Let the Good Times Roll (film)
| Let the Good Times Roll | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by |
Robert Abel Sidney Levin |
| Produced by | Charles W. Fries |
| Cinematography | Robert C. Thomas |
| Edited by | Bud Friedgen Hyman Kaufman |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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99 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $1,050,000 (US/ Canada rentals) |
Let the Good Times Roll is a 1973 rockumentary / concert film directed by Robert Abel and Sidney Levin. It features numerous stars from the American pop and rock music scene of the 1950s.
The film follows a concert in the 1970s, interspersed with footage of the singers from the 1950s. It also includes interviews with the singers.
The film features numerous stars from the 1950s and early 1960s playing as themselves, including
The film ends with a rare, and apparently impromptu, duet between Berry and Diddley, who had recorded together before, but were not often filmed on stage together.
The film uses split screen techniques to contrast the performers' appearances in the 1950s and in the 1970s (as well as utilizing clips from 1950s-era films such as I Was a Teenage Werewolf). Vincent Canby, writing for The New York Times, described it as "avant-garde".
Canby noted that the film seemed to have a possibly unintentional social commentary, with the majority-white audience giving the black fist to the majority-African American performers. He suggests that it implied that "there are no black memories of the nineteen-fifties".
Christine Sprengler suggested that the film was an attempt to show "musical milestones" in the context of the times (both political and social), and, like American Graffiti and Grease, sets rock and roll as the soundtrack to the decade.
Let the Good Times Roll received its premiere in New York, New York on 25 May 1973. It was later shown in Finland, Hungary, and Sweden.Steven Otfinoski credits its success with bolstering Bo Diddley's career, which at the time was stagnating.
Canby noted that the performers seemed much different than they were during their earlier careers, with gained weight, longer and thinner hair, and Little Richard having "openly embraced androgyny". Overall, he considered the film an "engaging, technically superior concert film that recalls music of the nineteen-fifties".
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