{"id":45322,"date":"2024-10-25T08:30:21","date_gmt":"2024-10-25T12:30:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=45322"},"modified":"2024-10-23T19:11:19","modified_gmt":"2024-10-23T23:11:19","slug":"the-bootleg-files-let-the-good-times-roll","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2024\/10\/25\/the-bootleg-files-let-the-good-times-roll\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bootleg Files: Let the Good Times Roll"},"content":{"rendered":"

BOOTLEG FILES 883:<\/strong> \u201cLet the Good Times Roll\u201d (1973 concert film featuring Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Bo Diddley). <\/p>\n

LAST SEEN:<\/strong> On YouTube. <\/p>\n

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: <\/strong>None.<\/p>\n

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS:<\/strong> Music rights clearance issues are a big obstacle.<\/p>\n

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE:<\/strong> Not likely.<\/p>\n

During the early 1970s, there was a wave of nostalgia for the music and pop culture of the late 1950s and early 1960s. The Broadway musical \u201cGrease,\u201d the movie \u201cAmerican Graffiti\u201d and the sitcom \u201cHappy Days\u201d were the most prominent examples of this retro celebration of the era, while Sha Na Na kept the old tunes alive with their kinetic stage and television appearances, but a series of concerts dubbed \u201cThe Rock and Roll Revival\u201d brought a number of the prominent music stars from that period to perform their old hits for admiring audiences.
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Two of the concerts from that tour \u2013 one at the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island and one at Cobo Hall in Detroit \u2013 were captured on film and edited together into a film titled \u201cLet the Good Times Roll.\u201d Filmmakers Robert Abel and Sidney Levin were clearly influenced by the Oscar-winning concert documentary \u201cWoodstock\u201d and made ample use of split-screen effects in capturing the performances. The filmmakers also plumbed through archival footage of the late 1950s and early 1960s to present a black-and-white montage of the personalities, trends and attitudes towards rock music that was juxtaposed against the full-color music presentations.<\/p>\n

I assume the split-screen effects were far more effective when viewed on the large projection format in a theater. Seen today on smaller home screens, it comes across as annoying \u2013 especially when additional camera tricks are included, such as having Chubby Checker singing and dancing in mirror images on a three-way split-screen, thus having six Chubby Checkers doing the twist. And having the monochrome footage of the stars in their youth running next to the color footage of their middle-aged personas sadly highlighted how time is not always a performer\u2019s ally.<\/p>\n

The film also shares a problem that occurs in other multi-artist concert films \u2013 not everyone is at the same level of artistry. To its credit, \u201cLet the Good Times Roll\u201d offers still-prime performances by Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Fats Domino and Bo Diddley. Some critics who reviewed the film\u2019s premiere complained that Bill Haley seemed like a robotic version of his younger self, but I don\u2019t share that opinion and I enjoyed the enthusiasm that be brought to his relatively brief set \u2013 it seemed that Haley and Domino had more than a fair share of footage left on the cutting room floor compared to other acts. The film\u2019s most astonishing sequence is its last, with Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley in an impromptu guitar duel that reaffirms why they were the best of their genre.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the film also brings in acts that were very much past their prime when \u201cLet the Good Times Roll\u201d was shot. The most enervated performers are The Shirelles, who are out of tune in their slovenly presentation. Danny and the Juniors, The Coasters and the Five Satins offer a polite presence that seems like tranquilizing interludes between the more dynamic sets.<\/p>\n

Still, the film is not without its interesting surprises, especially the off-stage footage with Bo Diddley grocery shopping for his band and Little Richard speaking frankly about Pat Boone\u2019s covers of his hit tunes. And while the old newsreel footage is often amusing \u2013 especially with sour old men condemning rock music \u2013 it is difficult not to notice that the nostalgia expressed for the late-Eisenhower\/early-Kennedy years is entirely for a White American experience. (The audience at the concerts also appears to be overwhelmingly White.)<\/p>\n

\u201cLet the Good Times Roll\u201d was unleashed to mostly favorable reviews by Columbia Pictures, and a two-disc soundtrack album was released \u2013 but Chuck Berry\u2019s music was omitted because he was under contract do a different label. Music clearance rights have bedeviled this film for years and can be blamed for keeping it out of home entertainment release. The film aired once on TCM and there is an unauthorized posting on YouTube from the broadcast. <\/p>\n