Rock All Night
USA - 1957
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Movie Review By Monica Sullivan
Dick Miller as Shorty growls his way through "Rock All Night" like he can lick any thug in the joint. He can't, of course, as we see when he's tossed out of a toney bar on the orders of a phony French maitre d' (Jack De Witt as Philippe). Shorty saunters over to the Cloud Nine bar where immediately he starts getting on everyone's nerves there, too. Al the Bartender (Robin Morse) is more tolerant, maybe because he's trying to impress a reporter into writing about the dump. A self-styled agent (Mel Welles as Sir Bop) talks Al into auditioning a jittery chanteuse. Abby Dalton as Julie (dubbed by Nora Hayes) sings two numbers off-key & then Russell Johnson & Jonathan Haze as two thugs named Jigger & Joey stumble into the Cloud Nine bar & start terrorizing everyone. They demand to hear Julie sing again & voila! Jangling with nerves & drained of self-consciousness, Julie sings ON-key.
Shorty stands up to the thugs & Sir Bop, tells Julie she doesn't have to sing if she doesn't want to anymore & all is right with the world. What more do you want from a 62 minute movie? Zola Taylor & The Platters? Okay, they're in this, too, in a couple of opening numbers that have nothing to do with the story. The Blockbusters are also on hand, as well as Barboura Morris as Syl, young Ed Nelson as Pete, young Jeanne Cooper as a bar patron & Bruno Ve Sota as Charley. When Russell Johnson was typecast as The Professor on "Gilligan's Island," he was saddened that he didn't get to play thugs like Jigger ever again.
© 2001 - Monica Sullivan - Air Date: 12/26/01
