Rock Around The Clock
From The Grindhouse Cinema Database
- Contents: Film Review | BUY DVD
Main Details
- Released in 1956
- B & W
- 77 Min.
- Distribution Co: Columbia Pictures
- Produced by Sam Katzman
- Directed by Fred F. Sears
- Starring Johnny Johnston, Lisa Gaye, Alix Talton, and Bill Haley and The Comets
Synopsis
Rock Around the Clock tells a highly fictionalized rendition of how rock and roll was discovered. As band manager Steve Hollis observes that big band dance music is failing to draw audiences any longer, he comes across a new sound that piques his interest. While traveling through a small farming town, he attends the local teenage dance and is introduced to rock and roll music and dancing, in the person of local band Bill Haley & His Comets and their associated dancers. Convinced that rock and roll will be the next big thing, Hollis strikes a deal to manage the group and also strikes up a romance with dancer Lisa Johns. Hollis then turns to agent Corinne Talbot, who handles bookings for nearly all of the venues in which Hollis needs the band to play to gain them exposure. Talbot's primary interest in Hollis, however, is to have him marry her, and she's determined to prevent him from succeeding without his working directly for her agency. First, she books the band into a traditionally conservative venue, expecting them to reject the band's brash new sound. But instead, the dancers there are excited by the music and embrace it enthusiastically. Next, Talbot simply blacklists Hollis and his acts from the venues she controls. But Hollis maneuvers around her by calling in a favor owed to him by disc jockey Alan Freed. (Wikipedia)
