Ajouter une intrigue dans votre langueRock-n-roll promoter Alan Freed holds a talent search to develop a new rock star, then must find the elusive, mystery contestant (Jimmy Clanton) who doesn't know he has won.Rock-n-roll promoter Alan Freed holds a talent search to develop a new rock star, then must find the elusive, mystery contestant (Jimmy Clanton) who doesn't know he has won.Rock-n-roll promoter Alan Freed holds a talent search to develop a new rock star, then must find the elusive, mystery contestant (Jimmy Clanton) who doesn't know he has won.
Jo Ann Campbell
- Jo-Ann Campbell
- (as Jo-Ann Campbell)
Harvey Fuqua
- Harvey Fugua
- (as Harvey)
Jimmy Cavallo
- Jimmy Cavallo
- (as Jimmy Cavalio and the House Rockers)
Barbara Wooddell
- Mrs. Harold Arnold
- (as Barbara Woodell)
Avis en vedette
In what was to be his last movie, legendary 50s DJ Alan Freed(1921-1965), playing..er..legendary 50s DJ Alan Freed, once again presents a host of early rock and roll stars,hung together with a threadbare perfunctory plot(just as in "Rock Rock Rock","Rock around the clock" and "Don't knock the rock"). Shot at the Hal Roach studio in Culver City, Los Angeles (where Laurel and Hardy once romped)in January 1959,"Go Johnny go" is one of the most interesting and enjoyable of the early rock films. Chuck Berry features, not just as a performer but an actor as well, he's seen hanging out with Freed,accompanying him, it appears, wherever he goes! As was usual in Freed's cheap and cheerful films, the rock and roll stars on display are some of the best.The movie has the only big screen performance of Richie Valens,who died very shortly after he filmed this appearance,in the notorious 1959 plane crash,which also claimed Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper. Another tragic rocker here is Eddie Cochran, a car accident victim about a year and a half after he made the film. The story, such as it is, concerns Freed's desire to make a star out of a talented nobody-this means we get a lot of crooning from lanky teen idol Jimmy Clanton, playing the aforesaid nobody(the "Johnny" of the title). I can never make up my mind about Clanton; he was competent actor,though he is certainly surrounded by his betters as performers in the line up here.
Look out for scene with Alan Freed jamming on drums along with Chuck Berry and his group on the marvelous "Little Queenie", Freed looks like he's having a ball. Sadly the good times were not to roll much longer for Freed as personal and career problems mounted. He became embroiled in the payola scandal, and was pursued relentlessly by the tax man.Dropped from his TV and radio shows, moving to the west coast to get work, his drinking was turning him into a serious and sick alcoholic, he died broke,killed by Uraemia in 1965.
Performers(alphabetical)- Chuck Berry-"Go Johnny go","Little Queenie" "Memphis Tennessee" The Cadillacs-"Jaywalker","Please Mr Johnson"(They may have been the poor man's Coasters,but they're great here,acting out their song stories on the stage in a club). Jo-Ann Campbell-"Momma can I go out?" Jimmy Clanton-"Angel face","It takes a long time","My love is true","Ship on a stormy sea" Eddie Cochran-"Teenage Heaven"(watch Eddie dance with his guitar!) The Flamingos-"Jump children"(a performance of breathtaking exuberance) Harvey Fuqua-"Don't be afraid to love me" Sandy Stewart-"Heavenly father","Playmate"(the last one a perky piece performed in a recording studio) Sandy Stewart/Jimmy Clanton-"Once again" Richie Valens-"Ooh my head""(performed for Freed and his pals and a tiny group of teens) Jackie Wilson-"You'd better know it"(Wilson,a reliable showstopper as always-and one of the coolest rockers ever.If you've seen stills or clips of Jackie performing in front of a silly coffee pot with a face backdrop,this is where it's from!)
Look out for scene with Alan Freed jamming on drums along with Chuck Berry and his group on the marvelous "Little Queenie", Freed looks like he's having a ball. Sadly the good times were not to roll much longer for Freed as personal and career problems mounted. He became embroiled in the payola scandal, and was pursued relentlessly by the tax man.Dropped from his TV and radio shows, moving to the west coast to get work, his drinking was turning him into a serious and sick alcoholic, he died broke,killed by Uraemia in 1965.
