Some of Rock Rock Rock! is awful. Director Price goes for the most boring shot every single time–with his cast members on cheap sets, never making it into location establishing shots. Just once would’ve been great. There’s some really bad acting too. Fran Manfred, Teddy Randazzo, Jacqueline Kerr. Randazzo has the “excuse” of being a singer acting, but Manfred and Kerr are just atrocious. Price can’t direct, of course. When there’s a good moment from Jack Collins, it’s because he’s visibly bored and trying something with his performance.
But some of Rock Rock Rock! is great. Chuck Berry’s performance is great, some of the other performances are excellent too. Of course, these performances are when Tuesday Weld–who plays the lead in the rather strained narrative tying together live rock performances–is watching Alan Freed on television. When Weld and the rest of the cast go to their prom–Randazzo has arranged to have Freed come and DJ the prom, bringing a variety of performers with him–those performances aren’t so good. The narrative, at its most dramatic point, stops.
And it’s a bunch of groups performing on a terrible country club banquet hall stage. Still, La Vern Baker’s performance is good; the rockabilly guy seems a tad embarrassed to be situation in front of a giant paper maché fireplace though.
And Randazzo’s performance–after two generally okay in scene numbers–is weak. Probably because the film doesn’t acknowledge he’s part of the narrative. He just steps out of it for a second, even though his performance should have all sorts of dramatic overtones. Like I said, bad direction from Price.
Weld’s pretty darn good. She gets some terrible scenes, some terrible writing, but she gets through it all. She’s great at lipsyncing to Connie Francis too.
Blandine Hafela’s editing doesn’t help things–it’s amazing how there are clearly good dancers and Price and Hafela butcher their abilities.
And the film does have one excellent scene where Weld, previously played as something of a dope, outsmarts her nemesis.
★
CREDITS
Directed by Will Price; screenplay by Milton Subotsky, based on a story by Subotsky and Phyllis Coe; director of photography, Morris Hartzband; edited by Blandine Hafela; produced by Max Rosenberg and Subotsky; released by Distributors Corporation of America.
Starring Tuesday Weld (Dori), Teddy Randazzo (Tommy), Fran Manfred (Arabella), Jacqueline Kerr (Gloria), Ivy Schulman (Baby), Jack Collins (Dori’s father), Carol Moss (Dori’s mother), Eleanor Swayne (Miss Silky) and Alan Freed (himself).
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