''American Hot Wax'' is a 1978
biographical film directed by
Floyd Mutrux
Floyd Mutrux (born June 21, 1941) is an American stage and film director, writer, producer, and screenwriter.
Career
He began his work in Hollywood as an uncredited writer for ''Two-Lane Blacktop'' (1971). His career continued with '' The C ...
with a screenplay by
John Kaye from a story by John Kaye and
Art Linson
Art Linson (born 16 March 1942) is an American producer, screenwriter and author.
Life and career
Linson was born in Chicago, Illinois. He did his undergraduate work at the University of California-Berkeley and graduated from the University of ...
. The film tells the story of pioneering
disc jockey
A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile ...
Alan Freed
Albert James "Alan" Freed (December 15, 1921 – January 20, 1965) was an American disc jockey. He also produced and promoted large traveling concerts with various acts, helping to spread the importance of rock and roll music throughout Nor ...
, who in the 1950s helped introduce and popularize
rock and roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm a ...
, and is often credited with coining the term "rock 'n' roll". The film starred
Tim McIntire
Timothy John McIntire (July 19, 1944 – April 15, 1986) was an American character actor, probably best known for his starring roles as Alan Freed in the film ''American Hot Wax'' (1978), as singer George Jones in the television movie ''Stand ...
,
Fran Drescher
Francine Joy Drescher (born September 30, 1957) is an American actress, comedian, writer, activist, and trade union leader. She is known for her role as Fran Fine in the television sitcom '' The Nanny'' (1993–1999), which she created and prod ...
,
Jay Leno,
Laraine Newman,
Jeff Altman
Jeff Altman (born August 13, 1951) is an American stand-up comedian and actor who has appeared as a guest on '' Late Night with David Letterman'' and '' Late Show with David Letterman'' a combined 45 times. Altman mesmerized contemporaries like ...
, and
Moosie Drier. It also featured musical performances by
Chuck Berry
Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the " Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and developed rhythm and blues into th ...
,
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis (September 29, 1935October 28, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Nicknamed "The Killer", he was described as " rock & roll's first great wild man". A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis ma ...
,
Frankie Ford
Frankie Ford (August 4, 1939 – September 28, 2015) was an American rock and roll and rhythm and blues singer, best known for his 1959 hit "Sea Cruise".
Biography
He was born in Gretna, Louisiana, as Vincent Francis Guzzo, across the Mississippi ...
,
Screamin' Jay Hawkins, and
Brooklyn Dreams as "Professor La Plano and The Planotones". The film was not a box-office success.
A&M Records
A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distr ...
released a two-record
soundtrack album featuring the film's live Brooklyn Paramount performances on record one (in stereo) and the film's soundtrack (the original
monophonic
Monaural or monophonic sound reproduction (often shortened to mono) is sound intended to be heard as if it were emanating from one position. This contrasts with stereophonic sound or ''stereo'', which uses two separate audio channels to reproduc ...
hit recordings) on record two. The LP reached number 31 on the ''Billboard'' charts.
Producer
Art Linson
Art Linson (born 16 March 1942) is an American producer, screenwriter and author.
Life and career
Linson was born in Chicago, Illinois. He did his undergraduate work at the University of California-Berkeley and graduated from the University of ...
discusses the movie's production and failure at the box office in his book ''What Just Happened? Bitter Hollywood Tales from the Front Line''.
Plot
In late-1950s New York City, WROL disc jockey Alan Freed (Tim McIntire) promotes his upcoming rock n' roll show at the
Brooklyn Paramount Theater, headlined by Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis. Freed's radio program is hugely popular with teenagers, and the Paramount show is expected to sell out, despite concern that the police will shut it down as they did with Freed's previous show in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
. Local law enforcement, led by D.A. Coleman (John Lehne), targets Freed for allegedly inciting teenagers to wild and immoral behavior by broadcasting raucous and sexually suggestive rock n' roll songs, many of them by black musicians. WROL station management also dislike Freed's unconventional programming habits, including playing songs that the station has banned such as
"Tutti Frutti" by
Little Richard. Freed nevertheless rejects all suggestions that he change his programming style and feature more socially acceptable musical acts, such as
Pat Boone
Patrick Charles Eugene Boone (born June 1, 1934) is an American singer and actor. He was a successful pop singer in the United States during the 1950s and early 1960s. He sold more than 45 million records, had 38 Top 40 hits, and appeared in mo ...
