Starring Tuesday Weld, Fran Manfred, Teddy Randazzo, and Jacqueline Kerr
Directed by Will Price
Music and Lyrics by various
This week, we dance into the end of summer with two 50's B-movies featuring sterling examples of early rock acts. Most "rock" movies from the early years of the genre were standard programmers with rock numbers from acts big and small tossed into a barely-there plot. This may be the major example of that genre. How does the story of a teen who learns a valuable lesson in money management while trying to buy a dress for a dance look today? Let's begin at the local malt shop, as sweet teen Dori Graham (Weld) talks to her friend Arabella (Manfred) about their school's upcoming prom and find out...
The Story: Dori's father (Jack Collins) is tired of his daughter spending all her allowance on frivolities and then begging for more, so he cuts off her charge accounts in order to teach her the value of a dollar. This becomes a problem when she wants to buy a strapless evening gown for prom, so she can be glamorous like new girl Gloria Barker (Kerr). Gloria has designs on her boyfriend Tommy Rogers (Randazzo), especially after he wins Alan Freed's (Himself) TV talent contest. Her father gives her 15 dollars and says she can earn the rest. After going to her local bank, she gets the idea she can just have Arabella loan her 15 dollars, then give it to Gloria to buy a dress and keep the dress as collateral. Trouble is, Dori not only doesn't know anything about how banks or money work, but Gloria has no intention of giving up either the dress or her claim on Tommy's heart.
The Song and Dance: And the song and dance, along with those nifty prom gowns the girls scrimped and saved for, are really the only saving graces here. If you're a fan of 50's rock, have I got a treat for you. You get not only legends like Chuck Barry, the Flamingos, and Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, but groups who are less well-known today like Johnny Burnette Trio and the Moonglows, too. The real Alan Reed even gives us an idea of what made his early shows such a smash. It's a real time capsule of when rock was just starting to make waves.
The Numbers: We hear the title number twice, over the credits during shots of bands and kids dancing, and later at the prom near the end, both times performed by Jimmy Cavello and His House Rockers.. Connie Francis dubs Weld for her ballad "I Haven't Got a Sweetheart" at the malt shop in the opening and the more heart-rendering "Little Blue Wren" after Dori thinks Tommy's dumped her. Tommy sings "The Things Your Heart Needs" at school, and later gets "Thanks to You" at the talent show and "Won't You Give Me a Chance?" at the dance.
Ivy Schulman is supposed to be someone's kid sister, but she ends up singing (rather creepily) about how she wants to "Rock, Pretty Baby." Alan Freed is heard twice, doing "Rock and Roll Boogie" on the talent show and in the finale, performing "Right Now, Right Now." The Flamningos get "Would I Be Crying?" at the TV show. The Three Chuckles get the big "We're Gonna Rock Tonight" with Randazzo in the finale. Frankie Lymon and his groups have two numbers at the prom, "I'm Not a Juvenile Delinquent" and "Baby Baby." The Moonglows get "Over and Over Again." The Johnny Burdette Trio sing "Lonesome Train."
What I Don't Like: The plot and the actors are bland and really very silly. Dori is so impossibly naive and stupid, she believes every word Gloria tells her about Tommy and has no idea how to even figure out 1 percent of something. It's painfully obvious this was a B-film. The sets are minimalistic, and the only lavish costumes are at the prom. The only reason this one exists is for that music.
The Big Finale: And that's the only reason to see this one today. This is for huge fans of early rock only. Everyone else would be better off looking for the recordings made by these groups and ignoring this.
Home Media: It's in the public domain, so it's easily found on DVD and online.
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