Go, Johnny, Go!

Here's another Alan Freed rock and roll movie that gives us a look and listen to some of rock's greatest stars. Musically. the film is better than average for a rock and roll film, even with Jimmy Clanton's usual nasal and bland "vocalizing". The Cadillacs do two songs; "Jay Walker" (dressed as Policemen) and the wonderful "Please Mr. Johnson". Jackie Wilson is terrific as usual (he was a very close friend of Alan Freed) and proves once again what a tremendous talent he was. The movie has some historical musical moments as well. This film has the only motion picture performance by the late, great Ritchie Valens (he does the Little Richard inspired "Ohh My Head"). Also featured is Eddie Cochran doing "Teenage Heaven". Unfortunately, performances by Eddie are rare because of his death in a traffic accident in England the following year. Check out Harvey (of The Moonglows) doing a rare solo number and a good performance by Jo Ann Campbell. Co-star Sandy Stewart performs two songs including a nice up tempo called "Playmate". "Jo Gohnny Go"'s plot is a little above average and the acting is fine in most cases. Chuck Berry is especially believable as is veteran character actor Herb Vigran. I just wish someone other than Jimmy Clanton were cast in a co starring role. Sure, he's the right age, but his acting is a bit wooden and his songs and voice makes you want to reach for the fast forward button on your remote control. Still, I would recommend this movie. Don't miss this one for a good time, great music and a little rock and roll history.

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.

No need to recap the wispy plot. Many of the names may be familiar from R&R's early period—Berry, Cochran Valens, Wilson— but their stylings are not. Looks to me as though the sounds were toned down to suit a white middle-class audience, whose adults tended to identify hard core R&R with juvenile delinquency. That's particularly the case with Chuck Berry who could do a driving beat with the best of them. Not here however. The producers have even added white bread Jimmy Clanton to headline, even though his crooning style better suits pre-R&R. The movie is clearly a commercial product, running a bit scared of the raucous style it's gently alluding to. For a much less compromised glimpse of those early years, catch The Girl Can't Help It (1956).

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!)

This is the fifth, and final motion picture to feature legendary disc jockey Alan Freed and his assortment of musical guests. With each film, Freed took a larger role. His acting is so wooden that Nelson Eddy looks like Olivier next to him! He was also the producer of this Hal Roach production and his role is central to the plot. Now Chuck Berry is a different story. Besides performing "Johnny Be Good", "Memphis, Tennessee", and "Little Queenie", Berry plays himself and is a major catalyst to the flimsy plot. He is absolutely natural and charming. Most of the plot belongs to singers Jimmy Clanton and Sandy Stewart. Their acting is surprisingly natural. Of course, Stewart is no rocker and is a little uncomfortable with some of the music. She was more in her element when she recorded the hit single "My Coloring Book". At least Freed spares us the embarrassment of his out of tune and out of time singing that we had to endure in "Rock, Rock, Rock". However, the plot never does resolve. It just stops.