Rock Rock Rock! ** (1956, Tuesday Weld, Teddy Randazzo, Alan Freed, Frankie Lymon, Chuck Berry) – Classic Movie Review 9866

Director Will Price’s 1956 film Rock Rock Rock! stars little Tuesday Weld (only 13 in her screen début) in this thinly and poorly plotted but great sounding Fifties rock ‘n’ roll music nostalgia extravaganza.

When young teenage girl Dori (Tuesday Weld)’s cash is withheld by her dad, she devises a money-making scheme to buy a new dress for the school prom. Dori’s boyfriend Tommy (Teddy Randazzo) wins a talent contest and talks DJ Alan Freed into bringing top talent to the prom.

The great music includes contributions from Chuck Berry, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, the Johnny Burnette Trio, The Flamingos, Cirino and the Bowties, La Vern Baker, The Coney Island Kids, La Vern Baker (self), and the Moonglows, as well as MC-ing and music from legendary radio DJ and rock ‘n’ roll impresario Alan Freed and his Rock ‘n Roll Band.

This early jukebox musical film, with more music than plot or dialogue, features 21 songs, all lip-synced or dubbed. It’s Fun Fun Fun!

Weld’s singing voice is dubbed by Connie Francis. Valerie Harper has a walk-on in her debut, aged 16, as Dancer at Prom.

Also in the cast are Fran Manfred as Arabella, Teddy Randazzo [Teddy Randazzo of The Three Chuckles] as Tommy, Jack Collins (as Father), Bert Conway (as Mr. Barker), Carol Moss (as Mother), Lester Mack (as Mr. Bimble), David Winters (as Melville), Jacqueline Kerr (as Gloria), Ivy Schulman (as Baby), and Eleanor Swayne (as Miss Silky).

The screenplay is from producer Milton Subotsky, based on a story by Phyllis Coe and Milton Subotsky.

Frank Virtue and the Virtues had their scenes deleted. No Virtue in that, then. However, Frank Virtue is the composer of the songs ‘Manhunt’ and ‘Midnight Hassle’. Milton Subotsky is the composer of the song ‘Baby Baby’, as well as the musical director, with Ray Ellis  as orchestra leader.

La Vern Baker was the second woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991. She had 19 R&B hits between 1955 and 1965, including ‘Tweedle Dee’ and ‘Jim Dandy.’ Her biggest selling single came in 1959 with ‘I Cried A Tear’.

Frankie Lymon was found dead from a heroin overdose at the age of 25 in 1968 on the floor of his grandmother’s bathroom. As a 13-year-old new member of the group Lymon wrote and performed ‘Why Do Fools Fall In Love?’

Tuesday Weld’s next film was an uncredited walk-on as Giggly Girl in The Wrong Man. Susan Ker Weld was born on 27 August 1943 (a Friday, incidentally). Her most recent film is Chelsea Walls in 2001. She was married to Dudley Moore (20 September 1975 – 18 July 1980) (divorced, with one son, Patrick Moore).

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9866

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com