I found “Rock All Night” to be fascinating, but I did fast forward the movie at times. It’s skillfully photographed, and the acting is good. Roger Corman certainly directed this very well in those respects. The story had me wondering on one point that I’ll get to below.

The movie takes place mostly in one set, inside a tavern. The other set is outside the tavern. It opens with 5 songs. Two are complete songs by The Platters and a backup music group, and these are really nice. The next three are by a rock group called The Blockbusters. I cannot find who they are; they appeared in one other Corman film “Carnival Rock”. They play competent rock and roll of the era, which is a matter of taste. I fast-forwarded through their second number.

The musical part has no dramatic connection to the rest of the film, which is mostly a drama built on character studies. The characters are put under much pressure when Russell Johnson and another killer come in the place to hide out. At first they act normal but later Ed Nelson comes in and he recognizes them, after which Johnson shoots him to death and threatens everyone else in the bar. Subsequently the police show up outside and Johnson threatens to take hostages or shoot someone if the police use tear gas.

Among the characters is a singer, Abby Dalton, in her first movie appearance. She’s trying out in this informal place, but she’s so nervous that she sings off key and expressionless most of the time. This is quite painful to everyone in the bar, but they’re rooting for her. She’s being pushed by promoter Mel Welles. Corman puts us through her bad singing twice! I fast-forwarded once I got the idea.

Welles plays an irritating man who feigns being hip and whose language is a constant stream of hip talk. I find most of this a bore. I lived through this era, played in a jazz band, knew this scene and these movie exaggerations don’t really capture it.

Dick Miller is the most interesting character. He’s an irascible young guy with a switchblade who likes to pick fights. But he’s really not a bad sort. He simply sees through everyone around him. He becomes the mirror into the other characters. He puts them in their places and makes the blowhards back down. He nails Welles for selfishly pushing Dalton when she’s really not out to be a singer. She sings a third song beautifully, however, when Johnson makes her sing to deceive the police outside. The situation makes her overcome her fears.

Miller also makes the local extortionist back down. He was extracting money from the bar owner (Robin Morse). There’s also a promoter that’s pushing a young boxer who really doesn’t have the heart to be a fighter, and that situation is resolved in favor of the boxer deciding to go in business with his brother-in-law. Jeanne Cooper is a welcome presence, as always. She’s the rough companion to a big bloke whose manlihood comes into question when faced with Johnson. Miller is the one who finally stands up to Johnson and disarms him. This is the story point I wondered about. Since Johnson had shot Ed Nelson, I have a hard time understanding why he backed down when Miller berated him. I rationalized it that if he shot again, it would have brought the police right inside and meant his death. Knowing this and fearing being executed, he gave up his weapon to Miller. Still, Miller showed a lot of guts in standing up to him.

There’s repartee between bartender Morse and a reporter that really goes nowhere but fills in the gaps. That dissipates the drama.

There you have it, a curious mixture of music, drama and crime that was painful to me in some of the musical places but beautiful in others. It also mixed some good drama with some stuff that didn’t gel. Overall, I was entertained.