Don't Knock the Rock
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Fred F. Sears
Bill Haley And His Comets
Alan Dale
Alan Freed
The Treniers
Little Richard
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Weary of constant performing and adolescent adulation, rock-and-roll idol Arnie Haines decides to take an extended vacation in his home town of Melondale. After arranging for Bill Haley and His Comets to take over the band's bookings, the band's press agent, Alan Freed, promotes Arnie's visit to Melondale as the triumphant return of a hometown boy. As Arnie is greeted by screaming teenagers, Arlene MacLaine, a columnist critical of rock music, arrives with her teenage daughter Francine to cover the story. Scandalized by the depravity of rock and roll, George Bagley, the mayor of Melondale, threatens to expel Arnie if he dares to perform in town. That night, the local kids gather at Arnie's parents farm to dance. When Francine stops by and offers to help change her mother's mind about the new music, Arnie drives her to the beach and serenades her with a romantic ballad. Afterward, Francine describes rock and roll as a form of teen expression, free from outmoded parental values and urges Arnie to perform in public to demonstrate the music's merits. Mayor Bagley's ban has sparked controversy across the country, and so Arnie asks Tom Everett, the mayor of the neighboring town of Friesville, to allow him to put on a rock-and-roll show. After the mayor gives his consent, Arnie recruits acts from all over the country to appear. Aware that Mayor Bagley will try to prevent the show, Francine and Arnie publicize it only by word of mouth. Francine attends the performance with her skeptical mother, but during intermission, Sunny Everett, Tom's precocious daughter, insists on making out with Arnie. When Arnie spurns her, Sunny speeds off to Melondale to inform Bagley about the forbidden show. Upon returning to Friesville, Sunny pours whiskey all over her clothes and pretends to be drunk. Arlene is about to recant her opinion of rock and roll when Sunny makes a drunken scene on the dance floor and Bagley arrives with the police. The raid provokes a nationwide scandal, and afterward, Arnie tells Francine that Sunny was pretending to be drunk to spite him. Determined to vindicate the reputation of rock and roll, Arnie uses the pageant of art and culture presented by the local youth theater as a forum. In a historical retrospective of dance, the pageant stages the raucous Charleston, the dance favored by the teens' parents. Recognizing her short-sightedness, Arlene rises to defend rock and roll and apologize to Arnie, and the rest of the adults follow suit.
Director
Fred F. Sears
Cast
Bill Haley And His Comets
Alan Dale
Alan Freed
The Treniers
Little Richard
Dave Appell And His Applejacks
Patricia Hardy
Fay Baker
Jana Lund
Gail Ganley
Pierre Watkin
George Cisar
Dick Elliott
Jovada Ballard
Jimmy Ballard
Crew
Dave Appell
Ed Appell
G. D. Attilli
Earl Barton
Frank Bayes
F. Beecher
Robert Blackwell
Ronnie Bonner
Paul Borofsky
Edwin Bryant
Sidney Clifford
G. De Jesus
Ross Di Maggio
R. Ellis
James B. Gordon
J. Grande
Bill Haley
M. Holtzman
E. Johnson
Ollie Jones
Norman Joyce
Fred Karger
Fred Karger
Sam Katzman
Robert E. Kent
Robert E. Kent
Ed Khoury
Benjamin H. Kline
Dorothy La Bostrie
Joe Lubin
John Marascalco
Sam Nelson
John Newman
Paul Palmentola
Richard Penniman
Evelyn Rutledge
Josh Westmoreland
Photo Collections
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
How we doin', Dad, the newspaper gal diggin' us?- Bill Haley
Yeah, real deep. She sounds like she has us plowed way under already.- Arnie Haines
That's freedom of the press.- Alan Freed
Yeah, and I always thought that freedom of the press was a tailor who irons your suits for nothing. It shows you.- Bill Haley
What are you doin' bringin' liqour in here?- Dancer
I didn't...- Dancer
I oughta slug you...- Dancer
You and what blee club?- Dancer
Really, the soprano's enough- Dancer
He seems to think that running around in my underwear or getting thrown out of my hotel is news. And does that sound like news to you guys?- Arnie Haines
If you were Kim Novak, it might.- Member of Applejacks
Oh, very funny.- Arnie Hains
Trivia
As with Rock Around the Clock (1956), all songs are performed lip-synched to previously released records. It's worth noting, however, that the Comets instrumental "Goofin' Around" seen performed here is a different take than the version the band released on record.
Notes
The working title of this film was Rhythm and Blues. The film closes with the written phrase "Dig You Later," rather than the traditional "The End." Although Hollywood Reporter news items place The Frantics, dance team Tommy and Mary Silvius, Ralph Sanford, Pam Brady, Melinda Byron, Helen Jay, Jean G. Harvey, Don Marlowe and Jim Patton in the cast, their appearance in the released film has not been confirmed.
Don't Knock the Rock was the second film vehicle featuring rock and roll stars produced by Sam Katzman and directed by Fred Sears. The film also marked the only screen appearance of Alan Dale, a popular singer among whose hits was "Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White." The first major film to feature rock and roll music, Rock Around the Clock (see below), was also written by screenwriters Robert Kent and James Gordon and featured Bill Haley and His Comets and Alan Freed.
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States 1956
Released in United States 1956