. He also refuses to sign a statement declaring that he never accepted anything in return for playing a record, on the grounds that signing it would be a lie and that all disc jockeys, including those who have signed the statement, take such bribes.
Because Freed has the power to make a record a hit by playing it on his show, he is constantly besieged by record promoters and artist managers. He avoids most of these people, but takes an interest in those who share his love for rock n' roll. He repeatedly rebuffs the aggressive record promoter Lennie Richfield (Jeff Altman), but is kind to Artie Moress (Moosie Drier), a young boy who is the president of a
Buddy Holly fan club, and even puts Artie on the air to talk about his idol Holly. Freed also encourages Louise (Laraine Newman), a white teenage songwriter whose parents ignore her talent and disapprove of her associating with the Chesterfields, a black
doo-wop group who perform her songs. Freed himself suffers discrimination when he takes a racially mixed group of teenagers with him to look at a luxury home he wants to buy; the owner refuses to sell to him at any price. Freed's own father back in
Akron, Ohio
Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city prop ...
also rejects him, returning a check Freed sent him and refusing to talk on the telephone with his son.
The Paramount show goes on despite Coleman's attempts to stop it, including a failed attempt at a drug bust. Louise is moved to tears after the Chesterfields, a late addition to the show, perform her songs to thunderous applause from the capacity crowd. Freed's feisty young secretary Sheryl (Fran Drescher) and his chauffeur Mookie (Jay Leno), who have constantly bickered on the job, finally bond over their shared love of Freed and rock n' roll, and begin a romance. Mid-show,
IRS
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory tax ...
agents appear and seize all the proceeds from the box office, leaving Freed with no money to pay his artists. However, Chuck Berry saves the day by doing Freed the favor of performing for free. Jerry Lee Lewis, who initially had said he was not coming, then arrives at the last minute and closes the show as the police try to shut it down because teenagers are "dancing in the aisles". As the police begin clearing the theater with Lewis still performing onstage, chaos breaks out and the film abruptly ends, with an epilogue stating that this was Freed's last performance, and that he was taken off the air, indicted, moved to
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
, and died five years later, penniless, but that rock n' roll lives on.
Cast
*
Tim McIntire
Timothy John McIntire (July 19, 1944 – April 15, 1986) was an American character actor, probably best known for his starring roles as Alan Freed in the film ''American Hot Wax'' (1978), as singer George Jones in the television movie ''Stand ...
—
Alan Freed
Albert James "Alan" Freed (December 15, 1921 – January 20, 1965) was an American disc jockey. He also produced and promoted large traveling concerts with various acts, helping to spread the importance of rock and roll music throughout Nor ...
*
Fran Drescher
Francine Joy Drescher (born September 30, 1957) is an American actress, comedian, writer, activist, and trade union leader. She is known for her role as Fran Fine in the television sitcom '' The Nanny'' (1993–1999), which she created and prod ...
—Sheryl
*
Jay Leno—Mookie (Michael)
*
Laraine Newman—Teenaged Louise
*
Moosie Drier—Artie Moress
*
Jeff Altman
Jeff Altman (born August 13, 1951) is an American stand-up comedian and actor who has appeared as a guest on '' Late Night with David Letterman'' and '' Late Show with David Letterman'' a combined 45 times. Altman mesmerized contemporaries like ...
—Lennie Richfield
* John Lehne—D.A. Coleman
*
Richard Perry
Richard Van Perry (born June 18, 1942) is an American record producer. He began as a performer in his adolescence while attending Poly Prep, his high school in Brooklyn. After graduating from college he rose through the late 1960s and early 1970 ...
—Record producer
Performers
*
Chuck Berry
Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the " Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and developed rhythm and blues into th ...
—Himself
*
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis (September 29, 1935October 28, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Nicknamed "The Killer", he was described as " rock & roll's first great wild man". A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis ma ...
—Himself
*
Screamin' Jay Hawkins—Himself
*
Frankie Ford
Frankie Ford (August 4, 1939 – September 28, 2015) was an American rock and roll and rhythm and blues singer, best known for his 1959 hit "Sea Cruise".
