ROCK, ROCK, ROCK! (1956) ¢ ¢ 1/2
D: Will Price
Tuesday Weld, Teddy Rendazzo, Fran Manfred,
Jacqueline Kerr, Jack Collins, Carol Moss
This looks like an anthology of very early rock-&-roll videos tacked onto a teen musical about a high-school girl trying to scrape up the cash for a dress to wear to the prom. The movie's slight, but the music's a blast. Alan Freed introduces most of the tunes. The Flamingoes, the Moonglows and LaVern Baker are among the featured stars. Chuck Berry does his famous duck walk while performing "You Can't Catch Me", but you can't help noticing his guitar's not plugged in. Many of the musicians are black, their segments conspicuously segregated from the rest of the film. 13-year-old Tuesday Weld plays the lead and looks like she's reading her lines from a cue card. She's seriously cute, though. You can see how she could break a few adolescent hearts. Tuesday's songs were dubbed by Connie Francis.
Chuck Berry
(1926-2017)
