TWIST AROUND THE CLOCK, the first of two TWIST films produced by Sam Katzman and featuring the great Chubby Checker, is basically a remake of the old BIll Haley vehicle ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK, and like that film, the "star" here, Chubby Checker, is little more than a guest star in his own film. In the earlier film, Alan Dale is featured as the lead performer and his story is told, with Bill Haley merely being a "friend" who helps the lead character and who performs a handful of songs. Here, Clay Cole is featured, and Chubby Checker does three or four songs, has a few lines of dialogue, and performs in a group number at the film's finale. Checker is a fine performer, and he handles the dialogue well--the NEXT Twist movie he was in, DON'T KNOCK THE TWIST, was MUCH better in that Checker was given a lot more importance in the story, and had much more dialogue with star Lang Jeffries. As for TWIST AROUND THE CLOCK, it also has Dion do three songs, and the vocal group the Marcels do a nice Christmas twist song. However, the dramatic sections of the film are weak, especially so since they are a carbon copy of the same plot in the earlier Bill Haley movie. If you take the Dion and Chubby songs, and the Marcels' number, out of the film, there is really not much else worthwhile. Fans of DON'T KNOCK THE TWIST will recognize the same cheesy sets and tiny "stage" used as the TV studio in that film. Serious rock and roll fans should see this film ONCE so they can say they have seen ALL the pre-Beatles rock and roll films, but only the lip-synched Chubby Checker and Dion songs are worth keeping. This was aired a few years back on AMC, where I taped my copy and originally saw the film.
14 Reviews
Dig That Groove, Man!
atlasmb31 December 2013
When Chubby Checker performs, he has an energy that is almost as electric as Elvis. Dion's writing talents are showcased also. Beyond that, Twist Around the Clock is only interesting as a comedy.
You've got older management-types speaking some real hep lines that someone has written for them. While The Twist is being performed onstage, you can see the middle-class, sedate audience sitting like statues. Seriously, no one is even tapping a foot.
Finally, dig those bogus songs that are performed by Vicki Spencer. The lyrics are laughable. Really, much of this movie is laughable, and I received some enjoyment viewing it on that level.
You've got older management-types speaking some real hep lines that someone has written for them. While The Twist is being performed onstage, you can see the middle-class, sedate audience sitting like statues. Seriously, no one is even tapping a foot.
Finally, dig those bogus songs that are performed by Vicki Spencer. The lyrics are laughable. Really, much of this movie is laughable, and I received some enjoyment viewing it on that level.
It's not possible! It's just not possible! Not grownups too!"
sol12186 February 2013
Warning: Spoilers
***SPOILERS*** It's 1960 with the King Elvis Presley drafted into the US Army with Rock & Roll music now on life support talent scout Mitch Mason played by a very youthful looking John Cronin who according to the IMDb Bio. of him is supposed to have been born in 1904, making him 55 years old at the time the movie was made, and his friend and fellow talent scout Dizzy Bellew, Alvy Moore, travel to his hick town in New England named Alpine Peaks to checkout this new dance craze called "The Twist" thats the talk of the town. With Clay Cole doing the both singing and twisting on stage the two are amazed in that everyone in town young old and even those blue noeses who can't stand hip & jive music are into it! That in them throwing away all their inhibitions and just twisting the night, that's Saturday night, away!
Knowing that he's got a gold mine in the "Twist" becoming the biggest music craze to hit the USA since Rudy Valley Mitch tries to get top music promoter Joe Marshall,Tol Avery, to promote it and it's singer Clay Cole and the two dancers who preform it Tina & Larry Louden, Mary Mitchell & Jeff Parker. But poor Mitch faces an uphill struggle in having Marsall agree with him. He has to marry Marshall spoiled rotten to the core daughter Debbie, Maura McGiverey, before he gives him the O.K!
