Early rock’s role in film offers soundtrack to generation gap

A whole new movie genre began with Bill Haley & the Comets’ pulsating song “Rock Around the Clock.” Released 50 years ago, the infectious dance tune initially played second fiddle to the Haley hit “Shake, Rattle and Roll.” Not until “Rock” was featured during the title sequence of “The Blackboard Jungle,” the classic 1955 film about misguided youth, did the song take off with a bullet on the charts.

The success of “Rock” and “Blackboard Jungle” inspired Columbia Pictures’ B film producer Samuel Katzman to create a rock ‘n’ roll movie genre that would tap into the burgeoning youth market.

These movies were made in a matter of days on skimpy budgets and were released in the theaters less than two months after production began. And the plots were the same -- kids love rock ‘n’ roll; their parents don’t. But in the end, the establishment puts on its blue suede shoes to twist the night away to the latest hit by Little Richard or the Platters.

On Friday, the UCLA Film and Television Archive goes to the hop with a 10-day festival at the James Bridges Theater featuring some of the grooviest flicks of the period, all recently restored by Columbia Pictures.

The rockin’ retrospective opens with 1956’s “Rock Around the Clock,” starring Haley and his Comets, the Platters and famed DJ Alan Freed, and its follow-up, “Don’t Knock the Rock,” with Little Richard wailing “Tutti Fruitti” and “Long Tall Sally.”

“These films have all the major stars of that period,” says Grover Crisp, vice president of Asset Management & Film Restoration for Sony Pictures Entertainment.

The festival includes a few surprises, such as 1962’s “It’s Trad, Dad” (May 26), directed by Richard Lester. “It’s his first feature-length film,” says Crisp. The musical comedy hints at the freewheeling visual style Lester later mastered with his Beatles’ vehicles, “A Hard Day’s Night” and “Help!”

Tickets for “Columbia Restorations: Rock Around the Clock” are $7 for gen- eral admission and $5 for students, seniors and UCLA alumni. Information: (310) 206-8013 or www.cinemaucla.edu.

-- Susan King