BOP GIRL GOES CALYPSO (1957): BAD MOVIE

Some of my e-mailers requested that I review this movie, but I already did years ago. Here it is again for those folks who requested it, along with a reminder that you could have instant gratification for your bad movie fix if you check my Bad Movie page first and see if I’ve already reviewed the film you have in mind. Here is the link: https://glitternight.com/bad-movies/

BOP GIRL GOES CALYPSO (1957) – Category: Bad, youth-oriented 1950s movie that is incredibly campy.      In the late 1950s there was a brief flurry of films implying that Rock and Roll was a dying fad. Some producers of those films were backing a musical style they felt would become “the next hot trend” in popular music, in this movie’s case, Calypso. My favorite line: “Rock and Roll is yesterday! Calypso is where the money’s at now!”

Most of the action takes place at a   joint called Club Downbeat (no, it’s not an Emo club but thanks for asking) Bobby “Emergency!” Troup stars as a bland (as opposed to mad) scientist with a glorified applause meter that he says proves that Rock and Roll is on the decline and Calypso is taking its place. There’s an odd Eugenics subplot that the Nazis would have loved and several of the world’s most bizarre musical acts liven up this enjoyably goofy flick. 

One of the groups is called The Goofers and they’re like the love-children of Spike Jones and Weird Al Yankovic. They do an impromptu trapeze act in the middle of one song and take turns playing their instruments while hanging upside down from the trapeze. They also sing a song titled I’m Gonna Rock’N’Roll Till I Die and sing it while lying in coffins on stage. By story’s end Club Downbeat has been revamped as Club Trinidad to embrace the irresistable tidal wave of Calypso-mania that culminated in the Jamaican Invasion of the 1960s spearheaded by The Beatles. You must see this movie!

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