1h 2min | Crime, Drama, Music | April 1957 | b/w, fs
Director: Roger Corman
Stars: Dick Miller, Russell Johnson, Abby Dalton, Jeanne Cooper.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050906/
Watched online, ok image for small screen, but sound was out of sync.
7 songs in the Soundtracks: 2 by The Platters, 3 by The Blockbusters, 2 "Nora Hayes" (face was Abby Dalton).
Yes, we get 2 rock acts, and someone other than Abby Dalton is credited for singing the songs that she mouths, and the voice doesn't stay in tune/key; it's bad.
I don't know why this is called a teen hangout by the synopsizer. This is a bar serving booze and the patrons look well past "teen". And I don't think it was really the bartender who saved the patrons. But I wasn't paying such close attention.
One of the killers is played by RJ, who'll play the Professor on Gilligan's Island ('64-'67), and looks younger in the 60's; maybe he just looks better fed, more wholesome.
Nearly everything is unpleasant; only The Platters look and sound good. As with prior rocksploitation films, it's good to see blacks & whites in the same movie. But the scenes are really not integrated (the patrons are white, the band behind The Platters is black; that doesn't count as truly integrated), and with this film, the 2 black numbers could easily be excised.
I find no pleasure, no value here. Why is Roger Corman revered?
AIP, dir. Corman; 5-
