone on the shady side of the law and he was really good in those roles, equal to his talent in portraying a scientific genius.

The same goes for Jeanne Cooper, who'll be recognized by fans of the soap opera "The Young and the Restless", where she played the iconic Kay Chancellor. Here, she was a party girl, dating an all brawn but no brains (and not much courage) truck driver. Quite a change from Genoa City opulence!

Anyone who watched the nighttime soap "Falcon Crest" or "The "Joey Bishop Show" will recognize Abby Dalton, who played Julia and Ellie, respectively. She's a shy aspiring singer who needs a good dose of confidence and gets it during a hostage situation at a bar, where the story takes place.

The story itself is rather weak, some of the characters (like an old goat who tries to act like a young cool cat) are over the top, and the script was pretty lousy, but in its own way, it's entertaining. At least, when there's nothing better to do.

Finally got to see this classic Roger Corman cheapie, and of course it's a total blast. The best part obviously is seeing Dick Miller in a rare starring role, and as a tough street kid no less, who takes no guff from anyone and is always making wisecracks.

Miller plays "Shorty" who gets thrown out of one rock joint but ends up in another, where a pretty girl is auditioning and we get introduced to various assorted crazy characters. Eventually two crooks (led by "The Professor" from Gilligan's Island!) come and hold everyone hostage, and Shorty constantly insults the crooks, as well as the cowards in the place who refuse to take a stand.

One of the funniest characters is a "hep cat" beatnik rock manager who comes out with great line after line. Others include a boxer, his sad girlfriend, a wanna-be tough guy, his drunk girl, a reporter, a shake-down artist and more. The musical numbers are good, and it all resolves in just over an hour.

"Rock All Night" is definitely not disappointing if you expect exactly what it is, a fun hour of no-budget film making.

The title of this Roger Corman flick may be a bit misleading since while there are some songs of popular performers of the day-such as The Platters-being performed in it, it's mostly a story of various types in a bar facing a confrontation of their fears when dealing with a couple of criminals who wander in with the police on their way. Dick Miller is the lead who likes to make insulting statements but also seems to know what each person he meets is like to the point he shows no fear whatsoever to whoever he speaks to like one of the criminals he's dealing with-the one played by Russell Johnson, yes, the later star of "Gilligan's Island" as The Professor. It was quite a surprise seeing him in this role, that's for sure! If you're a frequent Corman viewer, you probably recognized many of his regular supporting cast here. I really enjoyed this one so on that note, Rock All Night is highly recommended.

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?

A brutally honest loudmouth with a bad case of little man syndrome happens into a troubled bar, run by a troubled bartender, & filled with a host of troubled customers from various walks of life & gives each of them a reality check.

That Guy Dick Miller is brilliant as wisecracking Shorty, Abby Dalton was lovely as the shy songstress Julie, & the comic relief of Al the bartender was fantastic. The one weak point was the hipster band manager's ridiculous lingo ("If I ain't straight, it means I ain't with it; & tonight, baby, I'm with it.") But as usual, She called it as I saw it leaving me satisfied at the end. A funny, fun, & fascinating look at people's inner beings.

Great film! Great rockabilly, funny dialogue.