tavm This was a regional Rock 'n' Roll movie from Dallas, Texas, that I just watched on YouTube. While I didn't recognize the musical talent nor most of the songs they sang, I enjoyed each and every of them that was showcased. I also liked a dance a woman did at the end. The plot, such as it is, concerned a group of teens trying to save their dance hangout from being taken over by some corrupt businessmen. Not much to hang a drama on and the acting was mostly squaresville. Good thing there's wall-to-wall music most of the time. I mean, what I heard was-to quote the many times these movies had printed certain words on screen at the conclusion of them during this period counting this one-The Living End! So on that note, Rock Baby - Rock It is worth a look for anyone interested in vintage music acts of the late '50s.

Woodyanders Undoubtedly one of the chintziest and hence most authentically grubby of the numerous cheap rocksploitation churned out in mass volume in the 50's, this Dallas, Texas marvel thrillingly captures the sweetly ingenuous bring-the-house-down rumbling excitement rock possessed when it first came into being. Technically, it's a ratty shambles, with ragged editing, scroungy photography, primitive fade-outs, lovably dated hep-cat lingo ("You're the most"), and hopelessly stiff acting. However, the sincerity and eagerness evident throughout make the pic's shoddiness both forgivable and ultimately strangely endearing. In fact, the rough ramshackle quality of the film-making actually lends a certain grungy quasi-documentary verisimilitude to the divinely naive and dippy proceedings.As usual, the story is really threadbare, a faint whiff of a plot that solely exists as a flimsy excuse to show off plenty of hot local rock'n'roll acts. This time a bunch of ugly, tubby, nefarious middle-aged square mobsters threaten to take over a hoppin' Lone Star state teen nightspot, so the smart and resourceful kids hold an impromptu charity rock benefit concert to raise enough bread to save their beloved hangout from the greasy gangsters' vile clutches. And, boy oh boy, does said concert deliver the tasty and eclectic a little bit of everything multi-genre music goods. The Cellblock Seven sweep up the floor with a few just swell and stirring bebop jazz swing tunes. The exquisitely dulcet Belew Twins vault straight for the heavens with their sharp, keen, downright otherworldly harmonizing. The Five Stars display lots of style and charm with their delicious serving of right-on doo-wop nirvana. Preacher Smith and the Deacans lay down some slow, funky-stompin' boogie woogie barn burners. Don Coats and the Bon-Aires set hearts aflutter with their gorgeously dreamy, swooning and romantic white guy pop crooning. Roscoe Gordon and the Red Tops rock it up something nice with their supremely wailin', yet still beautifully forlorn and lonesome blues moping. All these bands seriously smoke, but the cat who clearly makes off with the whole stupendously hip'n'happening show is 19-year-old rockabilly firecracker Ron "Hot Rocks" Carroll, a dynamic spark-plug whose wild gyrations and scorching stage presence damn nearly make Elvis seem like small potatoes. And speaking of the Big E, Kay Wheeler, the founder and president of the Elvis Presley fan club, puts in a simply dazzling cameo appearance, energetically cuttin' it up on stage like nobody's business. All in all, this crudely slapped together item sizes up as the lively, exuberant, rockin' all through the night delightful living end, daddy-o!

ptb-8 This early rock n roll "extravaganza", looks to have been made one weekend in a school and its gym in Dallas Texas on a wobbly cardboard set masquerading as a 'nightclub' using kitchen chairs and card tables with burger shop tablecloths. It is really cheap. However, the various song and rock acts are interesting, especially the Negro group with the live rooster stepping about on the piano. I kid you not. The set is so tiny, and seeming to be rectangular and very narrow crammed with local kids and their parents, local businesspeople (who probably financed it) seen as extras to crowd out several scenes. Mostly filmed on this one set with a parade of local music groups wailing and jamming (literally), one could not get a more basic excuse for a 50s rock and roll film. I am sure it made plenty of local $ as it is so early in the cycle that it could not help but succeed. Probably a local drive in staple for years. However, today it is pretty tough going...a better seen Corman equivalent is the equally tedious and cheap ROCK ALL NIGHT, which is a similar excuse to film 65 mins of teen angst and rock gangs on the one set. This film ROCK BABY ROCK IT is not very good, but of mild interest because of the cheap but snazzy 50s clothes and the black pop groups. One particular singing pair known as The Belew Twins are terrifying: they look like 11 year old boys who just might be 29 years old; the ventriloquist dummy look with the Brylcreem Happy Days hair. During their set they even team up with equally peculiar twin Funicello style girls, even smaller than them! The boys have a seagull stance when singing and sound like Loretta Lynn. So weird...it is almost worth the struggle through this film to gasp in horror at their moment. In reel life I would not have gone to their Christmas party...imagine what they would do after a few drinks and started a set singing and performing their unique party tricks. I think they would have given those drunken Oz Munchkins a run for the bottle.

JOHNBATES-1 This should have been titled "Rockin' in Dallas in '57" because the attempt at a story line and acting was pointless and a waste of film footage. Local rock and roll acts are showcased for the majority of the movie. And that's what it should have been - a low budget documentary of the music and dancing of the time and place.By the standards of those days the groups featured were probably fairly good. So it's interesting to watch in that regard.One character in the 'plot' had a nose that looked so broken he probably couldn't breathe through it. In fact part of the cast appears to have been drawn from the local boxing or wrestling gym. There are some moments of genuine laughter, though, as when one of the 'bad' guys is made to dance rock and roll style.