Let the Good Times Roll

Great experience... saw it at the Drive in 1973. Amazing concert... Impressive film

I am long in the tooth enough to have seen, Little Richard, Fats Domino and Chuck Berry live and in their prime. I was never the same again. These performers were Giants of entertainment. Supremely aware of their own talent, and full of a life and energy that isn't around in todays music scene. Although it's many years since I saw this film, the memory of it still excites me This film is more than entertainment. It is an historical document, and MUST be released on DVD. We should all be able to experience the lights going down, the silence, then Shirly & Lee with Let The Good Times Roll. Superb film. Now where's that leather jacket?

My wife and I saw this when it was first released (not that I ever recall it being re-released!) at a 1-screen theater in the Philadelphia area. It had been heavily advertised on a local "oldies" radio station, and many of the viewers showed up dressed for the era - saddle shoes, poodle skirts, etc. My wife and I enjoyed the show, both as a historical overview and a concert. I was fortunate enough to come across a SOUNDTRACK ALBUM (LP) which included the 2-track stereo format with narration on one side and music on the the other channel. Interestingly, though the liner notes explicitly referred to this movie as the source for the soundtrack, there is no mention anywhere in print or in song of Chuck Berry. Anyone know why??

This is a great movie for those who grew up in the 1950's. I didn't. I wasn't born until 1962, but when I was a young tyke, I had to see this movie from the moment I saw the TV spot advertising it on television. Dad and I went out to the newest theater in Austin-- the four-plex was the newest and biggest theater in the Austin area, with an name to mystify those reading the ads ~~~~The Aquarius 4, it was called. The movie was loaded with all kinds of footage from the 1950's, and included in this footage was some ancient looking film clips of the students in High School in Hicksville, NY. These students were demonstrating good and bad dress codes. On the left of the teacher were the ones dressed poorly with t-shirts, 'dungarees', open toed shoes, etc. And on the right, a group of kids that would make today's 90210 crowd look like the Peanut Gallery. In addition to this footage, there was other footage showing the fads of the day, the cars, Chuck Berry's tour bus sitting in a junk yard, and all kinds of things that I had never seen at the age of 11 or so. It was a collage of old films and reminders of an era past that people were trying to remember by the early 1970's. The makers of this film used a technique where they had one inmage on one side of the screen and another image on the other side. So, while the footage would roll on the right, you would see a modern-day Chuck Berry singing in concert. The film was half concert and half archival footage. It was a great film. The Shirelles were in the show live as was Little Richard, Fats Domino, Bill Haley, and Chuck Berry. The 5 Satins did a set too and let us not forget that 'guitar playing fool', Bo Diddley. Bo was there with his rectangular guitar, a pimp's hat with a feather and his uniquie timekeeping abilities. It was a memorable show. For some reason the makers of this film never released this again. It isn't on video, I have never seen it on television that I know of and all attempts at finding it on my favorite film guage (16mm) are futile. The only thing that I have been able to locate is a tv spot from the movie and this is valuable to me for the reasons above. I recommend this movie highly and I will never forget my experience with having seen this movie.

A group of about ten of us in our early 30s, who worked in the music business in the 60s and 70s: musicians, manager, publicist, tour manager... went to the premier of Let The Good Times Roll at the Dominion, Tottenham Court Road, London. The screen was full-size and we had great seats. The excitement of watching and listening to those legends is still with me and I especially remember the amazement that registered on Chubby Checker's face when he saw the enthusiastic response he was getting from the crowd so many years after his hit version of Hank Ballard's Twist. I had never seen the Five Satins and they remain in my memory as great performers that I'd enjoy seeing more of, but I haven't heard anything of this great movie since. Would love to see it again, own it, DVD or VHS - show my young friends, nephews and nieces! The time is ripe to release it on DVD, kids are really interested in searching through the archives and finding original great music - they'd love this.