Let the Good Times Roll

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.

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 It is an historical document, and MUST be released on DVD.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?

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!

My wife and I saw Let The Good Times Roll when it first came out in the early 70's. We were dancing in the aisle. I hadn't seen it again for about 25 years. Then it was on American Movie Classics. I have 7 VCR's, and every one of them had a blank tape in, just to be sure I got a good copy. They all came out good. What I don't understand is why it's not available to buy.

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.