Rock All Night (1957) User Reviews (12)

Very Good Music and Quick Pace

[actionstar-89625 · 6/10 · 15 February 2021]

If you are like me and are interesting in seeing musical acts you can not see anymore like The Platters or The Blockbusters then this movie may be for you. If it doesn't in any way interest you than you might want to steer clear of this one. For this Roger Corman 50s flick is padded with musical numbers. Just think the duration of the movie is 62 minutes and I believe there are 7 songs in it! But it works as it is entertaining to see the acts perform and the pretty thin story isn't bad.

Dick Miller plays a cool cat they call Shorty. The film takes place in Cloud Nine which is a bar and is taken over by two punks (Russell Johnson and Jonathan Haze). Would have been interesting to extend the picture as in get more into the lives of the people in the bar and keep the hostage situation lasting much longer than it does. Seems like it only lasted 10 minutes and I knew the movie was ending soon. Sadly there wasn't much tension on the end. Good to see Miller in a starring role though and he is quite good in it. Screenplay by Charles B. Griffith, Story by Charles P. Harmon.

How can a 62min film be 75% padding?

[rc223 · 5/10 · 15 May 2000]

Roger Corman's films tend to be cheap and cheerful but this one's mostly just cheap. Mind you, the thin plot (baddies take a group of hostages) has been used for some $100,000,000 movies as well. Thirty minutes of talk, padded out with irrelevant songs. Mr Cameo himself, Dick Miller, turns up in a rare main role. (4/10)

Cheap But Fun Corman Pic

[Michael_Elliott · 21 November 2010]

Rock All Night (1957)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

This quickie from AIP is basically two films rolled into one but fans of Corman and his cast of characters will probably find themselves entertained. The first half of the movie is a "rock and roll" picture as we countless musical acts including The Platters doing "I'm Sorry," and "He's Mine" as well as The Blockbusters doing "Rock All Night," "I Wanna Rock Now," and "Rock 'n' Roll Guitar" but the fun doesn't stop there as we get two more numbers. Then, the "other" part of the film takes place as a small group of characters are in a bar when a couple killers break in and hold them hostage while they think of a way to escape the police. It's amazing but this 65-minute flick is mainly just musical acts or filler if you will. The first thirty-five minutes feature non-stop music and between the tracks we're introduced to the characters that will take center stage in the second half. I must admit that I thought the film had a terrific flow to it and it turned out to be much better than I was expecting. For starters, the music itself is very good and it was fun seeing The Platters doing their numbers. I think the low-budget nature of the film hurt especially during the lip-syncing stuff because a lot of times the music isn't matching up with the lips. When the "crime" portion of the film started I think the main joy is seeing Corman regular Dick Miller getting to play the lead and not just the lead but a tough punk. Seeing Miller getting to play a tough guy not scared to fight anyone was very fun simply because you don't get to see that from him very often. I thought Miller handled the part quite well and it was just an all around kick seeing him play the tough guy. Robin Morse is also fun as the owner of the club and Mel Welles plays a "hipster" who is trying to promote a new singer played by Abby Dalton. Fan favorite Jonathan Haze is also on hand. You have to tip your hat to Corman who when bad could be really bad but when he got something right it was usually a lot of fun and he did it for very little money. ROCK ALL NIGHT isn't a masterpiece but it's fun to see the director try to mix two genres together and do it in such little time. The movie flies by without any slow moments so if you enjoy this type of film then it's certainly worth watching.

"The Petrified Forest" plus a couple musical acts

[ofumalow · 4/10 · 28 March 2020]

Like Corman's "Teenage Doll," "Sorority Girl" and several others of his AIP era, this is basically a bleak little existential melodrama masquerading as a lurid exploitation movie, with talky, unpleasant human relationships in a couple cheap interior settings poorly disguising the lack of action and "fun." Only those other movies were often conceptually outlandish (and stylish) enough to be sorta fascinating in their perversity.

"Rock All Night" front-loads a couple songs by The Platters, but otherwise it's just two long scenes of people arguing in bars--first comically (at a nightclub), then dramatically (at a dive). At around the two-thirds point all this yakking gets more heated as the story turns into "The Petrified Forest," with everybody being held hostage by a couple fugitive hoods (including, yes, The Professor from "Gilligan's Island").

