Purple People Eater is based loosely (very loosely) on the song of the same name made popular by Sheb Wooley. In this movie version, Neil Patrick Harris finds some old records which once belonged to his father. When Neil plays Wooley's song, the purple people eater comes down from space. No reason given, it just happens. Purple people eater is one horned and one eyed, but only eats purple people. He's like a big goofy stuffed animal (or a ballpark mascot) and Neil names him Purple. Purple can play the horn out of the top of his head (and sometimes, actual notes are present on screen), so him and Neil form a band, which becomes famous locally and they even cut a record. They use their fame to do a benefit to save some old folks from getting kicked out of their homes by a greedy developer.
There are three musicians of note in Purple People Eater: Chubby Checker makes a guest appearance with the band and sings "Twist It Up ". Sheb Wooley has a part as an old friend of Neil's grandfather and Little Richard appears at the end of the film as the mayor of the town and helps get an ordinance passed saving the old folks from having their rental homes turned into expensive condos.
I'm not going to be too harsh on Purple People Eater because it's really a movie for kids....and I'm a long way from being a kid. For an adult, it's pretty dull with a weak plot and even the acting isn't very good; but I bet there are kids out there who have watched, or would watch this film over and over again.
After making some pretty good coinage from Twist Around The Clock, Sam Katzman produced this follow up sequel, Don't Knock The Twist (DKTT). Having a bigger budget for this movie allowed for the inclusion of more music acts, resulting in a much better movie than the first one. DKTT even got its very own plot (unlike Twist Around The Clock, which copied the plot from Rock Around The Clock)....it might not have been much of a plot....but at least they didn't just copy the plot from Don't Knock The Rock.
GBC broadcasting company wants to put on a "Twist TV Spectacular" and it has to be done before a competing network airs their "Twist Special". Ted Haver (Lang Jeffries) is given the job of finding the talent and putting on the show. Since a lot of acts are already booked for the other show, Ted gets Chubby Checker to help him line up the talent. Ted's fashion designer girlfriend, Dulcie Corbin (Mari Blanchard), is having trouble coming up with some new exciting frocks for her clients. Dulcie decides to design fashions just for dancing, which can be featured on the TV show. In the meantime, Ted has discovered a dancing brother and sister team Billy and Madge Albright (Stephen Preston and Georgine Darcy) who will dance on the TV special. Dulcie wants Madge to be her exclusive fashion model for her line of dance outfits and this causes friction between her and Ted, but everything works out for the best by the end of the movie.
Chubby Checker has a much larger role in DKTT, his relationship with Ted reminds me somewhat of the way Chuck Berry and Alan Freed were always hanging out together in Go Johnny, Go!. Chubby sings 6 songs during the movie - "Twistin'", "La Paloma Twist", "I Love To Twist", "The Fly", "Don't Knock The Twist" and a duet with Dee Dee Sharp "Slow Twistin". Since Chubby works at a club and the movie also has "The Twist Spectacular" at the end of the show this allows the movie to include performances from The Dovells (featuring lead singer, Len Barry) doing "The Bristol Stomp" and "Do The New Continental", Vic Dana singing "Little Altar Boy", The Carroll Brothers rocking out on "Hey Bo Diddley", Linda Scott performing "Yessiree", and best of all Gene Chandler decked out in all of his regalia doing "Duke of Earl" (see video clip below).
I'm sure the producers knew that the twist was a fad, which could end at anytime, even possibly before they got the movie into the theaters. It looks like they hedged their bets by introducing several other "dance" songs in the movie. When the brother and sister are discovered they are dancing to a record of Dee Dee Sharp singing "Mashed Potato Time". In DKTT we also hear "Do The New Continental", "The Bristol Stomp", and even Chubby stepping away from the twist with "The Fly".
I never realized that twist songs could give me a headache, but that's exactly what happened in Twist Around The Clock (TATC). Besides the plot being recycled from Rock Around The Clock, the main problem was having Clay Cole sing the majority of the songs in the movie. Clay Cole may have been well respected for his work as a disc jockey and TV dance show host; however, his singing style leaves a lot to be desired.
When I said above that the plot was recycled, I'm not kidding. At least 95 per cent of the plot of TATC is EXACTLY the same as Rock Around The Clock. There are only a few very minor changes. Not only is the plot recycled but almost all of the dialogue is EXACTLY the same, except with the word "twist" inserted where previously the actors would have said "rock and roll". My guess is the only reason that some of the dialogue is a little different is because a cast member forgot their lines and just ad-libbed.
I basically have already gone over this plot when I reviewed Rock Around The Clock, so just I'll briefly go over the plot of Twist Around The Clock: A "rock and roll" band manager tells the band they're washed up and they fire him. There is a cute line here when the manager tells them "There aren't enough rock and rollers left in the country to keep you in tight pants and suede shoes". He leaves for New York accompanied by one of the band members (Alvy Moore, best known as Hank Kimball on Green Acres) who decides to stick with him. Along the way, they find a town that's crazy about a singer, Clay Cole, and his new dance tunes. The manager and his pal hear two songs, both sung by Clay Cole, "Twist Around The Clock" and "Don't Twist With Anyone But Me" and watch the kids dancing along, but still have to ask "What's the name of this dance?" DUH! The Twist!!! The manager recognizes it as the next big thing and wants to take it nationwide.There's some trouble getting the band and dancers bookings because the booking agent's daughter wants to marry the manager, but he's in love with one of the dancers. No worries, everything works out in the end.
When the manager first gets to New York he has a meeting with the booking agent at a club where we get our first good piece of music, Dion singing "The Wanderer", although Dion has a really hard time with his lip synch. The booking agent blackballs Clay and the dancers as a favor for his daughter. The manager then meets with the owner of Club 7 who owes him a favor and we see Chubby Checker on stage singing "Twistin U.S.A" - why Chubby is singing a twist song and doing the twist before anyone should know about it is unexplained....let's just call it a big plot hole. Chubby says that Clay and his group just need a break and he'll pretend to have laryngitis and Clay can take his place at next show. Chubby then wants them to hear his new song"Your Lips". At the club performance, Dion opens the show with "Runaround Sue", followed by Vicki Spencer singing a really cute "Too Many Boyfriends" and then Clay Cole gets to sing and everyone dances and The Twist is a big hit.
They decide to put on a Jazz Jamboree (???)....I swear that 's what they call it... in Los Angeles because they're crazy out there for jazzy (???) concerts....once again, I swear that's what they say. At the Jazz Jamboree, Clay Cole gets to sing again (I haven't mention ALL of the songs Clay sang in the movie, since I'm trying to wipe them from my memory), followed by Dion doing a dance song of his own "The Majestic". The Marcels are up next....strangely singing "Merry Twist-mas"....I said strangely since TATC was released December 30 of 1961, and that makes it look like "Merry Twist-mas" was being promoted a little too late. Vicki Spencer then performs "He's So Sweet", followed by Chubby closing out the show and movie with "Twist Along With Me".
Chubby was a pretty cool performer and of course it goes without saying that seeing Dion was great. Vicki Spencer reminded me of a combination of Connie Francis and Lesley Gore and both of her songs were really good. Seeing The Marcels, if only briefly, with their one song was a treat. Unfortunately those were the only bright moments in TATC and those few bright moments were heavily outweighed by having to hear Clay Cole "sing" so many songs and sit through a plot I had already seen.
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