Rock All Night
| It Conquered the World | |
|---|---|
 Original film poster by Albert Kallis |
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| Directed by | Roger Corman |
| Produced by | Roger Corman |
| Written by | Charles B. Griffith |
| Based on | TV play The Little Guy by David P. Harmon |
| Starring | Dick Miller Abby Dalton Russell Johnson Mel Welles |
| Cinematography | Floyd Crosby |
| Distributed by | American International Pictures |
| Release date(s) | 24 April 1957 (USA) |
| Running time | 62 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Rock All Night is a 1957 American International Pictures (AIP) film produced and directed by Roger Corman based on a 25-minute television episode of The Jane Wyman Theatre from 1955 called Little Guy.
Contents |
Plot [edit]
Two escaping killers hide out in a bar and hold the bartender and clients hostage. Amongst the patrons are a nervous singer (Abby Dalton), a boxer, his wife, and manager, an extortionist, a loud thug and his girlfriend, and a small man who can pick people's real as opposed to posed personalities and has no fear (Dick Miller).
Production [edit]
Roger Corman bought the rights to "The Little Guy" and gave it to Charles B. Griffith to expand into a feature. According to one account, Griffith says he wrote the script in one day.[1] In another, what happened was two days before filming there was a change in the schedule of The Platters and they were only going to be available for one day so Griffith rewrote the script in 48 hours.[2]
Songwriter and manager Buck Ram offered a slew of his musical talent such as The Platters, The Blockbusters, and Nora Hayes to AIP for a film in return for having the sole rights to a soundtrack album for the film. Corman filmed Ram's acts lip synching their tunes on a separate set that comprise the beginning of the film. Rock All Night was made in five days[3] and originally appeared as a double feature with Dragstrip Girl.
Comedian Lord Buckley had planned to be in the film, but when he was unavailable, one of Corman's stock company and a writer for Buckley, Mel Welles imitated Buckley in the role of "Sir Bop". Wells wrote a dictionary of hip talk for the film.[2]
Dick Miller a former Navy boxing champion played the role Dane Clark did in the television show with Russell Johnson playing the role that Lee Marvin did.[4]
Despite the short shooting schedule and minimal locations (only two sets) Corman always regarded the movie as a personal favourite.[5]
Notes [edit]
- ^ Aaron W. Graham, 'Little Shop of Genres: An interview with Charles B. Griffith', Senses of Cinema, 15 April, 2005 accessed 25 June 2012
- ^ a b Mark McGee, Faster and Furiouser: The Revised and Fattened Fable of American International Pictures, McFarland, 1996 p79
- ^ p.74 Denisoff, R. Serge & Romanowski, William D. Risky Business: Rock in Film 1991 Transaction Books
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0614517/
- ^ Ed. J. Philip di Franco, The Movie World of Roger Corman, Chelsea House Publishers, 1979 p 8
References [edit]
- Corman, Roger and Jerome, Jim How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime 1998 Da Capo Press
- Naha, Ed The Films of Roger Corman: Brilliance on a Budget 1984 Olympic Marketing
External links [edit]
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