Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Murphy Howard I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Adeel Hail Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

les6969 OK it could have been better, but overall I thought it covered the lift of Alan Freed quite well. There are bound to be gaps but the main message got through. It is amazing how racist the music industry was and still is and one producer in the film said 'there are plenty of white acts doing rock and roll now, we don't need to feature blacks anymore' It was good that Mr Freed stood up to this. The actors playing the various Rock&Roll stars varied in how good they were. As usual they often over act and make it look so obvious they are miming. Watch the original Little Richard etc and you will see the charisma coming through in a way that the actors can't seem to get. Leon playing Jackie Wilson? Leon seems to play every black singer. he was David Ruffin in the Temptations story and Little Richard in the film about his life, but here as Jackie Wilson he just didn't seem right. I would recommend this film to any fan of Rock or anyone interested in the struggle of black artists.

RoxAne Schneider I didn't see this movie, but was looking for another one about Alan Freed. If you enjoyed this movie, though, you should also see the movie, which doesn't appear to cross reference, American Hot Wax....and the soundtrack is pretty awesome,too. It also tells about Alan Freed, and the start of Rock and Roll.If you love music history, or even just the RockaBilly sound of early Rock, then this movie should be a part of your collection....It came out in 1978 or so, and I had the soundtrack, until a friend decided they liked it too much to let me keep it.....Can't tell you if it is still available....but it's definitely one to have if you love Rock, if it is.

Hermit C-2 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.

TxMike 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!