Go, Johnny, Go!

This is the quintessential 50's rock and roll movie. With about 20 songs from performers such as Jimmy Clanton (the lead), Chuck Berry, Eddy Cochran, Jackie Wilson, Ritchie Valens and The Cadillacs and more, if you like 50's rock, then you will like the music in this one. This is definitely not a movie for plot or acting, but instead just plain musical fun.

Some of the best performances are Jump Children by the Flamingos and Please Mr. Johnson by the Cadillacs. Also, the rare clip of the legendary Ritchie Valens makes this movie well worthwhile. It's too bad he didn't perform one of his hits like Donna, La Bamba or Come On Let's Go, but instead wailed with Ooh, My Head! A lot of this movie is very campy and adds to its charm. Because of this and especially because of the music I'd rate this a 7+ on a scale of 10. Jimmy Clanton was a good choice for the lead. His voice and mannerisms bring back memories of a much more innocent era.

I saw this when I was 15 and we did not get to see our music stars then so movies like this were one of the options. I found it and bought it on VHS some years ago and felt lucky to find it. Jimmy Clanton was one of my musical heroes and he sang "Ship on a Stormy Sea" in this plus several other songs. It is one of the few viewings of the great Eddie Cochran although he does not have his electric guitar plugged in, it is still worth seeing him. Others in the film are great, musically. Yes, the plot lacks but most of this genre of movie lacked a plot. They were a quick and cheap way to rush the visual aspect of our stars to us, the young audience and they entertained us. Remember that they were made for our 13-19 year old minds and we were not technically aware. But, it did not differ from Dick Clark having the same people on his shows when they did not sing but mouthed the words. It has flaws but it is well worth having for anyone who wants to see and remember Jimmy Clanton, Jackie Wilson, Chuck Berry, Eddie Cochran, and Richie Valens.

Having previously appeared in Rock Rock Rock! and Mister Rock and Roll, this was the third-and final-appearance of rocker Chuck Berry in a movie that also starred DJ Alan Freed. He and Freed actually act together in this one as they try to get singer Johnny Melody (Jimmy Clanton) on his way to stardom. Now that I just got much of the plot out of the way, I'll just say that it was quite a pleasure seeing Berry performing his hits "Memphis, Tennessee" and "Little Queenie" here. Also loved Jackie Wilson being showcased among the other performances. The movie itself was quite compelling dramatically but I'm glad things get resolved quickly so it doesn't drag. Unfortunately, after this both Freed and Berry would be involved in scandals-Freed in payola and Berry in a sex charge involving a minor with the result of Freed drinking himself to death and Berry serving a few years in jail before making a comeback several years later. This would also become the only appearance of Ritchie Valens before his untimely passing in a plane crash that also took the lives of The Big Bopper and Buddy Holly. He was good, too! On a lighter note, since I always like to cite when players from my favorite movie-It's a Wonderful Life-are in something else, here, it's Dick Elliot-who was that man who told Jimmy Stewart to kiss Donna Reed instead of talking to her to death-who's impatient about going into the phone booth after Clanton and his girlfriend keep hogging the phone! It was hilarious! It was also his last film appearance though he continued to appear on TV before his death in 1961. Anyway, I highly recommend Go, Johnny, Go! to any Chuck Berry fans out there. P.S. Jimmy Clanton is a native of my current hometown of Baton Rouge, LA.

More Hollywood hooey sweetening the Rock n' Roll pie with honey drippings and vanilla leads to make all this "race record stuff" easy to swallow. Jimmy Clanton was better than Bobby Rydell, Fabian, and Frankie Avalon that didn't have a voice between them. But Clanton was by no means and equal to the talent that he was heading in this movie.

"I don't dig it, but I like it", says the old fogie and that just about sums it up for most of these types of white bread movies that were at least kind enough to put the real rockers and black singers in support. Hollywood never did get it and neither did anyone over 30 in the 50's.

That said, we do have these films to thank for a visual reference and time-capsule that otherwise would not exist. Thanx Alan Freed who is credited as one of the very first disc-jockeys to play real Rock n" Roll on his radio show "Moondawg", no matter their racial pedigree. That's the reason the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame is in Cleveland (the home of Freed's station).

There is an attempt to overshadow the real stuff with a silly choir boy story and many songs that were at best mediocre Teeny-Bopper Pop, but the real stars are gleaming and cannot be covered by any of this pandering propaganda. We get in limited supply...Chuck Berry, Jackie Wilson, The Flamingos, The Cadillacs, Richie Valens, Eddie Cochran, and some others that are at least palatable.

But it shows its prejudice and the mainstreams preoccupation with suppressing this stuff, when the choir director says about RnR..."lets hope it is just a fad and will be gone by the time you grow up"...and then in the next few minutes dismisses him from the choir for singing a Pop tune while accompanied on the church organ. Most of his generation really thought that this was the Devil's music.

In what was to be his last movie, legendary 50s DJ Alan Freed(1921-1965), playing..er..legendary 50s DJ Alan Freed, once again presents a host of early rock and roll stars,hung together with a threadbare perfunctory plot(just as in "Rock Rock Rock","Rock around the clock" and "Don't knock the rock"). Shot at the Hal Roach studio in Culver City, Los Angeles (where Laurel and Hardy once romped)in January 1959,"Go Johnny go" is one of the most interesting and enjoyable of the early rock films. Chuck Berry features, not just as a performer but an actor as well, he's seen hanging out with Freed,accompanying him, it appears, wherever he goes! As was usual in Freed's cheap and cheerful films, the rock and roll stars on display are some of the best.The movie has the only big screen performance of Richie Valens,who died very shortly after he filmed this appearance,in the notorious 1959 plane crash,which also claimed Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper. Another tragic rocker here is Eddie Cochran, a car accident victim about a year and a half after he made the film. The story, such as it is, concerns Freed's desire to make a star out of a talented nobody-this means we get a lot of crooning from lanky teen idol Jimmy Clanton, playing the aforesaid nobody(the "Johnny" of the title). I can never make up my mind about Clanton; he was competent actor,though he is certainly surrounded by his betters as performers in the line up here.

Look out for scene with Alan Freed jamming on drums along with Chuck Berry and his group on the marvelous "Little Queenie", Freed looks like he's having a ball. Sadly the good times were not to roll much longer for Freed as personal and career problems mounted. He became embroiled in the payola scandal, and was pursued relentlessly by the tax man.Dropped from his TV and radio shows, moving to the west coast to get work, his drinking was turning him into a serious and sick alcoholic, he died broke,killed by Uraemia in 1965.

Performers(alphabetical)- Chuck Berry-"Go Johnny go","Little Queenie" "Memphis Tennessee" The Cadillacs-"Jaywalker","Please Mr Johnson"(They may have been the poor man's Coasters,but they're great here,acting out their song stories on the stage in a club). Jo-Ann Campbell-"Momma can I go out?" Jimmy Clanton-"Angel face","It takes a long time","My love is true","Ship on a stormy sea" Eddie Cochran-"Teenage Heaven"(watch Eddie dance with his guitar!) The Flamingos-"Jump children"(a performance of breathtaking exuberance) Harvey Fuqua-"Don't be afraid to love me" Sandy Stewart-"Heavenly father","Playmate"(the last one a perky piece performed in a recording studio) Sandy Stewart/Jimmy Clanton-"Once again" Richie Valens-"Ooh my head""(performed for Freed and his pals and a tiny group of teens) Jackie Wilson-"You'd better know it"(Wilson,a reliable showstopper as always-and one of the coolest rockers ever.If you've seen stills or clips of Jackie performing in front of a silly coffee pot with a face backdrop,this is where it's from!)