An almost carbon copy of the 1956 Rock & Roll hit movie "Rock Around the Clock" made five years earlier with the same corny and cheesy ending with Mitch ending up legally stiffing Joe Marshall in his so-called iron clad contract and even like in the movie "Rock Around the Clock" slipping in the them song from the movie "From Here to Eternity" for good measures. Still it's worth watching with the great songs in it preformed by Chubby Checker Dion, Dion Dimucci, "The Marcels" as well as pretty teenage singing sanitation Vicki Spencer that will make you forget just how silly the movie really is.
What you really get to see in the movie "Twist Around the Clock" is just what a great and generous person the great Chubby Checker really is. Even though it was Chubby who made the Twist the most popular dance craze of the 1960's he didn't mind disk jockey and later talk show host Clay Cole taking credit for it in the film! Something you'd never see with the dog eat dog competition and egos among those in the popular music business today.
Knowing that he's got a gold mine in the "Twist" becoming the biggest music craze to hit the USA since Rudy Valley Mitch tries to get top music promoter Joe Marshall,Tol Avery, to promote it and it's singer Clay Cole and the two dancers who preform it Tina & Larry Louden, Mary Mitchell & Jeff Parker. But poor Mitch faces an uphill struggle in having Marsall agree with him. He has to marry Marshall spoiled rotten to the core daughter Debbie, Maura McGiverey, before he gives him the O.K!
An almost carbon copy of the 1956 Rock & Roll hit movie "Rock Around the Clock" made five years earlier with the same corny and cheesy ending with Mitch ending up legally stiffing Joe Marshall in his so-called iron clad contract and even like in the movie "Rock Around the Clock" slipping in the them song from the movie "From Here to Eternity" for good measures. Still it's worth watching with the great songs in it preformed by Chubby Checker Dion, Dion Dimucci, "The Marcels" as well as pretty teenage singing sanitation Vicki Spencer that will make you forget just how silly the movie really is.
What you really get to see in the movie "Twist Around the Clock" is just what a great and generous person the great Chubby Checker really is. Even though it was Chubby who made the Twist the most popular dance craze of the 1960's he didn't mind disk jockey and later talk show host Clay Cole taking credit for it in the film! Something you'd never see with the dog eat dog competition and egos among those in the popular music business today.
alternate title -- Twist Around the Twilight Zone!
Bud_Brewster6 February 2007
TCM showed a marathon of rock n' roll movies on January 31, 2007 and I taped the entire 12-hour run. I really enjoyed "Rock Around the Clock" (1956). It was energetic and fun, with plenty of good music.
Then I started watching the next feature, "Twist Around the Clock" (1961).
I expected the two films to be similar -- but I was flabbergasted when I realized that "Twist" was filmed using exactly the same script as "Rock"! The plot elements were copied perfectly, scene-for-scene. In fact, the dialog was even the same word-for-word throughout both movies!
Watching these two films back-to-back is like a trip to the Twilight Zone -- a perfect example of parallel universes.
Then I started watching the next feature, "Twist Around the Clock" (1961).
I expected the two films to be similar -- but I was flabbergasted when I realized that "Twist" was filmed using exactly the same script as "Rock"! The plot elements were copied perfectly, scene-for-scene. In fact, the dialog was even the same word-for-word throughout both movies!
Watching these two films back-to-back is like a trip to the Twilight Zone -- a perfect example of parallel universes.
Other than Chubby and Dion, forget it!
unclerussie19 February 2003
If I had never seen "Rock Around the Clock", this movie might be a little easier to take. You see, the producers didn't even bother to write a script; they just copied the one used for "Rock Around the Clock" some years earlier. If that wasn't bad enough, "Twist" pales in every comparison to the original. Horrible acting and mediocre songs are all over this film. It's only two bright spots are the appearances of Chubby Checker and Dion. And who ever told Clay Cole he could sing? Forget this one.
Another Pious Establishment Attempt At Condemning Rock n' Roll
LeonLouisRicci3 January 2014
Typical of its Type, this is another Teen Phenom Film that doesn't have a clue. First, more than once the Script puts down Rock n Roll as a thing of the Past and berates it and says there is no need for that Flash in the Pan, forget it, because now there is "The Twist".
