Very well executed

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Dreadfully Boring

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

In this movie, a lifeless and somewhat ridiculous plot acts as a frame story to showcase some rock-and-roll bands when that kind of music was becoming popular in the 1950s. Young people in their rebellious stage like to shock their elders, so naturally we have a scene in which Bill Haley and the Comets perform at a prestigious and very proper girls' school, which scandalizes the matronly chaperones. The Comets wear suits and are clean-cut, singing songs without suggestive lyrics, but no matter, because the beat alone is indecent. So the movie has it both ways, allowing teenagers to enjoy the fantasy of shocking their elders, while the real elders watching the movie in the theaters would be reassured that rock and roll was quite harmless.Part of the plot of this movie is that dancing is on its way out, by which is meant ballroom dancing. But the dancing done by teenagers to rock and roll is alive and well. It is basically jitterbug (also known as swing, boogie-woogie, and the bop). In a sense, however, this died too. Once the twist became popular in the early 1960s, partner dancing, in which couples make contact with each other, pretty much came to an end, to be replaced by various forms of free style, in which couples never touch each other. To see partner dancing any more, you either have to go to a country-western nightclub or to a dance studio where ballroom still lingers on.Partner dancing in the movies is one of two kinds: either the dancers are professionals, or they are just barely able to shuffle around the dance floor. The reality would be somewhere in between, with amateurs doing a fairly decent job of cutting a rug. In this movie, the brother and sister who dance together are obviously professionals. They become part of the act with the Comets, the idea being that they will show teenagers at the performances how to dance to rock and roll, to break the ice and get others on the dance floor. Of course, all those supposedly novice teenagers who venture onto the dance floor are professional dancers themselves. In fact, having that brother-and-sister team dance like that in real life would intimidate ordinary would-be dancers, making it less likely for them to get out on the floor.Unfortunately, most of the songs performed in this movie are not that good, and in several cases, no one dances at all, usually because the beat is too fast, even for professionals. There are a couple of good numbers from the Comets and a couple from the Platters. The rest are mediocre, which when combined with the boring plot make the movie a disappointment.

this movie is really just an excuse for playing some music. The plot is thin bordering on non existent. A music promotor falls in love with one of Haleys dancers, and tries to win her by promoting Rock'n roll. We get Bill Haley, The Bellboys and The Platters to fill in while the plot unfolds. Ahh yes, there's also another promotor (female) who tries to prevent it all from happening. You really have to be a big fan of early Rock to sit through this rubbish. My 2 stars goes to the platters. These folks could really sing!!! But what were they doing in a rock'n roll movie ??? Those 2 songs seem completely out of place. Oh well, I guess something had to be done to save this piece of nonsense !

Promoter Steve Hollis (Johnny Johnston) is looking for a new act for teenage audiences. He comes upon Bill Haley and the Comets playing in a small town. They drive the teenagers wild and feature a brother/sister team (Earl Barton/Lisa Gaye) who do some incredible dancing to the music. He signs them up and immediately falls in love with Gaye (and vice versa). However the evil Miss Talbot (Alix Talton) loves Hollis herself. He spurns her so she sets out to to make sure that Haley, the Comets, Gaye and Barton can't get a job.Really silly stuff with lousy dialogue chockful of 50s slang that just sounds ridiculous now. Everybody is so polite and nice to each other--even the "evil" schemes of Talbot are pretty mild. Also Johnston and Gaye fall in love in seconds! It's pretty creepy though--Johnston is easily old enough to be her father! None of this matters though. This shows Bill Hlaey and the Comets and the Platters performing and that alone makes this a valuable time capsule of the 1950s when rock and roll was starting to get popular. The groups ARE lip syncing to their songs (and pretty badly in the case of The Platters) but still... When the Platters sang "Only You" and "The Great pretender" this movie is just magic. The acting is pretty terrible (Bill Haley especially) but the songs are good, the movie is short and the dance routines between Barton and Gaye are really pretty impressive. Hard to believe that this was banned in some cities in the US when it first came out. In other cases some theatre owners told the projectionist to cut the sound when the music numbers came on! Check out the ending which says "The Living End"! Harmless and kind of fun. I give it a 6.

Though it wasn't the first film to mention "rock and roll," this is known as the "first real rock film" and it's a mixed bag. Basically it's a vehicle for rock and roll pioneer Bill Haley and his band, The Comets. In the very thin story, two square music managers realize that their old type of traditional dance music is dying out in favor of the latest "rock 'n' roll" fad. When they see Haley and the Comets perform their classic "See You Later Alligator" at a small town dance and witness all the kids dancing up a storm, they decide to try and get this group to play full-time and make it big. The film's not very interesting when it veers away from the music, but along the way we get several more Bill Haley songs (the famous title hit itself, plus "Razzle Dazzle," "Rock Rock Rock" and others), and we're also treated to The Bellboys. But the main attraction is easily The Platters, who expertly perform two of their big hits - "Only You" and "The Great Pretender". The latter is so fabulous it sends chills up the spine. **1/2 out of ****