Starring Alan Dale, Alan Freed, Fay Baker, and Patricia Hardy
Directed by Fred F. Sears
Music and Lyrics by various
The Poverty Row studios weren't the only ones who recognized rock as a popular genre among the young. By 1956, almost every studio in Hollywood wanted to cash in on this big new teen sound. Columbia jumped on the band wagon with Rock Around the Clock, the first musical to have a true rock score. That went over so well, they grabbed Bill Haley and the Comets for more of the same, here joined by Little Richard and the Treniers, among others. How well does the story of teens in a small town who show their parents that rock is hardly a corrupting influence come off today? Let's begin with those teens dancing up a storm over the credits and find out...
The Story: Rock star Arnie Haines (Dale) flees Freed's constant promotion to spend the rest of the summer in his hometown. He discovers on his arrival that, while the teens in the town adore him, their parents are far less welcoming. They believe rock to be a corrupting influence on the young, especially the stuffy Mayor Bagley (Pierre Watkin) and influential columnist Arline MacLaine (Baker). Arline's daughter Francine (Hardy) not only doesn't share her mother's opinion about rock, she falls for Artie.
Francine and Artie set up a concert with big name acts like Bill Haley and the Comets and Little Richard, but it's disrupted by a fist fight set up by jealous Sunny Everett (Jana Lund), who also has a crush on Artie. Artie's ready to give up and leave, but Francine convinces him to do one last show. They claim it's a pageant of art and culture...but it really proves that art changes over time, and today's rebellious youth music is tomorrow's happy nostalgia.
The Song and Dance: This is at least a little closer to what most people probably think of when they hear "early rock musical." Hardy is an attractive and sensible Francine, and Baker is wonderfully witty as her skeptical journalist mother. We also have a far more interesting story, almost a precursor to Footloose thirty years later. Not only does this movie discuss many parents' real-life attitudes towards rock at the time, it reminds people that rock was hardly the first musical genre adults thought would "corrupt" young people. We also get some sensational dancing here to go with that music, including the wild dance routine at Artie's apartment after his show in the opening.
The Numbers: We open with Haley's rendition of the title song over the credits. Dale sings "I Cry More" (one of the first published songs by Burt Bacharach and Hal David) and "You're Just Right" at a nightclub. Haley's numbers include " "Hot Dog Buddy Buddy," the instrumental "Goofin' Around," and "Calling All Comets." Their version of "Rip It Up" is heard over the big jitterbug routine at their first concert, and we hear the audio for "Hook, Line, and Sinker." Dave Apple and the Applejacks get "Applejack" and "Country Dance." Little Richard tears things up with two of his classics, "Long Tall Sally" and "Tutti-Fruitti." The Treniers "Come Out of the Bushes" and are "Rocking On a Saturday Night."
What I Don't Like: While the story is more interesting, the cast for the most part isn't any better than Rock Rock Rock! Dale is so blank and dull, you wonder what the girls see in him. Freed has more to do here, but he's no actor and comes off as stiff, not at all like someone who would be caught up in a payola scam by 1960. This is once again a vehicle for the music, and anything else takes a back seat.
The Big Finale: Pretty much the same deal here. For early rock enthusiasts and major fans of Haley or Little Richard only. Everyone else is better off looking for their records or watching Footloose again.
Home Media: The DVD double feature with Rock Around the Clock is currently expensive on Amazon. It's on YouTube, though the copy is glitchy and keeps stopping every few minutes.
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