Shake, Rattle, And Rock

Back in 1994, Showtime had this great series called Rebel Highway. Every week, a hip director would take a classic 50's drive in movie and remake it. One of the more memorable ones was Shake, Rattle, And Rock.

Renee Zellweger starred as Susanne, a 1950's high schooler who, along with her friends, starts a rock band. Their parents, and the other authority figures, object. But the local host of a teen dance show, Howie Mandel, and a biker, X's John Doe, are more than willing to help the kids fight the power.

Usually, I try and avoid writing about made for tv movies, but in my last post I wrote about Rock N' Roll High School Forever, but Shake, Rattle, N' Rock feels more like a sequel to Rock N' Roll High School. It was directed by Rock N' Roll High School's Alan Arkush and features some of that cast, P.J. Soles, Dey Young, and Mary Woronov, as the concerned parents. Even though it's set in the fifties, I like to think that Arkush saw this as the Soles and Young characters all grown up and now being part of the establishment.

Zellweger is miscast as Susanne. She's a little to goody goody to pull it off. And the romance her character shares with Doe is a little creepy since he's about twenty years older. But in all fairness, the bikers in those 50's movies were way older than the parts they played. Plus they have headbanger's Ball host Riki Rachtman totally miscast as Eddie Cochran. I guess Brian Setzer was busy. The supporting cast is really good however, especially the Rock N' Roll High School alums, Doe, and Max Perlich as one of Zellweger's bandmates.

This remake reminds me a lot of Hairspray. It's a nice nod to the drive in era of cinema. And it's a blast seeing the Rock N' Roll High School reunion.

It, and most of the Rebel Highway movies, are available on dvd.