Don't Knock the Rock

Don't Knock the Rock is a 1956 American musical film starring Alan Dale and Alan Freed. Directed by Fred F. Sears, the film also features performances by Bill Haley & His Comets, Little Richard, The Treniers, and Dave Appell and the Applejacks. The title of the film comes from one of Haley's hit singles of 1956. The Haley recording is played over the opening credits, but it is Alan Dale who performs the number in the film. Indeed, while Haley and his band are the top-billed performers in the movie, the story in fact focuses on Dale's character. Synopsis Dale stars as Arnie Haines, a rock and roll star who returns to his hometown to rest up for the summer only to find that rock and roll has been banned there by disapproving adults. Among those against him is influential newspaper columnist Arline MacLaine, though this does not stop Arnie from starting up a romance with MacLaine's daughter Francine. At Francine's urging, Arnie decides to perform a show to demonstrate to Arline that the adults' fears are unjustified. Meanwhile, MacLaine's columns have led to other towns across the country canceling planned rock and roll shows. This leaves big-name acts like Bill Haley, Little Richard, The Treniers and Dave Appell available to perform in Arnie's show. The show goes well at first, with Arline prepared to write a new column acknowledging that the music is harmless. However, things go awry when Arnie rejects the advances of local girl Sunny Everett. In retaliation, Sunny gets drunk and gets two boys to begin a brawl. No one believes that Sunny was at fault and the resulting newspaper articles reporting that the show led to a drunken brawl among its attendees give rock and roll a worse reputation than ever.