Dick Miller gets to play his usual wiseguy, albeit a heroic one this time, and future game show regular Abby Dalton plays a bad amateur singer who inexplicably is given more airtime than any other act here. The combination of Corman, early rock and AIP should provide plenty of guilty pleasure, at the very least. But "Rock All Night" is really just pretty dull--and in a way that's primarily like a weak one-act off-Broadway play of the time, with lots of generic angst and generically lowlife characters yelling at each other. In other words, as the Mel Welles quasi-beatnik character might say, yawnsville.

Nothing much here

[renimagadia · 3/10 · 10 July 2020]

Unless you like the Platters.

The well meaning but totally outlandish story is about a smaller guy who gets to look like Superman and James Bond for a change only in the cheap setting of a 50s Bar/hangout.

The unrealistic way the story unfolds doesn't give you anything to bother about. So if you enjoy the fantasy that every bad guy eventually get their just desserts via a smaller loudmouth righteous tough guy who bullies and dominates them for a change, not only gets away with winning every argument and fight he starts with those, but acts like a total superhuman in the process, then you might like it a bit.

Due to the main character's absolute omnipotence against the other impotent characters, the appeal of a smaller guy as a saving the day and the helpless loses appeal. It's too convenient to the story to make the hero look too powerful and the villains look too meek.

It's a cheap looking fifties movie shot around the music of the time. It wasn't meant to be more than light drive in background fare. Acting was adequate for the paper thin plot and it's corresponding characters.

It could easily have been better if it had a bit more substance and dimension to the characters and story. But I guess that never is the intention at all in making such a movie.

Corman and Roll

[BandSAboutMovies · 4/10 · 20 July 2020]

Based on a 25-minute television episode of The Jane Wyman Theatre from 1955 called "Little Guy" and part of a double bill with Drag Strip Girl, this is a Roger Corman attempt at capturing the feeling of rock and roll for the big screen.

In that version, Dane Clark starred. It was one of the first roles he took after a major incident in his life. During a performance of The Shrike at Los Angeles' Carthay Circle Theater, co-star Isabel Bonner died in his arms, struck down by brain hemorrhage. Born Bernard Zanville, he was never comfortable with his new name.

Here, his role of Shorty is played by Corman regular Dick Miller. Lee Marvin's role of Jigger is instead essayed by Russell Johnson seven years before he'd become a fixture in living rooms on Gilligan's Island.

In order to make the story his, Corman gave it to Charles B. Griffith, who added characters like Sir Bop, who was intended for Lord Buckley. There was one instruction. Make it like Rock Around the Clock.

Songwriter and manager Buck Ram offered The Platters, The Blockbusters and Nora Hayes to AIP in return for having the sole rights for the soundtrack. Corman shot the bands on a separate set and then gave the rest of the production five days to finish.

This tale of a bar, a singer (Abby Dalton, who would later work with the aforementioned Wyman on Falcon Crest), some thugs and Dick Miller being Dick Miller is a favorite of Quentin Tarantino. The poster for the double bill of this film is what inspired Robert Rodriguez to make Grindhouse together with the director.

Worth seeing just for the music...as well as a VERY unusual performance by Russell Johnson.

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 22 December 2019]

Back in the 1950s and 60s, Roger Corman made a long string of low budgeted films that managed in all but one case to make money. Amazingly, the one that lost money was one of his best..."The Intruder". Here he is again with "Rock All Night"...a film far, far better than you'd expect given its production values and very simple plot.

The entire film is set in a bar. One by one, various folks come and go into the place until, ultimately, two hoods show up and hold everyone hostage...and killing one of the innocent patrons. The only guy who isn't afraid of these thugs is Shorty (Dick Miller) and, inexplicably, the pair don't seem to know what to do with him as he mocks them. What's next? See the film.

There are quite a few reasons to watch the movie. First, the music is often amazing--with the Platters singing a couple of their best tunes and the little-known Blockbusters singing a delightful theme song. Sure, Julie (Abby Dlaton) sings a few klunkers--but she is supposed to be singing poorly. Second, seeing Miller was a treat and this familiar character in Corman films is at his best. Third, the craziest of the two thugs is played very colorfully by Russell Johnson...one of the last guys you'd expect to be playing such a part, as he was the Professor on "Gilligan's Island"! But he was very good...and the film quite enjoyable and yet another example of the quality pictures that filmmakers CAN make if they are stuck with limited funds. Well worth seeing.

A lot of fun

[stevenfallonnyc · 8/10 · 10 July 2012]

Finally got to see this classic Roger Corman cheapie, and of course it's a total blast. The best part obviously is seeing Dick Miller in a rare starring role, and as a tough street kid no less, who takes no guff from anyone and is always making wisecracks.

