''Don't Knock the Rock'' is a 1956 American

musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but in some cases, they serve merely as brea ...

starring

Alan Dale Alan Hugh Dale (born 6 May 1947) is a New Zealand actor. As a child, Dale enjoyed theatre and rugby. After retiring from the sport, he took on a number of occupations, before deciding to become a professional actor at age 27. Dale subsequent ...

and

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 ...

. Directed by Fred F. Sears, the film also features performances by

Bill Haley & His Comets Bill Haley & His Comets were an American rock and roll band founded in 1947 that continued until Haley's death in 1981. The band was also known as Bill Haley and the Comets and Bill Haley's Comets. From late 1954 to late 1956, the group record ...

Little Richard Richard Wayne Penniman (December 5, 1932 – May 9, 2020), known professionally as Little Richard, was an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He was an influential figure in popular music and culture for seven decades. Described as the " ...

The Treniers The Treniers (pronounced /trəˈniərz/) were an American R&B and jump blues musical group led by identical twins Cliff and Claude Trenier. They were originally billed as the Trenier Twins, who performed alongside the Gene Gilbeaux Quartet, ...

, and Dave Appell and the Applejacks. The title of the film comes from one of Haley's hit singles of 1956. The Haley recording is played over the opening credits, but it is Alan Dale who performs the number in the film. Indeed, while Haley and his band are the top-billed performers in the movie, the story in fact focuses on Dale's character.

Synopsis

Dale stars as Arnie Haines, a

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 ...

star who returns to his hometown to rest up for the summer only to find that rock and roll has been banned there by disapproving adults. Among those against him is influential newspaper columnist Arline MacLaine, though this does not stop Arnie from starting up a romance with MacLaine's daughter Francine. At Francine's urging, Arnie decides to perform a show to demonstrate to Arline that the adults' fears are unjustified. Meanwhile, MacLaine's columns have led to other towns across the country canceling planned rock and roll shows. This leaves big-name acts like Bill Haley, Little Richard, The Treniers and Dave Appell available to perform in Arnie's show. The show goes well at first, with Arline prepared to write a new column acknowledging that the music is harmless. However, things go awry when Arnie rejects the advances of local girl Sunny Everett. In retaliation, Sunny gets drunk and gets two boys to begin a brawl. No one believes that Sunny was at fault and the resulting newspaper articles reporting that the show led to a drunken brawl among its attendees give rock and roll a worse reputation than ever. As his final play, Arnie works with a local theater group to put on a show called "The Pageant of Art and Culture" to appeal to the adults. The show opens with depictions of paintings by

Vermeer Johannes Vermeer ( , , see below; also known as Jan Vermeer; October 1632 – 15 December 1675) was a Dutch Baroque Period painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life. During his lifetime, he was a moderately succe ...

and

Renoir Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially feminine sensuality, it has been said that "Re ...

, followed by a

minuet A minuet (; also spelled menuet) is a social dance of French origin for two people, usually in time. The English word was adapted from the Italian ''minuetto'' and the French ''menuet''. The term also describes the musical form that accomp ...

dance performance, this show of

high culture High culture is a subculture that emphasizes and encompasses the cultural objects of aesthetic value, which a society collectively esteem as exemplary art, and the intellectual works of philosophy, history, art, and literature that a society con ...

meeting with the strong approval of the adults in attendance. However, the show's next number is taken directly from those adults' own days of youth: a raucous performance of the Charleston, providing a stark contrast between the entertainment in which the adults indulged when they were young and what they are now advocating for their children. Arline gets the point and announces that she now agrees that parents have been using rock and roll as a scapegoat for their own parental failings. Sunny's father agrees, noting that he now accepts that his daughter was at fault for the disruption at the rock and roll show. Arline offers Arnie an apology, both on the spot and in print, and the show closes with a rock and roll number, which even the adults now allow themselves to enjoy.

