Bop Girl Goes Calypso (1957)

Director:

Howard W. Koch

Writers:

Arnold Belgard (writer)
Hendrik Vollaerts (story)

Release Date:

July 1957 (USA)

Genre:

Musical

Tagline:

It's a Rock 'n' Roll Riot!

Plot:

The white folk of Jamaica are afraid that calypso music will replace "bop" (which in this film, is not a form of jazz...

Plot Keywords:

Beautiful Woman

Cast

Judy Tyler	...	Jo Thomas
Bobby Troup	...	Robert Hilton
Margo Woode	...	Marion Hendricks
Mary Kaye	...	Herself
Lord Flea	...	Himself
Nino Tempo	...	Specialty Act
Lucien Littlefield	...	Professor Winthrop
George O'Hanlon	...	Barney
Jered Barclay	...	Jerry, backup band leader (as Jerry Barclay)
Judy Harriet	...	YMCA Rehearsal Singer

Also Known As:

Bop Girl

Runtime:

80 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | USA:Approved (certificate #18377)

Company:

Bel-Air Productions

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Young, Hot 'n Nasty Teenage Cruisers (1977)

Soundtrack:

Horn Rock

You won't believe your eyes OR your ears!

I don't know how to score this movie. If you're like me, once you start watching it, you'll just sit back dumbfounded by the whole premise that Calypso music could have ever been a serious threat to rock and roll as a popular form of music. And how is this determined? Why, how else? A guy with a decibel meter goes to a club showing a rock and roll group, and another club with a calypso band, and he measures the volume of the applause! The applause registers higher at the calypso club so it's 'sorry, rock and roll, calypso's got you beaten'. Yeah, that's how I'd measure it.

Hmm. Does anyone remember any calypso bands? Any calypso hits? Ever been to a calypso concert? I can think of zero, zero, and zero respectively. (Well, actually, maybe that Harry Belafonte thing about 'daylight come and me wanna go home' would count....) However, if you give me a little time, I can probably jot down a couple hundred rock / rock & roll bands, just as many songs, and a couple dozen concerts that I attended. I have to say, I think that guy's decibel meter, scientific as it looked, was not a valid way to measure the popularity of a music form in a culture. Slightly wrong, it was.

Anyhow - this movie has a thin plot and plenty of excuses to make you listen to calypso bands to make sure you know how much you (are supposed to) like calypso music. Oh, yeah, mon! Not. I can almost feel myself blacking out, it's got to be like being violated in some way, letting this movie inflict this tropical racket on your ears! Ow, help.