Customer Reviews

Shake, Rattle and Rock!

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I enjoyed the fact that Shake, Rattle & Rock! portrayed situations as they happened in those days. I am only sorry that due to the passing of James H. Nicholson prevented the proposed sequel from being made as I really would loved to have seen a sequel.

Once in a while someone manages to get a handle on the spirit of the early rock 'n' roll movies of the '50s. And, to his credit, director Allan Arkush has done it twice; first with "Rock 'n' Roll High School" - quite probably the greatest rock 'n' roll movie ever made - and again fifteen years later with "Shake, Rattle, and Rock." Is it great art? Naw, but it's fun. Be sure to watch for original "Rock 'n' Roll High School" stars Mary Woronov, P.J. Soles, and Dey Young playing their "RnRHS" characters' mothers.

I came across this little movie, and I'm glad I did. Shake, Rattle and Rock! reminds me of a toned-down Grease with it's doo-wop songs and group of characters. A small town is taken back by rock-n-roll music. The teens love it, along with a radio tv show host (Howie Mandell), but the parents despise it. Especially Susan Doyle's (Renee) mother and her group of friends.

The characters in this movie are great and ultimately fit into the time era. There's your group of kids who have a band (Renee Zellwegger, Patricia Childress, and Max Perlich), the radio tv host dj (Howie Mandell), the bad boy (John Doe), and a group of young black girls (Latanyia Baldwin, Necia Bray, Josina Elder, & Wendi Williams) trying to make it big in a racial music business. The acting was very good. Especially that given by lead actress Renee Zellwegger. She is so awesome.

Shake, Rattle and Rock! is a great movie, and your 90 minutes will not be wasted.

From Renee Zellwegger's God-awful dubbing to the acting by the rest of the cast to the fact they put her teenage character up against some old ugly guy...you will hate this movie each second you co-exist with it.

I remember I saw this before I watched "A Knight's Tale" some years ago. My dad and younger sister still joke to this day about how ironic that a movie set in the Middle Ages had a better rock soundtrack than a movie actually about rock.

Although not many people have seen this it's definitely worth a look. Renee Zellweger is very convincing as a piano playin rocker n the music is great, featuring stuff from Little Richard and Eddie Cochran. The next time you pass Blockbusters it's worth going in and lookin for this, you wont be disappointed.

So, today I randomly come across this movie "Shake, Rattle and Roll" on the Reelz channel. Anyway, the info on the movie was that it was done in 1956, starred Fats Domino and Lisa Gaye. I go back and forth to the info and can't believe it is a movie produced in the 50's. Everything, of course, looks like the 50's - but the vibe was of later years. Anyway, it took me a while when I was in that mindset - "Well, the Reelz channel must know what they are doing - this seems like a movie that wld be called Shake...."

So, I am looking for evidence of anything for me to prove it couldn't be the 1956 movie. Anyway, I decide - of course - to google the movie and there weren't many pictures of it - so I still didn't conclude that it was a mistake on the television station's part regarding the title and year made.

The reason I am writing this is to try to explain that strange moment in time before I realized it was Renee Zellweger and not some wildly modern-looking actress in the 50's. I thought for about 15 minutes that Renee was Lisa Gaye. I read Lisa's biographies and tried to figure how she looked so contemporary. You know how some of the Elvis movies look somewhat contemporary? I thought for a second it was plausible. It wasn't until I went back and was convinced that the other lead was Howie Mandel that I then googled the movie name along with Howie's and I found out what was really going on.

Anyway - that's just the background on my strange experience with the movie. So - how do I say this? I just couldn't believe that that perky, very alive gal singing along with a band could have in reality been born in 1935. I couldn't imagine her aging and today would be of advanced age and looks (sans the face lifts ala Joan Rivers).

It was just a strange moment thinking that I just had to see how this Lisa Gaye aged - she looked so young in the movie and so similar to Renee Z. Anyway, I got this ageless image of us with our essences as individuals as basically what we looked like in our 20s. I am in my 50s now - and am not looking forward to aging ungracefully (so I am pursuing alternative methods for defying the aging process). 'Maybe that is why I am focusing on the strange Twighlight Zone feeling I had before I realized that the Reelz channel just miscredited which movie they were actually airing.

I guess in that moment - before I was aware that it was actually Renee Z, I felt that I wanted to do everything I could to stay young.

So, now that I realize it was a 90's version with a younger Renee Z; I can say that it is clearly somewhat 'affected.' The women who disliked Rock and Roll and were fighting it seemed staged and it really isn't a top-notch effort. However, it is fun to check out what they did with the movie to try to bring to life the 50s.

If you don't expect much from this movie you won't get disappointed. Don't dedicate time to see it; anotherwords, multi-task like play guitar or eat while watching it, and then you haven't wasted your time, yet got a glimps of the epoque which this movie well represents.

I love this movie and I thought it was so cool. This is a must see movie.

This movie really is good! There should of been a sequal to this. The characters were really good. The story is based sort of off the movies Hairspray and Grease. The rock tv show, the african americans, and the rock n roll are the heart of this movie! Your minutes wont be wasted. Short movie though.