Rock, Rock, Rock!

The reason to see "Rock, Rock, Rock," like most 50s quickie rock 'n' roll pictures, is, of course, to see great stars like Chuck Berry, Lavern Baker, The Moonglows and The Flamingos. You also get a fair amount of dreck like Cirino and the Bowties and the insufferable Ivy Schulman. Plus, this picture obviously had a budget lower than the cost of a car. (You can tell that some shots look out of sync.) Then, there's Tuesday Weld with her songs dubbed (not too well) by Connie Francis! Still, the picture is fun and early rock 'n' roll DJ impressario Alan Freed looks like he's having a good time. Of course, it wouldn't last.

This movie is a riot. It's got the typical 50's music with some excuse for a show put on by Alan Freed, of course. Tuesday Weld plays a real simpleton of a girl who stupidly gets herself in serious 'trouble' at the hands of another equally stupid teenage girl - she lends the other girl money to buy a dress, thinking 100% interest was a fair amount, but the other girl says that rate is so high it's illegal so she isn't going to pay back the money at all. OH MY GOSH! Now Tuesday won't be able to buy her OWN dress for the dance - and she has lost her boyfriend to the other girl, because he loves blue formal gowns like the other girl bought with Tuesday's money. Can you grasp the level of sophistication of this plot? Tuesday also gets her banking advice from the local bank president named - are you ready? - MR. BIMBLE! Is that a scream or what? Maybe the most agonizingly funny part of this flick is the singing by Tommy Rogers. His song "Thanks To You" is so insanely sour and off-key, if you are even the slightest bit 'impaired' you may rupture yourself laughing at it. Some movies are so bad they just stink, but this one is so bad it's entertainingly bad. Highly recommended, but it is NOT a serious look at the 50's. There are some good musical performances which of course were lip sync'd. "Tha-ANKS... to yooo-ooou...." Stop, you're killing me!

Another rock 'n' roll quickie. Flimsy plot, but some very good musical performances. Future sex-kitten, thirteen year old Tuesday Weld makes her debut with the situation of trying to buy a dress for the prom. She 'lip syncs' to the voice of Connie Francis. Her boyfriend(Teddy Randazzo) wins a talent contest and somehow talks DJ Alan Freed into bringing a gaggle of talent to the prom. Randazzo's singing was about as boring as little Ivy Schulman's was dreadful.

Redeeming this film are the performances by The Moonglows, Chuck Berry, The Flamingos, Lavern Baker, The Johnny Burnett Trio and Frankie Lymon. The Bowties and the House Rockers were a joke. There were worse movies out there at the time. This is surely worth the price of admission and a cherry coke.

Note: I found it pretty cool that Miss Weld's character admits spending allowance money on playing Elvis records on the jukebox. Later, in 1961, she would actually play a sexpot trying to seduce him in WILD IN THE COUNTRY.

Jaw-dropping black-and-white cheapie has typical teen scheming to get herself a strapless prom dress for the dance, which is being hosted by none other than Alan Freed (here desperately trying to sing and keep a beat). Tuesday Weld, very young and very green, opens the movie by bursting into song (with Connie Francis' vocals!). Corny, silly, deliriously dated but enjoyable on a garbage-flick level. Camp enthusiasts will be feasting on this trash-relic for years. Look fast for Valerie Harper as a rock-loving teen in the over-appreciative audience. ** from ****

The best part of the film is, of course, rock n roll music of the day as done by original artists. On the other side of the coin is some of the worst music as well. To tell which is which, one needs simply to view the movie and it becomes obvious. Also, some of the "teenagers" shown have to be pushing 30 or more. However, all in all, I enjoyed this film for the nostalgia of the 50s which, like many others of it's kind, it does contain.