Cast

as Arnie Haines *

as Himself *

Fay Baker Fay Baker (born Fay Schwager; January 31, 1917 – December 8, 1987) was an American stage, film and television actress and writer. Using the pen name Beth Holmes, she wrote the novel, ''The Whipping Boy''. She also published, under her own nam ...

as Arline MacLaine * Patricia Hardy as Francine MacLaine * Bill Haley as Himself *

as Himself *

as Themselves

Reception

''Don't Knock the Rock'' premiered in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

on December 12, 1956 (The film is often listed in reference books as being a 1957 release, due to its December 1956 premiere). The film was an immediate follow-up to the earlier ''

Rock Around the Clock "Rock Around the Clock" is a rock and roll song in the 12-bar blues format written by Max C. Freedman and James E. Myers (the latter being under the pseudonym "Jimmy De Knight") in 1952. The best-known and most successful rendition was record ...

'', which had also starred Haley and Freed. Although Haley and the Comets were the top-billed stars of the film, their role in it was relatively minor and the film failed to duplicate the box office success of its predecessor. Today it is notable for the performances of Bill Haley and His Comets and Little Richard and the appearance of Alan Freed, all members of the

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum and hall of fame located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the shore of Lake Erie. The museum documents the history of rock music and ...

Songs performed in the movie

# "Don't Knock the Rock" – Bill Haley and His Comets (audio only over opening credits) # "I Cry More" – Alan Dale # "You're Just Right" – Alan Dale # "

Hot Dog Buddy Buddy "Hot Dog Buddy Buddy" is a 1956 rock and roll song composed by Bill Haley and released as a Decca single and also on Brunswick. The song appeared in the 1956 Columbia Pictures movie ''Don't Knock the Rock''. Background "Hot Dog Buddy Buddy" was ...

" – Bill Haley and His Comets # "Goofin' Around" – Bill Haley and His Comets # "Hook, Line And Sinker" – Bill Haley and His Comets (audio only) # "Applejack" – Dave Appell and the Applejacks # "Your Love Is My Love" – Alan Dale # "Calling All Comets" – Bill Haley and His Comets # "Out Of The Bushes" – The Treniers # " Rip It Up" – Bill Haley and His Comets # "Rocking On Saturday Night" – The Treniers # "Gonna Run" – Alan Dale # " Long Tall Sally" – Little Richard # " Tutti-Frutti" – Little Richard # "Country Dance" – Dave Appell and the Applejacks # "Don't Knock the Rock" – Alan Dale The version of the guitar instrumental "Goofin' Around" performed in this film differs from the version released on

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American Decca's president. ...

; it has yet to be officially issued although a film audio recording of the scene in which it was played (as opposed to the original studio recording) was released in the late 1990s by the German label Hydra Records. Due to

sheet music Sheet music is a handwritten or printed form of musical notation that uses musical symbols to indicate the pitches, rhythms, or chords of a song or instrumental musical piece. Like its analogs – printed books or pamphlets in English, ...

for the songs "Applejack" and "Country Dance" being released as a tie-in with this movie but with Bill Haley's, not Dave Appell's, photo on the cover, these songs, although Haley-sounding, are often erroneously cited as Bill Haley recordings. Three Little Richard songs are featured: two performed by Richard himself, and the third is a

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song relea ...

of his "Rip it Up" performed by Haley. As with ''Rock Around the Clock'', no official soundtrack album was released, though some non-American issues of Haley compilations tied in to the film. Haley's 1956 album, ''

Rock 'n Roll Stage Show ''Rock 'n Roll Stage Show'' is the first studio album and fourth overall album by rock and roll band Bill Haley and His Comets. Released by Decca Records in August 1956, it was the group's first album to include new, as opposed to previously rel ...

'', includes four of the songs featured in the movie: "Hot Dog Buddy Buddy", "Goofin' Around", "Hook, Line and Sinker", and "Calling All Comets".

Home video release

''Don't Knock the Rock'' was never released officially on VHS or

laserdisc The LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium, initially licensed, sold and marketed as MCA DiscoVision (also known simply as "DiscoVision") in the United States in 1978. Its diameter typical ...

in North America. In 2006, the film was released on Region 1 DVD by

Sony Pictures Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Sony Pictures or SPE, and formerly known as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc.) is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate that produces, acq ...

(current owners of the Columbia catalog) in a two-disc set with ''

''.

References

External links

* * * {{Sam Katzman 1956 films 1950s teen drama films 1950s musical drama films American musical drama films American teen drama films American rock music films American black-and-white films Bill Haley Columbia Pictures films Films directed by Fred F. Sears Films shot in Los Angeles 1956 drama films 1950s English-language films 1950s American films