Shake, Rattle and Rock!

Shake, Rattle and Rock! (1994)

*** (out of 4)

Fun, partial remake of the 1956 AIP film has a group of parents trying to get rock and roll music banned and especially after a TV personality (Howie Mandel) shows a group of black women singing. Teenagers Susan (Renee Zellweger) and Cookie (Patricia Childress) try to teach the small town that there's nothing wrong with rock or people of a different race. To date, of all the films I've watched from Showtime's Rebels Highway series, this one here does the best job at capturing the spirit and feel of those 1950's films that these were remakes of. Director Allan Arkush does an extremely good job at building up the atmosphere that was front and center to so many of those AIP rock 'n roll films and that's the fact that parents were simply wrong that the music was going to make their kids act crazy. This one here certainly seems to have been influenced by those old rock and roll movies but there's also a touch of HAIRSPRAY going on here but I think the mix made for a pretty entertaining time. On a visual level I thought the producers did a very good job at making the setting look like the 1950s and this is especially true with their music selections as well as the television show where kids are shown dancing and having a good time. Another major plus are the fun performances from the entire cast and this includes the pre-fame Zellweger who is charming in her part. Mandel is also extremely good in his part of the TV host and it appears he's having a blast. The supporting cast features nice work from all but it was great fun seeing Dick Miller, P.J. Soles and Stephen Furst of NATIONAL LAMPOON'S ANIMAL HOUSE fame. The racial situations are never looked at in a serious manor but I think the film as a whole is pretty entertaining. It's certainly not ground-breaking but for a "B" movie it's entertaining and that's what is important.