For Criterion Consideration: Richard Thorpe’s Jailhouse Rock

The musical is dead. Or at least that’s what looking at the box office and critical consensus will have you believe. Nine, Rob Marshall’s proto-sequel to Fellini’s 8 ½ was both a failure and a flop, Footloose was much maligned and of course, you’d be remise to forget the classic Burlesque when talking modern musicals. However, 2012 appears to bring with it an attempt at creating a new renaissance of movie musicals.

Following in the footsteps of recent indie musicals like Guy And Madeline On A Park Bench, you have a new indie film entitled How Do You Write A Joe Schermann Song, and even blockbusters are going the song and dance route with films like Les Miserables. And this week, it’s rock and roll’s turn.

The Tom Cruise starring, stage musical adaptation Rock of Ages arrives this week, and while buzz surrounding the film has been mixed, it will be hard pressed to break ground in what is a rather underrated subset of musical cinema. With Criterion-approved films like Quadrophenia among its peers, the greatest of them all more than deserves the Criterion Collection treatment and now is as good a time as ever.

With his death being both tragic  and also shrouding a cloud over what is one of the most legendary legacies in rock music history, Elvis Presley is without a doubt best known for his music. At the time a truly groundbreaking popularizing   of what was primarily considered a black musician genre, the King swiveled his hips into the hearts of a generation looking to rebel and rebel with a vengeance. The fifties saw the rise of rock music, the continued rise of cinema from around the world, and the rise of a generation fueled by both of these, only to take their fuel and propel themselves against the establishment, and only a decade later, against everything the establishment stood for. And even their musicals, this particular one starring Elvis himself, were as punk rock as this generation could get.

Released two years following the generational touchstone Rebel Without A Cause, Jailhouse Rock starred the tandem of Elvis Presley and Judy Tyler (in what would be the latter’s final role), and follows the story of a young man sentenced for manslaughter, who finds himself sharing a cell with a budding musician who mentors him. Once he is released, he meets up with a young woman named Peggy, and the two not only spark a relationship, but also launch careers by forming a record label of their own, after being routinely denied by any and every label they shop Vince’s (Presley) music around to.

Now, while the premise itself may sound rather broad and cliché ridden, the premise is the last thing that one will take away from what may very well be the greatest rock and roll musical feature film ever made.

Elvis is revelatory here. It goes without saying that he is a rock and roll legion. Arguably the most influential single musical performer of his generation, his films are often scoffed at as nothing more than musicals that attempt to cash in on his name and reputation at the time and since, and absolutely nothing more. However, this is as much a defining performance for the icon on-screen as anything he ever did on the stage. With a brooding sense of James Dean-esque angst below the surface, his line readings are off, his emotions are cold and distant, all-encompassing what could be, from any other performer, a tonally scatter brained performance. However, Presley is pure stage presence. Absolutely magnetic on the screen, he’s antagonizing, womanizing, and greedy, all something that you could get from a smirk. Almost a silent film-like sense of facial performance, Presley is as close to James Dean as anyone could get within the trappings of a movie musical. And this is his shinning performance.

Judy Tyler, our main romantic lead Peggy Van Alden, is absolutely every bit Presley’s equal. Only to pass away days after the film wrapped, Tyler steals the show here as Peggy, playing her as a woman looking for someone more than just a romantic partner. Finding someone she deeply cares for in Presley’s Vince, she is used by him, abused emotionally by him, and yet stands by him because she, like everyone he meets, sees something truly important in him and in his music. Her chemistry with Presley is palpable, and it’s also believable, on a vast number of levels. For a final performance, one couldn’t get much better than this.

That all said, why, after all, are we here? Music. And this film has one of the best scores and soundtracks of its day. Featuring songs written by Sid Tepper, Roy C. Bennett (the pair have one song featured in the film, entitled ‘˜One More Day’), Abner Silver, Aaron Schroeder, Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller and Ben Weisman, the film is arguably best known for its titular track and the performance of it.

Each musical sequence is perfectly choreographed and stunningly directed in black and white by director Richard Thorpe, with ‘˜Jailhouse’ being the true blue stand out.   Thorpe has a deft hand with his camera both during these really stylized numbers as well as the film’s more intimate moments, particularly its conclusion. The finale seems a tad bit trite and particularly out of the blue, but it is emotionally resonate, particularly with what comes in the final moments of the film.

Now 55-years old, Jailhouse Rock is a cultural touchstone that not only stands as one of the best of its genre, but also as the best feature performance from one of the most important names in rock music. With the rock musical now a genre with a Criterion entry, it’s about time that the best that that type of film has to offer get its time in the spotlight. A Blu-ray of the film does in fact exist, so while it will likely never happen. One can only wish, right? Here’s to hoping.