Miller plays "Shorty" who gets thrown out of one rock joint but ends up in another, where a pretty girl is auditioning and we get introduced to various assorted crazy characters. Eventually two crooks (led by "The Professor" from Gilligan's Island!) come and hold everyone hostage, and Shorty constantly insults the crooks, as well as the cowards in the place who refuse to take a stand.

One of the funniest characters is a "hep cat" beatnik rock manager who comes out with great line after line. Others include a boxer, his sad girlfriend, a wanna-be tough guy, his drunk girl, a reporter, a shake-down artist and more. The musical numbers are good, and it all resolves in just over an hour.

"Rock All Night" is definitely not disappointing if you expect exactly what it is, a fun hour of no-budget film making.

Rock All Night has some musical performances but is mostly a drama about confrontations that I enjoyed

[tavm · 8/10 · 26 March 2017]

The title of this Roger Corman flick may be a bit misleading since while there are some songs of popular performers of the day-such as The Platters-being performed in it, it's mostly a story of various types in a bar facing a confrontation of their fears when dealing with a couple of criminals who wander in with the police on their way. Dick Miller is the lead who likes to make insulting statements but also seems to know what each person he meets is like to the point he shows no fear whatsoever to whoever he speaks to like one of the criminals he's dealing with-the one played by Russell Johnson, yes, the later star of "Gilligan's Island" as The Professor. It was quite a surprise seeing him in this role, that's for sure! If you're a frequent Corman viewer, you probably recognized many of his regular supporting cast here. I really enjoyed this one so on that note, Rock All Night is highly recommended.

Surprisingly interesting

[SanDiegoMovieViewer · 8/10 · 7 October 2019]

I watched this on YouTube because the Platters did a couple of numbers. Unfortunately the sound was out of sync through the whole movie, but I just ignored that. The opening was great, when a really cool-looking 1957 DeSoto (I think it was) with fins about as big as they ever got pulled up in front of the bar. I assumed the movie was going to be one of those kid rock festival things, like so many other 'rock' movies of the time, but it turned into a psychological drama. Not what I was looking for, but it was interesting enough that I kept watching. The fact that it was only 62 minutes long helped. It was really surprising to see Russell Johnson, the Professor from Gilligan's Island, as a bad guy. I looked at his credits, and I never realized before what an extensive career he had. As for the movie, I think the fact that it all took place in one spot, the bar, made it more interesting. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I think it could make an interesting play. Retro, of course. Kind of a study of 50's mentality. I'd say that the people's interactions were highly unrealistic, but that's part of 50's mentality - isn't it?

"Nobody with standards'd be found dead in my joint." Perhaps someone without them will...

[alminator1 · 9/10 · 4 November 2018]

A brutally honest loudmouth with a bad case of little man syndrome happens into a troubled bar, run by a troubled bartender, & filled with a host of troubled customers from various walks of life & gives each of them a reality check.

That Guy Dick Miller is brilliant as wisecracking Shorty, Abby Dalton was lovely as the shy songstress Julie, & the comic relief of Al the bartender was fantastic. The one weak point was the hipster band manager's ridiculous lingo ("If I ain't straight, it means I ain't with it; & tonight, baby, I'm with it.") But as usual, She called it as I saw it leaving me satisfied at the end. A funny, fun, & fascinating look at people's inner beings.

Great film! Great rockabilly, funny dialogue.

Ends up being a decent film but a lot of speed bumps on the way

[djlopers · 5 February 2024]

Nice individual acting by Dick Miller, Russell Johnson, Jeanne Cooper, and Robin Morse helped make up for a bare bones plot. The biggest problem is the illogical behavior of so many people. First of all, the band complains about being cold but then doesn't go inside to listen to Abbie Dalton sing. Abbie Dalton has a chance to have Sir Bop take her home but chooses to stay in the bar despite the almost psychopathic behavior of Miller. Plus the police don't stick around to get the names and numbers of all the witnesses. Dick Miller is all too willing to use his knife on a guy who just wants him to move his hat but leaves it in his pocket when another guy threatens to kill him. There are probably a couple of others I've forgotten, but the big one is at the end, and I don't think this qualifies as a spoiler because evidently Roger Corman didn't think it mattered, but what about the dead body in the back room? No one even mentions it. And finally, it all wraps up much too quickly and too neatly.