Isobelk This is like watching Reefer Madness. It's an old drive-in movie with great original music that got the nickname: Rock-n-roll. Gotta watch. The math is hysterical, literally which is historically hysterically sexist. Really, gotta watch. And it's amazing that Tuesday Weld is 13. My husband graduated high school in 1962. Can't wait to watch it again with him. I can only vaguely remember the itchy scratchy of those crinoline slips. The music and dancing is great! Drive-in movies were not supposed to be watched closely. Most people "fooled around" during the talking and only started paying attention when the music started when they probably got out of their cars and danced. Enjoy this pure entertainment with good cinematography of the dancing and music. And Connie Francis dubbed in for Tuesday Weld is hilarious. I mean, did you know that Rock-n-roll "is the river of music?"

kidboots Beautiful Tuesday Weld was the original "wild child". She had been a child model and by the time she was eight had branched into television and Broadway. She was the sole support of her family but by nine she suffered a breakdown and quit work for a year. At ten she was seriously drinking and at twelve tried to commit suicide. Shortly after this, she appeared in "Rock, Rock, Rock", a low budget film shot in Brooklyn, in 9 days. It was an attempt to cash in on the rock and roll craze and featured some of the best groups and singers of the era.Precocious Tuesday (looking a lot older than 13) plays Dori, who, although she sings the song "It Never Happens to Me" (courtesy of Connie Francis) confesses to her friend that she is in love with Tommy (Teddy Randazzo). Arabella warns her of Gloria, who also loves Tommy. Tommy tells her he is going to enter Alan Freed's talent quest and tries to convince her to enter as well. Dori has other things on her mind. She can't budget her allowance so her harassed dad (Jack Collins) cancels her charge accounts. Her rival, Gloria, has announced that she is buying a blue (Tommy's favourite colour) evening gown - with sparkles!!! so Dori is determined to get one as well.Dori, Arabella and Dori's hip dad watch Alan Freed's show on television and it has some great acts on it. "Rock, Soul Boogie", "I Knew From the Start" sung by the Moonglows, "You Can't Catch Me" sung by Chuck Berry, who brings out all his trademark moves, "Will I Be Crying" by the Flamingoes, "The Big Beat" by Jimmy Cavallo and the House Rockers. Alan Freed then announces the winner of the talent quest and surprise, surprise it is Tommy - he sings "Thanks to You".Meanwhile Dori has problems - she has found the dress of her dreams but her father has canceled her account. Her father wants to teach her the value of a dollar - so he says he will give her $15 but she must earn the other $15. Dori is desperate - she goes to the bank to get a loan but when she realises the bank charges 6% interest - she decides to open her own bank!!!! Tommy has news for the gang - Alan Freed is going to bring his show to the prom. Gloria gives Dori a few lessons in arithmetic (Dori thinks she is charging only 1% interest by charging $1 for every dollar borrowed!!!) and threatens to tell the whole school that Dori is a crook unless Tommy takes her to the prom. Dori tries to sing her troubles away ("Little Blue Wren" - she is very good at miming). Things sort themselves out - Dori gets her sparkly blue dress and Tommy, and the rock show comes to the prom. Watch for a young Valerie Harper, sitting on a settee.The concert is fantastic - "Rock, Rock, Rock" by Jimmie and the House Rockers, "Lonesome Train" is a fantastic rockabilly song by the Johnny Burnette Trio, "Over and Over Again" by the Moonglows, "Tra La La" by La Vern Baker. The sensation of the evening is Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers - they sing the catchy "Baby, Baby" and "I'm Not a Juvenile Delinquent". Watch the film for the wonderful bands and to see Tuesday Weld at the start of her long career.

sportell I agree with many comments, the acting can be atrocious at times. But that wasn't the focus of this film. The fact that there's rock songs and artists performing every few minutes is proof of that. So while the acting and plot are weak, it's a great movie to watch for all the different music acts of the 1950s. Pretty cool. Tuesday Weld is cute and her nemesis is enough to hate, even beyond the poor acting skill. She's a conniving little beast and has no qualms about getting the guy she wants, even when it's obvious he doesn't like her. I wasn't impressed with the singing of "Baby" though. I've heard kids sing and do just fine. She was too annoying sounding. Was she actually a big thing at this time? Her voice grated. My three year old doesn't always keep in tune, but he sings better and has a clearer voice. Even taking into consideration the graininess of the soundtrack, she was harsh. Oh well. It's still a film worth watching.

Woodyanders A positively adorable 13-year-old Tuesday Weld makes her simply smashing film debut in this endearingly inane 50's teen-fueled rock'n'roll piffle as Dori, a spunky, willful, calculating lass who can't get her stingy, pipe-smoking, Elvis-hating square dad ("We gotta teach that girl that money doesn't grow on fathers!") to give her thirty bucks for a fancy blue strapless dress that Dori wants to wear to a high school sock hop. So Dori decides to use her considerable wit and charm to plot some sneaky way of producing the cash on her own.That's it for the admittedly pretty slender and undernourished story, which basically serves as a slight excuse to showcase eleven blisteringly cooking rock performers. Okay, Will Price's pedestrian direction, the mostly cardboard acting (Weld proves to be the film's key source of bubbly vitality, while legendary 50's disc jockey Alan Freed sadly comes across as a totally cornball stiff and the rest of the underage cast are hopelessly wooden), the static cinematography, Milton Subotsky's feeble script (Subotsky, who also co-produced and handled music director chores, later founded the highly successful British horror studio Amicus), and the occasionally draggy, meandering pace leave a lot to be desired. However, "Rock, Rock, Rock" still manages to be tons of dippy, empty-headed fun, thanks to Weld's perfectly perky presence and the largely spot-on performances from a wonderfully diverse bunch of music acts.Musically, this movie's most definitely the authentic gnarly article. Rock'n'roll king Chuck Berry does the duck walk and almost makes off with the entire movie, grinning his way through the sizzling car number "You Can't Catch Me," a terrific song which includes a lyrical reference to the New Jersey Turnpike. Firebrand torch singer La Vern Baker releases her redoubtable alto on the sunny "Tra La La." Unbelievably obnoxious four-year-old brat Ivy Shulman makes an absolute fool of herself screeching the uproariously awful "Rock, Pretty Baby" in a hideously off-key, braying voice. The Johnny Burnette Trio let 'er rip with the fantastically forlorn rockabilly doozy "Lonesome Train." The amazing Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers hit a beautifully graceful note with the double whammy of the zippy "Baby Baby" and the classic "I'm Not A Juvenile Delinquent." The Flamingos melt hearts croaning the exquisitely lilting tear-jerker "Would I Be Crying." The Moonglows deliver gorgeously soaring falsetto doowop harmonies on both "I Knew from the Start" and "Over and Over Again." Brooklynese dreamboats Cirino and the Bowties zero in for the sentimental kill with the lush romantic swooner "Ever Since I Can Remember." Hardcore greaseball rockabilly lords Jimmy Cavallo and the Houserockers lay down a primordial stomping rumba, blowing saxophones to Mars and back on the righteously roughhouse "Big Beat" and the rousing title track. And, rounding things off with a nice smattering of ultra-kitschy high camp silliness, Weld herself badly lip-syncs a pair of marvelously mawkish'n'moronic Connie Francis love ballads: the impossibly inane "I Never Had A Sweetheart" and the deliciously dreadful "Little Blue Wren." Great goofy stuff!