Biography
He was born in Gretna, Louisiana, as Vincent Francis Guzzo, across the Mississippi ...
—Himself
* Charles Greene—Chuck Otis
The Chesterfields
* Carl Earl Weaver
* Al Chalk
* Sam Harkness
*
Arnold McCuller
Arnold McCuller (born August 26, 1950) is an American vocalist, songwriter, and record producer, born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. He was active as a solo artist and session musician, but is perhaps best known for his work as a touring back- ...
The Delights
* Stephanie Spruill
* Joyce King
* Yolanda Howard
*
Brenda Russell
Timmy and The Tulips (erroneously shown as "Timmy and The Tangerines" in the end credits)
* Charles Irwin—Timmy
* Jeanne Sheffield
*
Jo Ann Harris
Jo Ann Harris (born Jo Ann Marcovitch; May 27, 1949) is an American actress known for her many film and television roles beginning in 1967. In the 1971 film '' The Beguiled'' she portrayed a 17-year-old who seduced Clint Eastwood's character. ...
The Planotones
*
Kenny Vance
Kenny Vance (born Kenneth Rosenberg, December 9, 1943) is an American singer, songwriter, and music producer who was a founding member of Jay and the Americans. His career spans from the 1950s to today, with projects ranging from starting doo-wo ...
—Professor La Plano
*
Joe Esposito
*
Bruce Sudano
Bruce Charles Sudano (born September 26, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter, noted for creating songs for artists such as Michael Jackson, Dolly Parton, Reba McEntire and his late wife, the Grammy Award-winning singer Donna Summer. Sudano is t ...
*
Ed Hokenson
Reception
The film was a
box-office bomb
A box-office bomb, or box-office disaster, is a film that is unprofitable or considered highly unsuccessful during its theatrical run. Although any film for which the production, marketing, and distribution costs combined exceed the revenue after ...
. However, head of Paramount
Michael Eisner
Michael Dammann Eisner (born March 7, 1942) is an American businessman and former chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of The Walt Disney Company from September 1984 to September 2005. Prior to Disney, Eisner was president of rival film st ...
loved the movie and saw it nearly a dozen times. Critic
Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael (; June 19, 1919 – September 3, 2001) was an American film critic who wrote for ''The New Yorker'' magazine from 1968 to 1991. Known for her "witty, biting, highly opinionated and sharply focused" reviews, Kael's opinions oft ...
praised the performances and approvingly called the film "a super
B-movie" and "trashily enjoyable".
Janet Maslin
Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for ''The New York Times''. She served as a ''Times'' film critic from 1977 to 1999 and as a book critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000 Maslin ...
of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' wrote that "'American Hot Wax,' which has a plot so thin you could thread a needle with it, chooses to see the era strictly in terms of the B-movie melodramas it produced." Arthur D. Murphy of ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' called the film "unpretentious and enjoyable."
Gene Siskel gave the film three stars out of four and wrote, "At its worst, 'Hot Wax' comes off as a 92-minute, 'blasts-from-the-past,' TV record offer ... At its best, the film does manage to suggest some of the frenzied innocence of rock's early days, before rock became a multibillion-dollar industry."
Kevin Thomas of the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
'' found the film "enjoyable and at times poignant", although he noted the film seemed "evasive" on the issue of "Freed's involvement with
payola
Payola, in the music industry, is the illegal practice of paying a commercial radio station to play a song without the station disclosing the payment. Under US law, a radio station must disclose songs they were paid to play on the air as spons ...
(a word, incidentally, never heard in the film)." Gary Arnold of ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' wrote, "Director Floyd Mutrux and screenwriter John Kaye evidently fail to perceive that the liveliest elements in their movie contradict their admiring view of Freed as a pop-culture hero and martyr ... the filmmakers insist on looking at their subject matter through rose-colored glasses."
[Arnold, Gary (March 18, 1978). "'Hot Wax' Waxes Nostalgic". '']The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
''. C7.
Charts
References
External links
*
*
*
*
*
{{Jerry Lee Lewis
1978 films
1970s biographical films
American biographical films
American rock music films
Biographical films about radio people
1970s English-language films
Films directed by Floyd Mutrux
Films produced by Art Linson
Films set in 1959
Films set in New York City
Paramount Pictures films
1970s American films