Let the Good Times Roll

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.

I saw this film as a kid growing up in New Jersey and it really knocked me out. The performances were electrifying and the visuals only amplified that electricity. Little Richard, standing on the piano while the crowd went berserk is a stand-out. I sincerely hope that some saint is toiling away to get this released onto DVD sometime in the near future.

This movie begins with the opening lines to Shirley and Lee's "Let the Good Times Roll." I started singing along, and sang along to every single song until the very end. The punchline: I was there with two guys I worked with, who barely knew me, and there were only about fifty people in the theater. What a movie! It rocked from beginning to end... The stars in this movie were the Beatles of their day, the Stones of their day... Many of them have made major comebacks due to Public TV extravaganzas (So, where's the DVD?) The split screen is fun, giving the movie a pretentious look: "This is serious business, younsgters" on one side of the screen, and "We're having a whale of a time" on the other side of the screen. I have begun a campaign to get it re - released -- I kid you not! I want my DVD!

Let the Good Times Roll (1973)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Concert/documentary covering a Rock 'n Roll Revival, which toured the country and featured legendary acts like Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Bill Haley and the Comets, Chubby Checker, Bo Diddley, Fats Domino, The Five Satins and many other bands who probably hadn't been seen since the 1950's.

I'm not sure if this tour or the film was done due to the success of American GRAFFITI but they could have called this film a live version of the soundtrack to that film. The movie will certainly have your foot a shaking' throughout the running time as we get one classic song after another. If it was a hit in the 1950's then more than likely its being played here.

There's just so much wonderful energy in each and every performance that you can't help but love this thing. The film was shot 2.20:1 so there's a lot of wide shots to perfectly capture all the performances. Much like WOODSTOCK, this film uses split screens to capture a lot of the action and this works out nicely. We also get some archival clips from the 1950's with various people preaching about how rock music is evil.

It's always fun seeing these clips just to see how foolish those people still look. Also thrown in are clips from various films from that era including THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, THE WILD ONE and I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF. Fans of the classic rock 'n roll will certainly be doing themselves a favor by watching this great gem.