1956 was quite the banner year for music and culture. Rock was really starting to grab the public at large and the bottom was falling out of the swing and big band genre. People like Harry James, who were treated the way rock stars are today, suddenly couldn’t get bookings or draw audiences the way they used to.
Rock music was the new thing, it was here to stay, and the 1956 film, Rock Around the Clock was one of its first major paens. Blackboard Jungle also played rock music, specifically “Rock Around the Clock,” but it and other earlier films were basically John the Baptist to Rock Around the Clock’s Jesus, or so its filmmakers seemed to hope.
The plot is minimal because it’s meant to frame the various musical acts, of which there are plenty. However, it gets its point across, and that is simply and obviously this: Rock music is the wave of the future. Lead, follow, or get out of the way.
It all starts at a swing club, where Steve Hollis (Johnny Johnston) is watching his swing band clients plod their way through a set. The audience response is more than lackluster, and Steve tells the band the curtain has rung down on swing music. In search of new opportunities, Steve and the band’s bass fiddler, Corny LaSalle (Henry Slate) head down the road to New York and stop in a little farming town called Strawberry Springs for the night, where they see all the teenagers going to a party at the local town hall. The hotel manager is happy to fill them in, and then after Steve and Corny drive away, shakes his head at the out-of-touch city dwellers.
At the dance, Steve and Corny are mystified at everything they see. The band is Bill Haley and His Comets and the dance floor is packed. The Comets even have their own dance team, Lisa (Lisa Grey) and her brother, Jimmy (Earl Barton). Steve, being the savvy guy he is, sees an opportunity to get in on the ground floor of this new style of music. He figures he and Corny can make a healthy salary and give the band a leg up.
The band are flattered but a wee bit skeptical, especially dancer Lisa, who’s pretty savvy herself. She thinks Steve’s terms, while standard in the music business, shortchange the band. The guys know that without Lisa, it’s a no-go.
So Steve, the stinker, tries romance. Lisa knows his game, but she’s got a few tricks up her own sleeve, and she’s receptive to Steve’s advances as well. Steve goes to New York to get the band a booking or two.
Problem is, Steve’s contact is barracuda Corrine Talbot (Alix Talton), who’s had her eye on him for a long time. When she hears about Lisa, she’s definitely jealous, but she books the band at a high school prom in New Haven, Connecticut, thinking it’s all going to flop.
Yep. It doesn’t. Actually, Bill Haley, the Comets, and another act called Freddie Bell and the Bellhops, go over like gangbusters, much to horror of the older chaperones. Corrine’s assistant and patient almost-suitor Mike (John Archer) sums it all up nicely: “Pardon the expression, Boss: You goofed.”
Corrine won’t give up. She tries getting the bands blackballed from other clubs in New York, and when that doesn’t work she gets Lisa to sign a contract. It’s a prestigious one, with lots of exposure and plenty of money for Lisa, Jimmy and the bands, but the one stipulation is that Lisa can’t get married for three years. I won’t ruin what happens, but suffice it to say that while Corrine is one sly minx, she’s not the only one.
If anyone is watching Rock Around the Clock for the plot, it’s a thin affair at best. Same goes for historical accuracy, although OG concert promoter Alan Freed has a pretty healthy amount of screentime. The romance between Steve and Lisa seems a little half-baked, and Corinne’s designs on Steve border on sexual harassment.
Anyone who is watching the movie for the music, however, is in for a treat, because the bands pull out all the stops. Like Bill Haley and His Comets. I’m not going to spoil anything there, either, but there’s one number in which the band members do some pretty remarkable things with a bass fiddle and a tenor sax. Eddie Van Halen would have probably been proud and maybe a little envious.
Freddie Bell and the Bellhops were fun as well. I hadn’t heard of these guys before this movie, but they created some very interesting harmonies and dischords in their songs, and they almost had more of a jazz flavor.
The Platters and Tony Martinez round out the lineup. The Platters do a couple of their classics, and their spots are all too short. It’s nice that Martinez is in the film, because he wrote the bulk of the music used in the film. I don’t know if he was as interesting a performance artist as Xavier Cugat or Tito Puente, but he was definitely an influential gentleman.
Of course, almost seventy years later it’s pretty hilarious watching the older set clutch their pearls and gasp in horror at these young upstarts and their crazy new sounds, especially considering how clean-cut and relatively safe these early bands were. It’s especially ironic to hear the older set dismiss rock music as a “fad.” Seventy years later, we know Gene Vincent, Jerry Lee Lewis, Eddie Cochran, and most of all, Elvis, were on the horizon and even more shocking and dangerous.
For that matter, Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin and Ozzy Osbourne (rest his soul) would have given these people apoplexy, but I digress.
Rock Around the Clock was a major hit when it released, and it was very convenient that publicity for the film dovetailed with the popularity of the title song, although it’s a little bit of a headache for researchers today, because search results often turn up stuff about both the song and the movie. Oh well.
Anyway, what often sold the movie to audiences, especially teenagers, besides the rock music, was towns holding dance contests beforehand to promote both the movie and rock music in general, and this was done all over the United States and around the world. It seemed to be a lot of fun and it was great publicity.
The reviews were kind as well. Motion Picture Daily called the film, “well knit,” and said this: “”Rock Around the Clock” is a film that can stand on its own and is ably produced and directed in a showmanly manner. Rock ‘n’ Roll music and Haley and his Comets provide material for showmanship, the kind that should draw dollars. Seventeen songs are offered and should be a fine selling point for the teen-age crowd.”
Harrison’s was equally enthusiastic, judging Rock Around the Clock “highly entertaining,” albeit lightweight, adding that the movie was “best described in {teen} vernacular as “cool and crazy,” and that will have movie-goers beating their feet in time with the rhythm, with the possible exception of those who “just ain’t hep!””
Slightly more reserved was Motion Picture Exhibitor, who estimated that the movie was an “entertaining programmer,” and that “The story is slight but holds the threads of musical presentations together, and the characterizations, direction, and production are okay. But here, the music and production numbers are the thing.”
Of course, not every audience who saw it liked the film, or more like, some people liked it too much. Rock Around the Clock was banned in several parts of Britain after teenagers were getting into fights and smashing things at showings. It got so bad that police were asked to stand by in some locales. One theater owner in Glasgow, Jack Brown, outright canceled the movie. Seeing as the film is about as racy as a Disney movie, though, the teenagers who were throwing punches may have just been looking for an excuse to act like hoodlums, but either way, the movie made theater owners very nervous.
In most locales, the film seemed to provide an excuse for teenagers to get up and dance, which probably drove theater owners crazy, but as long as no one trashed the screening rooms, what could they do about it? At least they weren’t throwing spoons or something like audiences generally do at screenings of a certain other movie.
How time passes. Rock Around the Clock may not be talked about all that often nowadays, but like Steve and Corny, once it’s discovered, it’s hard not to be highly impressed by the artistry of these bands.
Another post is coming out on Thursday. Thanks for reading, all, and I hope to see you then…
Rock Around the Clock is available on Blu-ray and DVD from Amazon. It’s also available to stream on Tubi.
~Purchases made via Amazon Affiliate links found on this site help support Taking Up Room at no extra cost to you.~
If you’re enjoying what you see on Taking Up Room, please subscribe to my Substack page, where you’ll find both free and paid subscriber-only reviews of mostly new and newish movies, documentaries, and shows. I publish every Wednesday and Saturday. You can also subscribe to my Club 15 Tier, which gives you at least one extra Taking Up Room post every month for a small fee.
Taking Up Room 