Performers(alphabetical)- Chuck Berry-"Go Johnny go","Little Queenie" "Memphis Tennessee" The Cadillacs-"Jaywalker","Please Mr Johnson"(They may have been the poor man's Coasters,but they're great here,acting out their song stories on the stage in a club). Jo-Ann Campbell-"Momma can I go out?" Jimmy Clanton-"Angel face","It takes a long time","My love is true","Ship on a stormy sea" Eddie Cochran-"Teenage Heaven"(watch Eddie dance with his guitar!) The Flamingos-"Jump children"(a performance of breathtaking exuberance) Harvey Fuqua-"Don't be afraid to love me" Sandy Stewart-"Heavenly father","Playmate"(the last one a perky piece performed in a recording studio) Sandy Stewart/Jimmy Clanton-"Once again" Richie Valens-"Ooh my head""(performed for Freed and his pals and a tiny group of teens) Jackie Wilson-"You'd better know it"(Wilson,a reliable showstopper as always-and one of the coolest rockers ever.If you've seen stills or clips of Jackie performing in front of a silly coffee pot with a face backdrop,this is where it's from!)
This is the quintessential 50's rock and roll movie. With about 20 songs from performers such as Jimmy Clanton (the lead), Chuck Berry, Eddy Cochran, Jackie Wilson, Ritchie Valens and The Cadillacs and more, if you like 50's rock, then you will like the music in this one. This is definitely not a movie for plot or acting, but instead just plain musical fun.
Some of the best performances are Jump Children by the Flamingos and Please Mr. Johnson by the Cadillacs. Also, the rare clip of the legendary Ritchie Valens makes this movie well worthwhile. It's too bad he didn't perform one of his hits like Donna, La Bamba or Come On Let's Go, but instead wailed with Ooh, My Head! A lot of this movie is very campy and adds to its charm. Because of this and especially because of the music I'd rate this a 7+ on a scale of 10. Jimmy Clanton was a good choice for the lead. His voice and mannerisms bring back memories of a much more innocent era.
Some of the best performances are Jump Children by the Flamingos and Please Mr. Johnson by the Cadillacs. Also, the rare clip of the legendary Ritchie Valens makes this movie well worthwhile. It's too bad he didn't perform one of his hits like Donna, La Bamba or Come On Let's Go, but instead wailed with Ooh, My Head! A lot of this movie is very campy and adds to its charm. Because of this and especially because of the music I'd rate this a 7+ on a scale of 10. Jimmy Clanton was a good choice for the lead. His voice and mannerisms bring back memories of a much more innocent era.
I saw this when I was 15 and we did not get to see our music stars then so movies like this were one of the options. I found it and bought it on VHS some years ago and felt lucky to find it. Jimmy Clanton was one of my musical heroes and he sang "Ship on a Stormy Sea" in this plus several other songs. It is one of the few viewings of the great Eddie Cochran although he does not have his electric guitar plugged in, it is still worth seeing him. Others in the film are great, musically. Yes, the plot lacks but most of this genre of movie lacked a plot. They were a quick and cheap way to rush the visual aspect of our stars to us, the young audience and they entertained us. Remember that they were made for our 13-19 year old minds and we were not technically aware. But, it did not differ from Dick Clark having the same people on his shows when they did not sing but mouthed the words. It has flaws but it is well worth having for anyone who wants to see and remember Jimmy Clanton, Jackie Wilson, Chuck Berry, Eddie Cochran, and Richie Valens.
For the folks my age who are into the nostalgic era of the first days of rock and roll Go Johnny Go. All the acts involved in this film got to do their stuff with hardly a plot to get in the way.
What plot there is involves Alan Freed doing a very good job of playing himself, disc jockey king of rock and roll. Freed puts himself out on a limb saying he will find a singer he will rename and manage. The name Freed picks out for his ersatz Elvis is Johnny Melody. This plot so reminded me of that classic Brady Bunch episode where Greg Brady is picked to be the new Johnny Bravo. Here though it's not just because Jimmy Clanton is the right fit for his stage costume.
Enter young Mr. Clanton who gets fired in his job as a theater usher for getting into the rock and roll jamboree show a little too much. It was on that night that he hears Alan Freed's boast to find a new singing star to be renamed Johnny Melody. In fact Freed is having some trouble making this idea from press agent Herb Vigran turn into reality.
Chuck Berry besides Clanton and Sandy Stewart is the only performer to have more than just a song in the film. He plays Freed's alter ego and very smoothly I might add. His is the best acted role in the film.
And of course Go Johnny Go has the appearance of a pair of soon to be legends. Ritchie Valens never saw his spot in this film, dying in that famous plane crash four months before this film was released. Eddie Cochran died a year after that in a car crash.
The music is fine although personally my taste goes back a decade or two in popular music. There's one person I know that loves this sort of stuff, he lives for the nostalgia concerts featuring the performances of the artists of this era. So to my former work colleague Myron Eskenazi this film and its review is dedicated to you.
