Rock All Night (1957)

Interesting facts

Rock All Night is a 1957 crime drama film produced and directed by Roger Corman. Distributed by American International Pictures, it is based on a 25-minute television episode of The Jane Wyman Show from 1955 called "The Little Guy." It stars Dick Miller, Russell Johnson and Abby Dalton. It co-stars Mel Welles, Ed Nelson and Clegg Hoyt. The film was released as a double feature with Dragstrip Girl.

Production

In October 1956 Roger Corman bought the rights to "Little Guy" from Jane Wyman for his production company Sunset Productions. Dane Clark was originally sought to play the lead.

AIP had signed The Platters to appear in a film and asked Roger Corman if he had anything suitable. Corman decided to use The Little Guy. Corman gave the script to Charles B. Griffith to expand into a feature. Mel Welles later claimed Corman wanted Griffith to turn the story "into a rock script to emulate the success of Rock Around the Clock and all those pictures were having."

According to Corman, the Platters were only available for one day and that day was not in Corman's schedule. "That put quite a bit of pressure on us, considering the entire script had been written around the Platters", said Corman. "We had to re-write it again, quickly. In the final film, The Platters are only included in the first ten minutes of the plot.

Griffith says he wrote the script over the weekend:

I cut it up with a pair of scissors, this original screenplay, and added new characters like Sir Bop, which was to be played by Lord Buckley, but Mel Welles ended up playing it because Buckley was out of town. Mel wrote his own "hiptionary" for sale in the theatre to go with it. Dick Miller was in the Dane Clark part. He was the little guy of the title. The music was by Buck Ram, The Platters and those people all doing their hit songs.

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