IF IT'S TUESDAY, THIS MUST BE ROCK 'N ROLL.......WE WELD OURSELVES TO "ROCK, ROCK, ROCK!"

Rock, Rock Rock! (1956)    Hard to believe but the BQ was not yet a teen when all of these black-and-white, slapped together cheapies hit the theaters to cash in on that crazy new music makin' the kids twitch on the dance floor.........

                 Years later, we caught up with 'em all........but only this one resonates.........cause unlike all the others, it's two movies competing with one another.........but both of them steeped in their era.....

                  Half of it is simply a concert film, hosted by Rock 'n Roll impresario Alan Freed.........with Freed hosting a long, long list of performers.....including Chuck Berry, Franky Lymon and The Teenagers,  and who-the-hell-only-knows how many other doo-wop groups.

                   In quality, the music's all over the map.......some of it legendary.......some of it fun to revisit....and....uh......some of it......well, archival.....

                 Interspersed into the clumps of music.......comes a painfully clumsy teenage 'drama' featuring a mature-way-beyond-her-years Tuesday Weld........who may have been the only 12 year old actress in the 1950's who could convincingly pass for 17.........

                  Written, directed and acted like the kind of 16mm training films ("Dating Do's And Don'ts") that 50's teens were forced to watch in class, the story has Tuesday in a tizzy about scraping up enough money to buy a prom dress.......

                   Special bonus!  Tuesday periodically bursts into song herself..........uh, not really, since it's clearly announced in the opening credits that it's the powerful warbling of Connie Francis that's dubbed on to Tuesday's lips.   (In fact, the entire film sounds this way, as if the movie was imported from Italy with an international cast....)

                  In this, Weld's first leading role appearance, you can view the beginnings of what became her signature template role........the slightly dopey but street smart jailbait........half sweetheart, half calculating temptress.   (You'd need a degree in Economics to figure out her staggering explanation of how she scores the prom dress by creating her own "bank" and charging her pals double the interest on loans......)

                 Still fun, still rockin'........and in the onslaught of wooden actors and wobbling rock 'n rollers, you still can't take your eyes off Tuesday Weld, a star in the making.

                  If you've laughed through the satires and pastiches like "Grease" and "Hairspray", you might find this one even funnier.........because it's the real thing.......If it's Tuesday, it's 3 stars (***).