Let's Rock

This should be titled "Try to Rock" or "Where is the Rock?". Julius LaRosa is a ballad singer whose record sales are slumping due to his stubborn dislike of the new sound. His manager(Conrad Janis) and song writing girlfriend(Phyllis Newman) do their best to convince him to try singing rock 'n' roll.

The other performers are not great examples of the art form, because they too are not really rocking. Artists Paul Anka and Della Reese are pretty tame. DJ Wink Martindale comes across lame trying to swing out. Roy Hamilton's upbeat blues was marvelous. Danny & the Juniors and the Royal Teens are on target as a sign of the times.

Note: Sure, Elvis is in the Army, but rock 'n' roll did not dry up and disappear. This could have been a whole lot better.

A very curious movie. Someone must have made LaRosa and Phyllis Newman an offer they couldn't refuse. Anyone familiar with Julius LaRosa or Phyllis Newman knows that neither was ever an exponent of Rock 'N' Roll, and despite this movie's ending, never did Julie or Phyllis experience such an "epiphany" in their own careers. Ironically, and despite this movie's premise of R&R supplanting MOR (middle-of-the-road) LaRosa's career continues to thrive to this day, long after the vast majority of the R&R artists of the time are either dead or forgotten (or both). The premise that the major labels had set about abandoning MOR artists in favor of R&R during this time is not true at all. In fact, it was 'payola', and the impending scandal over it, that had sustained R&R during this period, and which nearly resulted in R&R's demise upon its revelation, even as MOR artists such as Sinatra, Martin, Como, Doris Day, Peggy Lee, and many others, continued to thrive. It wasn't until the British Invasion of the mid-sixties, which coincided with the "Howdy Doody Generation"'s coming of age, that the major labels, and many radio stations, finally abandoned MOR, thus signaling the beginning of the long downward spiral in pop music culture that continues to this day.

This fun little movie has many young singers performing in various scenes and as enjoyable as that is, it's the (all too brief) role of Joy Harmon that makes this film worth watching. What a body! Even though Joy wears a long dress it's still easy to see what a tremendous figure she had. Of course, later in her career viewers could get a better look in films like Village of the Giants and Cool Hand Luke. Everyday I wish that selfish husband of hers (Jeff Gourson of Adam Sandler's production company) would have not convinced her to quit acting. What a shame!

Anyway, everyone enjoy this little film and I promise you won't forget Miss Harmon's unforgettable presence.

If I hadn't previously known about his radio on-air firing by show host Arthur Godfrey, I would never have heard of Julius LaRosa. Years ago, I saw him on an old kinescope of Godfrey's show and now I just watched him in what turned out to be his only movie appearance. As the title implies, it has some Rock music in it which his singer character is trying to avoid recording since he always made it with ballads, but as his manager Conrad Janis keeps telling him "Rock 'n' Roll is not going away" as LaRosa can't make it with ballads anymore. Phyllis Newman is an aspiring songwriter whose B-side he recorded and they have a nice initially platonic romance. There's also a fine number by Della Reese and a couple by Roy Hamilton. The Rock 'n' Roll acts presented here are Danny and the Juniors (who I just watched as their mature selves in the documentary Let the Good Times Roll) singing "At the Hop" and The Royal Teens' "Short Shorts". The last one is interesting to mention because one of the members as well as a co-songwriter of that song was one Bob Gaudio who'd later became a member of a more famous group called The Four Seasons as well as write some of that group's biggest hits. Oh, and a couple more interesting points to make: The host of a dance show in the movie is Wink Martindale who I knew as the host of the game show "Tic Tac Dough" back in the late '70s. And teen singing idol Paul Anka, who was sixteen when he made his film debut here, had a hit song after making this: "Diana" which started a string of his hits throughout the rest of the '50s and early '60s. So on that note, Let's Rock is worth a look for anyone interested in these vintage things.

Before rock stars went on huge concert tours and before teenagers had enough disposable income to attend such spectacles, Hollywood tried to offer recording stars exposure through cheap movies. LET'S ROCK is typical of the genre--the central idea (that mellow crooner Julius LaRosa could become a rock star) is ludicrous and the acting by LaRosa and Phyllis Newman close to amateur standards. But there are a couple of hits--Danny and The Juniors doing "At the Hop" is the highlight. Every time LaRosa tries to sing, you might as well fast forward. "Rock Around the Clock" remains the best of a bad lot.