Bop Girl

A fun look at the brief period of time when Rock and roll and calypso music almost intersected. Belafonte was big, even Maya Angelou and Louis Farrakhan were recording with calypso bands. Light movie, fun performances, calypso never really took over Rock & Roll by any stretch of the imagination, it was sort of added in to the US's fascination with things tropical in the late 50s as Hawaii was about to be entered as a state. Mom & Dad went to Calypso parties and did the limbo, the kids still loved Elvis. Recommended, as I recommend Twist movies, for a snapshot of a largely forgotten time.

Get out your coconut frond hat, tie up the front of your Hawaiian Flower-dy shirt and see how low can YOU go, mon!

Bop Girl Goes Calypso (1957)

* (out of 4)

Excruciating mix of drama and music has Robert Hilton (Bobby Troup) warning people that rock and roll is on its way out and that calypso is the next big thing. No one believes him except for singer Jo Thomas (Judy Tyler) and soon the two are dating while trying to make the newest thing work. BOP GIRL GOES CALYPSO was just one of many "rock" musicals to be released in the 1950s and it's perhaps the worst one I've seen. Now to be fair, none of these musicals were all that good but the majority of them at least featured some interesting acts and a decent story but that's really not the case here. Music wise, Nino Tempo is about the best thing in the film and sadly this music is on so early that it leaves you a long time remaining with many less interesting acts. I think the biggest problem with this thing is that there's really no story to speak of. Instead of any real story we've got a very silly and unbelievable love story that has no sparks and we also have two leads with very little chemistry for one another. Tyler, on her own, isn't too bad as she manages to carry a tune and the "performance" is better than average. For the most part the music isn't all that good and if rock was really on its way out then nothing here would make you believe that. The cinematography isn't that bad for such a low-budget film but this here isn't strong enough to where it's going to keep viewers interested. Music buffs might want to check it out as a curiosity but that's about it.

This is an easy film to mock. The leads can't act. (Nor can the supporting players.) The plot -- something about scientific proof that Calypso was about to replace Rock n' Roll as the reigning pop music --could have been conceived by Ed Wood. The fact that our hero was about to marry a Eugenics professor (yes, they did call it "Eugenics") who was enthusiastic about the genetic make up of their future child was unintentionally creepy. And, agonizingly, the titular Bop Girl cannot sing either Rock or Calypso. (She doesn't try to sing Bop -- for which the shade of Charlie Parker was likely grateful.) But these music movies of the 50s were not about the plot. Plot was an interlude for the kids to start smooching at the drive in. It was about the music. And SOME of that in this film was quite good.

For example, the first six or seven minutes are quite good. The credit sequence is Nino Tempo blowing a very hot r&b sax with a good stomping band. We move to another group (not sure who) singing pretty. Then, alas, we get some very, very, very bad music. Then some lame plot. Then, the highlight, a gentleman named Lord Flea, whose two features in the movie are exceptional. (Want to know where Bob Marley came from? Take a look. Then lobby EMI to get Flea's music re-released.) Generally, the better music is in the first half of the movie. Things start to get increasingly Ed Wooden after that, and the Bop Girl is allowed to sing far, far too often.

This story is a "B" picture, simply about a rock and roll singer who is told by a professor with a kind of applause meter at a night club tells her that rock and roll is fading out and calypso is the new hot genre of music to pursue. The title character is Jo Thomas, played by Judy Tyler, one of her few roles (she passed away young from a road accident). The film lets you listen to various groups at nightclubs, encompassing jazz, rock and roll, r & b and, of course, calypso. The story line is thin, but for someone who was born after the film was made and was raised on rock, the film is enjoyable due to the fairly solid performances of each act. As a matter of fact, I was surprised to find I've never heard of these acts, some were very good. Ms. Tyler is fairly engaging, and though the interaction between the main characters is fairly pedestrian, its still a fun film. It showed up on TCM, which is where I watched it. You can do much worse than this film, and all of us have. I kind of enjoyed it. Check it out.

I've wanted to see this movie for years. Youtube can sometimes be a goldmine for hard to find movies that arent going to be streaming anywhere. It's not a lost film, TCM played it in 2008, but I don't think it's easy to find.

Back in the 80's a circle of underground artists stumbled on a VHS copy and used to play it at parties acting out scenes like Rocky Horror. And you'll understand why if you ever watch: it definitely deserves a place in the sun on MST3K. It doesnt really fit the "so bad its good," category, its more of a "what did I just watch...?"

The plot is exactly what you can read in the movie description. But the plot isn't what makes it a bizarre little gem, it's the band The Goofers that you have to see, especially the number "I'm gonna rock n roll 'till I die." To really nail this point home they have dark circles around their eyes and lie in coffins - the Goofers were early emo rock pioneers, really. They also perform instruments on the trapeze or jumping on Pogo sticks which is funny but also kinda impressive. They'd probably win AGT if they were around today.

One thing to note though - the movie and the music might be hysterically bad but Judy Tyler - both as an actor and singer - is not. She's got some serious singing chops - she was in the starring role of the musical Pipe Dream (Life did a story on rising Broadway talent with Tyler on its cover as an up and coming star) and after this, Jail House Rock. She's likeable and charming and doesnt speak in that stilted faux-British mamner most actresses affected back then. And she's pretty darn adorable too.

Sadly, she was in only one thing after JHR, an episode of Perry Mason which aired 6 months after she was killed in a car accident along with her second husband. She was 24. Who knows, she could have become another Ann-Margret or Rita Moreno. She had the talent.