Horrible, fascist and poorly acted

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

The movie runs out of plot and jokes well before the end of a two-hour running time, long for a light comedy.

This is an interesting movie on several levels. First, a good look at early rock and roll. You get glimpses of what goes on behind the scenes to start something new. We forget that rock and roll was a scary, challenging music to the parents in the early 1950's. We forget how people looked at race relations in the 1950's. This movie provides glimpses of that time. The teens took to it because they liked the beat, as a means of rebelling, and as a way to show their independence. Mostly I think they liked the upbeat tempo of the music.As Alan Freed liked to keep pointing out, he was Mr. Rock and Roll. He started the revolution. Unfortunately for him, the music grew bigger than him. In time, the music was what became important. It took him awhile but I think he finally understood that.Unfortunately we don't get to see the original stars (this was made in 1991 - 35 years later). But the music is there, how they performed is there, how they danced is there. The story of the movie is the music. And it was (is) great music. Enjoy it.

This film suffers badly from a case of what might be called "TV-Movie Syndrome," a disease that is widespread and often fatal. Its symptoms are a bland, homogenized product that seems to have been mixed in a blender with every other TV-movie and poured into various molds. Superficially the movies may look different, but the essence is the same. Characters are shorn of rough edges and interesting quirks. At the same time subtleties and nuances in stories are glossed over and painted in broad strokes with the same brush. As a result you get a product that almost by definition is vastly inferior to a theatrical release.A great movie might be made about Alan Freed. He was at the cutting edge at the very beginning of the rock & roll culture, helping to promote a new kind of music that raised an excitement never seen before from a new class in America, the teenager. Besides influencing the popular culture enormously, he also turned out to be one of the forces that helped with the racial integration of this country by bringing black music into white homes and by staging concerts that put blacks and whites in seats together, often for the first time in their lives.None of that great story is captured very well here. This movie plays out simply as a tale about a popular deejay who ran into a few personal problems. Although it may not have been entirely his fault, Judd Nelson gives an utterly bland performance as Freed, a genuinely charismatic broadcaster and overall character. Obviously the producers felt that very few viewers would have ever seen or heard Freed work, so no attempt was made to create a character that even resembled his on-air persona. There are also lots of lip-synched performances from actors imitating various rock & roll greats. These don't help out at all, not even when using a talented performer like Leon to portray the dynamic Jackie Wilson.Previously there was a movie made about Freed and his rock & roll career, 'American Hot Wax' starring Tim McIntire. Whatever faults that film may have had it was easily twice the movie this one is. Alan Freed was an important cultural figure of his time whose influence is not generally recognized. This TV-movie is hardly going to change that.

Judd Nelson gave an excellent performance as Alan Freed the disk jockey who coined the term Rock & Roll. All of the performances were fine and the songs of course were great. The lady who played his wife was a new face and very classy. The actor who played the heavy role was also quite good. Well worth watching.

OK, so it is a TV movie. And it didn't cost 100 million to make. But there are several charming story lines throughout the movie, and you do get to re-live some of the songs and performances you loved as a teenager. The actors do passable impersonations of the real stars of yesteryear. Give it a look when it is broadcast, you'll not be disappointed!