Well, The Twist is RnR albeit a safe variation thereof that got accepted by Middle Agers before the Kids could say "get your own groove Daddy-O". This Movie was just another example of Dumbed Down, Cash Raking, Corporate Sanitizing and Filtration, by way of The Twist Craze, of the Raw and Raunchy Music that was the first wave of Rock n' Roll and deemed a Blight on America's Youth.
Most of these Movies have at the Lead some White Bread Spasmodic embarrassingly mimicking His betters. A Clean-Cut Crooner with all the right "Attributes" except Talent. Here there is some Dolt named Clay Cole making an Ass out of Himself through most of the Film while a couple of real Stars are given time to Perform a few Real Hits.
Chubby Checker, who stole Hank Ballard's Song and Singing Style and Re-Released Hank's "The Twist" Record without a mention or a nod, does do one Legitimate Song, Twistin USA. Dion does His two Biggest Hits, The Wanderer and Runaround Sue, both Great Pop Teen Anthems. There is also an appearance by The Marcels that had a huge Hit or two, but here deliver only a Novelty called Merry Twistmas.
There is more in this Movie to Hate than to Love and overall it is worth a View for a Few Minutes of Time-Capsule Song Performances by Chubby Checker and Dion but that's it.
Well, The Twist is RnR albeit a safe variation thereof that got accepted by Middle Agers before the Kids could say "get your own groove Daddy-O". This Movie was just another example of Dumbed Down, Cash Raking, Corporate Sanitizing and Filtration, by way of The Twist Craze, of the Raw and Raunchy Music that was the first wave of Rock n' Roll and deemed a Blight on America's Youth.
Most of these Movies have at the Lead some White Bread Spasmodic embarrassingly mimicking His betters. A Clean-Cut Crooner with all the right "Attributes" except Talent. Here there is some Dolt named Clay Cole making an Ass out of Himself through most of the Film while a couple of real Stars are given time to Perform a few Real Hits.
Chubby Checker, who stole Hank Ballard's Song and Singing Style and Re-Released Hank's "The Twist" Record without a mention or a nod, does do one Legitimate Song, Twistin USA. Dion does His two Biggest Hits, The Wanderer and Runaround Sue, both Great Pop Teen Anthems. There is also an appearance by The Marcels that had a huge Hit or two, but here deliver only a Novelty called Merry Twistmas.
There is more in this Movie to Hate than to Love and overall it is worth a View for a Few Minutes of Time-Capsule Song Performances by Chubby Checker and Dion but that's it.
Thank God for the Beatles
toddholmes-8888321 May 2021
Rock and Roll in America was dead, and this movie proves it. Twist Around the Clock has none of the energy and sheer, raw brilliance of it's 1950s predecessors. Fortunately, the British invasion was on it's way. Crazy Daddy!
twist-delicious!
ptb-829 June 2007
I really enjoyed TWIST AROUND THE CLOCK as a genuinely snazzy low budget 1961 dance pic with a roster of (still) very well known songs. Other comments will tell you how identical it is to ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK (it certainly is) but for me that did not diminish any of the delight. I am quite fascinated by Vicki Spencer who I see only made one other film TEENAGE MILLIONAIRE. What happened to her? In TWIST she is almost everything Ann-Margret is a year later in BYE BYE BIRDIE... even in her gorgeous looks. Dion I had never seen but knew the songs well (The Wanderer, Runaround Sue) ... he is certainly the iconic 60s nightclub star in the Bobby Darin style. I found the script hilarious. It is actually funny with some great sly comments... especially between the father and daughter nemeses... Chubby Checker is his dynamite fun self... I also thought he was very handsome in this film, given I guess he was in his mid 20s, something I had never observed... perhaps that is because I am used to seeing later years material when he looks good, but here, younger he is certainly compelling. TWIST is enormous musical fun and for kids to enjoy because they could actually dance along with it. My DVD is a Canadian reprint with new titles over the original Katzman/Columbia 35mm release... the body of the film is the same as the original film. I had such a good time watching this film... I really laughed with it and thought the songs terrific... and then there is the dance team fun.... and The incredible Marcels to top it off.