What plot there is involves Alan Freed doing a very good job of playing himself, disc jockey king of rock and roll. Freed puts himself out on a limb saying he will find a singer he will rename and manage. The name Freed picks out for his ersatz Elvis is Johnny Melody. This plot so reminded me of that classic Brady Bunch episode where Greg Brady is picked to be the new Johnny Bravo. Here though it's not just because Jimmy Clanton is the right fit for his stage costume.
Enter young Mr. Clanton who gets fired in his job as a theater usher for getting into the rock and roll jamboree show a little too much. It was on that night that he hears Alan Freed's boast to find a new singing star to be renamed Johnny Melody. In fact Freed is having some trouble making this idea from press agent Herb Vigran turn into reality.
Chuck Berry besides Clanton and Sandy Stewart is the only performer to have more than just a song in the film. He plays Freed's alter ego and very smoothly I might add. His is the best acted role in the film.
And of course Go Johnny Go has the appearance of a pair of soon to be legends. Ritchie Valens never saw his spot in this film, dying in that famous plane crash four months before this film was released. Eddie Cochran died a year after that in a car crash.
The music is fine although personally my taste goes back a decade or two in popular music. There's one person I know that loves this sort of stuff, he lives for the nostalgia concerts featuring the performances of the artists of this era. So to my former work colleague Myron Eskenazi this film and its review is dedicated to you.
This is one of several Hollywood movies made in the 1950's attempting to be cool by featuring the new "fad"(to them) called rock 'n' roll. The only time Hollywood ever featured real rock 'n' roll from the early days of the new teen music was when rock artists with hit records were allowed to perform on the big screen. The Hollywood concocted rock 'n' roll was unbearable then and even more so today. The best of the rock 'n' roll films by far was "The Girl Can't Help It," which was clever and humorous, plus featuring many of the big rock artists of the day including an outstanding scene showing Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps. Of all the others this one "Go, Johnny, Go" succeeds the best and as has been noted by others is the only place you can see the multi-talented seventeen year old superstar Richie Valens strutting his stuff on the big screen just before his tragic death.
Since there was no such animal as a music video, most teens heard their favorite rock stars on vinyl or on the radio. From time to time rock phenomena would appear on television on such shows as Ed Sullivan and Steve Allen. Dick Clark's "American Bandstand" seldom let the rock performers do their own thing. Most of the time the artists were asked to lip-synch their recordings. A major exception to this rule was Jerry Lee Lewis who insisted that he be allowed to do his hits live with his band. Therefore, it was truly a treat to get to see rockers on the big screen.
This movie has one of the best lists of great rock performers of the decade. There were many so-called asphalt Elvises around by 1959, especially the notorious Fabian, but lumping Jimmy Clanton with them is a mistake. Like Ricky Nelson, Clanton had a feel for the music he made. His looks left much to be desired but his songs were not half bad, particularly his one big hit "Just a Dream," one of my favorite teen ballads from the period.
Fans of early rock 'n' roll will get a kick out of watching the antics of such wonderful do wop groups as the Flamingos and the The Cadillacs. What an entertaining stage show these groups must have delivered. The only other do wop group to surpass these two were the outrageous Coasters. The legendary Jackie Wilson, who even impressed the King himself, Elvis, when he saw him in Las Vagas, shows why he was one of the seminal entertainers of the decade. Chuck Berry not only performs some of his best songs--possibly Johnny B. Goode is his best--but does a decent job acting as well. Too bad he was set up by the government and had to spend time in prison not long after this movie was produced. Then the viewer gets to see the talented Eddie Cochran, one of the best songwriters/musicians of the era. Harvey Fuqua helped make the Moonglows a hit but the rest of the do wop group added that little extra oomp needed to have it all jell. Still Harvey is fine as a solo act.
Allen Freed, who not long after this picture was produced was crucified by the press and made the fall guy for the payola scandal, adds a touch of authenticity to the movie, though he leaves a little to be desired in the acting department. Many in the US government--somewhat of a holdover from the McCarthy period-viewed rock 'n' roll as subversive, never mind that the Communists felt the same way but for a different ideological reason. By promoting the asphalt Elvises such as Fabian, Frankie Avalon, and Paul Anka the politicians hoped to stifle the real rock stars. The government put Chuck Berry in jail, drafted Elvis, wrecked Allen Freed's career prodding him to succumb to alcoholism, and encouraged Little Richard to pursue a calling to be a preacher. Indirectly the government aided the free press in publicizing Jerry Lee Lewis' third marriage to his thirteen year old cousin. All this and more...but the beat goes on.
