A positively adorable 13-year-old Tuesday Weld makes her simply smashing film debut in this endearingly inane 50's teen-fueled rock'n'roll piffle as Dori, a spunky, willful, calculating lass who can't get her stingy, pipe-smoking, Elvis-hating square dad ("We gotta teach that girl that money doesn't grow on fathers!") to give her thirty bucks for a fancy blue strapless dress that Dori wants to wear to a high school sock hop. So Dori decides to use her considerable wit and charm to plot some sneaky way of producing the cash on her own.

That's it for the admittedly pretty slender and undernourished story, which basically serves as a slight excuse to showcase eleven blisteringly cooking rock performers. Okay, Will Price's pedestrian direction, the mostly cardboard acting (Weld proves to be the film's key source of bubbly vitality, while legendary 50's disc jockey Alan Freed sadly comes across as a totally cornball stiff and the rest of the underage cast are hopelessly wooden),the static cinematography, Milton Subotsky's feeble script (Subotsky, who also co-produced and handled music director chores, later founded the highly successful British horror studio Amicus),and the occasionally draggy, meandering pace leave a lot to be desired. However, "Rock, Rock, Rock" still manages to be tons of dippy, empty-headed fun, thanks to Weld's perfectly perky presence and the largely spot-on performances from a wonderfully diverse bunch of music acts.

Musically, this movie's most definitely the authentic gnarly article. Rock'n'roll king Chuck Berry does the duck walk and almost makes off with the entire movie, grinning his way through the sizzling car number "You Can't Catch Me," a terrific song which includes a lyrical reference to the New Jersey Turnpike. Firebrand torch singer La Vern Baker releases her redoubtable alto on the sunny "Tra La La." Unbelievably obnoxious four-year-old brat Ivy Shulman makes an absolute fool of herself screeching the uproariously awful "Rock, Pretty Baby" in a hideously off-key, braying voice. The Johnny Burnette Trio let 'er rip with the fantastically forlorn rockabilly doozy "Lonesome Train." The amazing Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers hit a beautifully graceful note with the double whammy of the zippy "Baby Baby" and the classic "I'm Not A Juvenile Delinquent." The Flamingos melt hearts croaning the exquisitely lilting tear-jerker "Would I Be Crying." The Moonglows deliver gorgeously soaring falsetto doowop harmonies on both "I Knew from the Start" and "Over and Over Again." Brooklynese dreamboats Cirino and the Bowties zero in for the sentimental kill with the lush romantic swooner "Ever Since I Can Remember." Hardcore greaseball rockabilly lords Jimmy Cavallo and the Houserockers lay down a primordial stomping rumba, blowing saxophones to Mars and back on the righteously roughhouse "Big Beat" and the rousing title track. And, rounding things off with a nice smattering of ultra-kitschy high camp silliness, Weld herself badly lip-syncs a pair of marvelously mawkish'n'moronic Connie Francis love ballads: the impossibly inane "I Never Had A Sweetheart" and the deliciously dreadful "Little Blue Wren." Great goofy stuff!

The generation which made the music featured in Rock Rock Rock is now starting to live on its Social Security and IRAs and a considerable number of them spend a lot of money going to nostalgia concerts where some of the groups you see performing here are still performing for the audience who remembered them when. In fact its the music that makes the film endurable.

It sure isn't the acting, the players perform on a par with some of the junior high school plays I remember. In fact it would have gotten from me a few more stars had the producers just dispensed with imbecilic plot and just presented a rock and roll revue hosted by Alan Freed.

Tuesday Weld made her screen debut in this and it's a miracle that the woman went on to a fine career and some great acting roles after she was through being a teenage sex kitten. The plot such as it is has Weld trying to con her friends and parents out of enough money to get a dress for her prom.

Her leading man in the film is Teddy Randazzo, lead singer with The Chuckles who was a fine singer and an even better songwriter later on. But as an actor he was horrible. He never had the direction that teen idols like Fabian and Frankie Avalon appearing in some major films with some big industry names. Maybe if he had it might have worked better for him for the big screen. But my guess is that he was happy with the direction his career went. Like Tuesday, he must have winced when seeing Rock Rock Rock.

Dori (Tuesday Weld) wonders when boyfriend Tommy will ask her to the prom. Her singing is dubbed by Connie Francis. Gloria is wearing a strapless dress to the dance and keeps coming between her and Tommy. To keep up with Gloria, she feels the need to buy a new dress for the dance but she needs $30. This rock and roll movie includes performances from Chuck Berry and others.

It's a meaningless little rock and roll movie. The story holds little substance and serves only to wrap around the music performances. It does have a very young Tuesday Weld and some good music. It's a cute little time capsule from that era. Chuck Berry is electric doing his walk and playing "You Can't Catch Me". I've never heard of most of these other music groups. The cinematography can be best described as early TV filming. This is a movie for ears more than the eyes.