Pathetic
Mort & Spunky the awesome cat3 July 2000
This movie is living proof that the same stupid gags used in the teen flicks of the 80s and 90s have now been around for decades and that Hollywood thought as little of teens 40 years ago as they do today. If you like the song "The Twist", as do I (my reason for watching), buy the record. Poor acting, laughably sad lip-synching and a feeble excuse of a plot, among other things, lead me to question why a TV programmer would bother airing it.
Low Budget Cultural Fun
gallifreyent10 August 2006
Teen potboilers should not be viewed with hope that great cinematography or compelling plots loom within. Instead, catch Twist and its counterparts through the decades just for the music, slang, and fashion. Ignore loose lip-syncs...even big-budget musicals have missed the alignment at times. Forgive this film for failing to meet music video standards, and just appreciate the stage performances by hit acts of the era. Understand that the Twist was a hugely popular dance that spawned several hit songs just about the dance, a movement across the country that loosened up the straight-laced post-McCarthy public, increased popularity of African-American performers who had more often up to that time been known better by the cover records of their songs by white stars. There was even paperback book about the impact the Twist had on "discoteques" around the planet. Maybe this little film would have been better had the producers simply stripped out the plot and made a documentary of the performers, but there were other films of this kind, and continue to be. Think about it...is showcasing the performers that different from Twist to Justin Loves Kelly, Get Rich or Die Trying', Our Dancing Daughters, 8 Mile, Spice Girls, Help, or Orchestra Wives? But do people go to a film if there's no plot, even a thin one? Some are better than others, but they're all showcases of a music in its time and place. If you don't like the music circa 1961, then pass it by. Otherwise, don't hold it to the same standards as your favorite blockbuster or art house Golden Palm winner.
Dreadful, Daddy-O
Lechuguilla8 May 2011
A rehash of a fairly plot-less "Rock Around The Clock" (1956), "Twist Around The Clock" functions only as a ninety-minute advertisement for the then-popular song "The Twist" and all products related to same, including the career of singer Chubby Checker.
Musical staging is cheap-looking, tacky, and lacks imagination. The dreadful dialogue lacks subtlety and subtext, and even includes the 1950s teenage word "daddy-o". Characters are all stereotyped. Acting is borderline amateurish. Sloppy direction reeks of early 1960s sitcoms. B&W photography is acceptable but conventional. The worst musical number is something called "Merry Twistmas"; get it?
Lip-synching of lyrics is obvious, and conveys the impression that singers practiced all of five minutes. The entire production comes across as opportunistic, quickly done, and phony.
The one thing I did like was Dion's legit performance midway through of his musical hit "Runaround Sue", a credible rock-n'-roll song.
My impression is that the producers simply copied the script of "Rock Around The Clock", adding "The Twist" as the main change. After all, in the intervening five years, no one would ever know this film is just a rip-off of an earlier musical advertisement. For modern viewers, "Twist Around The Clock" serves as a cultural time capsule back to the age of dinosaurs ... daddy-o.
Musical staging is cheap-looking, tacky, and lacks imagination. The dreadful dialogue lacks subtlety and subtext, and even includes the 1950s teenage word "daddy-o". Characters are all stereotyped. Acting is borderline amateurish. Sloppy direction reeks of early 1960s sitcoms. B&W photography is acceptable but conventional. The worst musical number is something called "Merry Twistmas"; get it?
Lip-synching of lyrics is obvious, and conveys the impression that singers practiced all of five minutes. The entire production comes across as opportunistic, quickly done, and phony.
The one thing I did like was Dion's legit performance midway through of his musical hit "Runaround Sue", a credible rock-n'-roll song.
My impression is that the producers simply copied the script of "Rock Around The Clock", adding "The Twist" as the main change. After all, in the intervening five years, no one would ever know this film is just a rip-off of an earlier musical advertisement. For modern viewers, "Twist Around The Clock" serves as a cultural time capsule back to the age of dinosaurs ... daddy-o.