The story told in "Go, Johnny, Go" is a juvenile one about Freed, a rock promoter, making Jimmy Clanton a star through a talent search. This time it's innocuous enough and doesn't get in the way of some of the best music this side of heaven. Rock on, cool cats, rock on!
Since there was no such animal as a music video, most teens heard their favorite rock stars on vinyl or on the radio. From time to time rock phenomena would appear on television on such shows as Ed Sullivan and Steve Allen. Dick Clark's "American Bandstand" seldom let the rock performers do their own thing. Most of the time the artists were asked to lip-synch their recordings. A major exception to this rule was Jerry Lee Lewis who insisted that he be allowed to do his hits live with his band. Therefore, it was truly a treat to get to see rockers on the big screen.
This movie has one of the best lists of great rock performers of the decade. There were many so-called asphalt Elvises around by 1959, especially the notorious Fabian, but lumping Jimmy Clanton with them is a mistake. Like Ricky Nelson, Clanton had a feel for the music he made. His looks left much to be desired but his songs were not half bad, particularly his one big hit "Just a Dream," one of my favorite teen ballads from the period.
Fans of early rock 'n' roll will get a kick out of watching the antics of such wonderful do wop groups as the Flamingos and the The Cadillacs. What an entertaining stage show these groups must have delivered. The only other do wop group to surpass these two were the outrageous Coasters. The legendary Jackie Wilson, who even impressed the King himself, Elvis, when he saw him in Las Vagas, shows why he was one of the seminal entertainers of the decade. Chuck Berry not only performs some of his best songs--possibly Johnny B. Goode is his best--but does a decent job acting as well. Too bad he was set up by the government and had to spend time in prison not long after this movie was produced. Then the viewer gets to see the talented Eddie Cochran, one of the best songwriters/musicians of the era. Harvey Fuqua helped make the Moonglows a hit but the rest of the do wop group added that little extra oomp needed to have it all jell. Still Harvey is fine as a solo act.
Allen Freed, who not long after this picture was produced was crucified by the press and made the fall guy for the payola scandal, adds a touch of authenticity to the movie, though he leaves a little to be desired in the acting department. Many in the US government--somewhat of a holdover from the McCarthy period-viewed rock 'n' roll as subversive, never mind that the Communists felt the same way but for a different ideological reason. By promoting the asphalt Elvises such as Fabian, Frankie Avalon, and Paul Anka the politicians hoped to stifle the real rock stars. The government put Chuck Berry in jail, drafted Elvis, wrecked Allen Freed's career prodding him to succumb to alcoholism, and encouraged Little Richard to pursue a calling to be a preacher. Indirectly the government aided the free press in publicizing Jerry Lee Lewis' third marriage to his thirteen year old cousin. All this and more...but the beat goes on.
The story told in "Go, Johnny, Go" is a juvenile one about Freed, a rock promoter, making Jimmy Clanton a star through a talent search. This time it's innocuous enough and doesn't get in the way of some of the best music this side of heaven. Rock on, cool cats, rock on!
Le saviez-vous
- AnecdotesThis was Ritchie Valens's only screen appearance. Tragically, four months before the film was released, he died in a plane crash that also claimed the lives of fellow rockers Buddy Holly and J. P. Richardson (a.k.a. "The Big Bopper"), and pilot Roger Peterson. "Ooh, My Head", the song Valens sings in this film, was later adapted by Led Zeppelin for their song "Boogie with Stu".
- GaffesA couple dozen teenagers are outside Alan Freed's studio booth listening to him play Johnny's record. But Chuck Berry, one of the biggest R&R stars at the time, is also standing there--and they're completely ignoring him.
- Citations
The Flamingos: [singing] When the joint starts jumpin' its almost the break of day...
- ConnexionsFeatured in Super Night of Rock 'n' Roll (1984)
- Bandes originalesMY LOVE IS STRONG
Written by Jimmy Clanton (uncredited), Earl King (uncredited) and Cosimo Matassa (uncredited)
Performed by Jimmy Clanton
Courtesy of Ace Records
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- How long is Go, Johnny, Go!?Propulsé par Alexa
- Who is the greatest rocker in this movie?
Détails
- Date de sortie
- Pays d’origine
- Langue
- Aussi connu sous le nom de
- Los rebeldes del rock and roll
- Lieux de tournage
- société de production
- Consultez plus de crédits d'entreprise sur IMDbPro
- Durée1 heure 15 minutes
- Couleur
- Rapport de forme
- 1.37 : 1
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By what name was Go, Johnny, Go! (1959) officially released in Canada in English?
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