No need to recap the wispy plot. Many of the names may be familiar from R&R's early period—Berry, Cochran Valens, Wilson— but their stylings are not. Looks to me as though the sounds were toned down to suit a white middle-class audience, whose adults tended to identify hard core R&R with juvenile delinquency. That's particularly the case with Chuck Berry who could do a driving beat with the best of them. Not here however. The producers have even added white bread Jimmy Clanton to headline, even though his crooning style better suits pre-R&R. The movie is clearly a commercial product, running a bit scared of the raucous style it's gently alluding to. For a much less compromised glimpse of those early years, catch The Girl Can't Help It (1956).
Review of Go, Johnny, Go!
