Rock Baby - Rock It

This is both one of the truly terrible films ever shown in a movie theater (?) and an absolutely vital part of rock and pop culture history. It's the local Dallas talent in 57, and the influence of Elvis on one of his most passionate imitators is deeply felt. Then we see some of the local bands, both black and white, get down. Oh yeah, there is a story that has to be about the worst written, acted, and directed things ever put on film. You will roll around on the floor laughing, but these are also just local kids. There is a naturalness to there bad acting that is very authentic. You feel if you were back in that time and place, this is what the people would be like. There is nothing else quite like "Rock Baby, Rock It."

This should have been titled "Rockin' in Dallas in '57" because the attempt at a story line and acting was pointless and a waste of film footage. Local rock and roll acts are showcased for the majority of the movie. And that's what it should have been - a low budget documentary of the music and dancing of the time and place.

By the standards of those days the groups featured were probably fairly good. So it's interesting to watch in that regard.

One character in the 'plot' had a nose that looked so broken he probably couldn't breathe through it. In fact part of the cast appears to have been drawn from the local boxing or wrestling gym. There are some moments of genuine laughter, though, as when one of the 'bad' guys is made to dance rock and roll style.

This early rock n roll "extravaganza", looks to have been made one weekend in a school and its gym in Dallas Texas on a wobbly cardboard set masquerading as a 'nightclub' using kitchen chairs and card tables with burger shop tablecloths. It is really cheap. However, the various song and rock acts are interesting, especially the Negro group with the live rooster stepping about on the piano. I kid you not. The set is so tiny, and seeming to be rectangular and very narrow crammed with local kids and their parents, local businesspeople (who probably financed it) seen as extras to crowd out several scenes. Mostly filmed on this one set with a parade of local music groups wailing and jamming (literally), one could not get a more basic excuse for a 50s rock and roll film. I am sure it made plenty of local $ as it is so early in the cycle that it could not help but succeed. Probably a local drive in staple for years. However, today it is pretty tough going...a better seen Corman equivalent is the equally tedious and cheap ROCK ALL NIGHT, which is a similar excuse to film 65 mins of teen angst and rock gangs on the one set. This film ROCK BABY ROCK IT is not very good, but of mild interest because of the cheap but snazzy 50s clothes and the black pop groups. One particular singing pair known as The Belew Twins are terrifying: they look like 11 year old boys who just might be 29 years old; the ventriloquist dummy look with the Brylcreem Happy Days hair. During their set they even team up with equally peculiar twin Funicello style girls, even smaller than them! The boys have a seagull stance when singing and sound like Loretta Lynn. So weird...it is almost worth the struggle through this film to gasp in horror at their moment. In reel life I would not have gone to their Christmas party...imagine what they would do after a few drinks and started a set singing and performing their unique party tricks. I think they would have given those drunken Oz Munchkins a run for the bottle.

Out-of-balance no-budget teen film features terrific music set to threadbare non-plot. The movie is little more than a showcase for several early, obscure, but talented acts; all the numbers are above average and quite entertaining. Like Louie Prima's awful "The Continental Twist" which hit drive-in screens four years later, the story involves a group of mobsters who are trying to evict the local teens from a makeshift dance club. In this picture the hoodlums need a hangout to run the connection to the "Detroit Syndicate". Highlight of the action is when the boss makes Crackers Louie dance by the pool. Standout musical numbers include "Roogie Doogie" by Preacher Smith, and "Juanita" by the Five Stars. The cast is divided into "Wheels" and "Squares".

Four Johnny Carroll songs, excellent dancing from the kids and Kay Wheeler.

Worth watching the DVD's commentary track where Kay Wheeler describes the times in those heady rock 'n roll days, Elvis and how underground bopping was. I enjoyed all the music (well the ragtime band was a bit strange)...

I wish the other movie Ms. Wheeler was in, Hot Rod Gang, was available on DVD nowadays. Perhaps someone will piece together some of the best bits from such movies in a 'rockabilly pioneers on film' compilation DVD.