"Just remember what Christopher Columbus always said...'The world's no square'!"
moonspinner5513 August 2017
Concert promoter and his partner believe the rock scene is kaput--but while driving through the mountain town of Alpine Peaks, they happen upon a crowded hall where all the dancers (young and old) are sandpapering the bottoms of their shoes...turns out it's in preparation for a local dance called the Twist. Once the promoter gets a load of those gyrating hips and slippery feet, he sees dollar signs; the next step is to head for New York City to spread the word on this craze, but unleashing a new dance on an unsuspecting public is met with some skepticism. Cheap, stilted attempt at tracing the Twist's origins, with corny dialogue and amateurish performances. Producer Sam Katzman lifted the plot (and much of the dialogue) from his 1956 hit "Rock Around the Clock", which was followed in 1957 by "Don't Knock the Rock"; this movie had a sequel of its own, "Don't Knock the Twist" in 1962. Why Katzman felt rock and roll was fading out and needed this boost is unclear, unless it was just a pretext for getting the plot in motion. Either way, it's a pretty lousy affair, even with performances by Chubby Checker and Dion. *1/2 from ****
Another Twisty Hollywood Tale...
richard-76417 March 2013
This is a typical Hollywood quickie that is only watchable because it is so bad...right up there with "Don't Knock The Twist" (recently seen on TCM). "Twist Around the Clock" does have better production values that "Don't Knock..." but that is faint praise. As with all these '50s and '60s exploitation r'n'r films, no one sings live--all lip-syncing, all the time. Note that in this film, as with "Don't Knock The Twist," most of the dancers on the floor are middle-aged or older. The performers on stage always seem to include one "big name" or two, but manage to toss in some very lame performers who were unknown before, and after the films. For a companion feature that skewers the folk boom, check out "Hootenany!" With Johnny Cash, Joe & Eddie, Judy Henske and George Hamilton IV.
Laughable, silly, Hollywood hokum.
Laughable, silly, Hollywood hokum.
Rule for remake. Cut out the word rock and insert the word twist.
mark.waltz17 August 2022
Warning: Spoilers
If you can rock around the clock, you can certainly twist, and if you're not going to knock the rock, don't knock the twist. That's pretty much it for this silly twisted musical remake of a 1956 "snobs vs. The swingers" film where "Never in all my born days" and "Well, I never!" takes the squares with round bodies all of 80 minutes to learn that there's nothing wrong with using the rhythm God gifted our feet and hips with. This is basically a miniscule reuse of a plot that has been recycled more times than a coca-cola bottle, and obviously impacted by wear and tear.
The rock has apparently rock has apparently knocked itself off the charts so a new trend is needed, and it's found at a dance in a small town. An absolutely absurd premise, but that's what we've got. A band hired for a fundraiser run by the very round square Barbara Morrison has high society up in arms, that is until someone dared to go out on the dance floor and soon everybody else is following. For the most part, the actors really don't matter, but the singing groups really, and you've got Chubby Checker, Dion and the Marcels. Fans of "Green Acres" will recognize Alvy Moore. Another quickie teen musical from Sam Katzman where critical reaction didn't matter and most audiences only perked up for the songs. Some of the cast came back for the sequel, although Morrison played quite a different role.
The rock has apparently rock has apparently knocked itself off the charts so a new trend is needed, and it's found at a dance in a small town. An absolutely absurd premise, but that's what we've got. A band hired for a fundraiser run by the very round square Barbara Morrison has high society up in arms, that is until someone dared to go out on the dance floor and soon everybody else is following. For the most part, the actors really don't matter, but the singing groups really, and you've got Chubby Checker, Dion and the Marcels. Fans of "Green Acres" will recognize Alvy Moore. Another quickie teen musical from Sam Katzman where critical reaction didn't matter and most audiences only perked up for the songs. Some of the cast came back for the sequel, although Morrison played quite a different role.
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