Shout

This is not an awful film but it is really really bad on many levels. It is supposed to be a period piece and yet cares nothing at all about the period or authenticity. An odd mix of Footloose and Dead Poet's Society without any of the pathos that either of those films offer. It is hard to believe that Hollywood made this as a major motion picture. Any producer who was near this should be ashamed for life. This is not an unappreciated gem this is a pile of excrement. IF you want to see a film of no substance with John Travolta and some cute boys and cute girls being silly, go for it. If you are looking for a cute 80's style movie with great music this is not it. There is a reason this film was a flop when it debuted. I cannot stress enough how bad this film is. It is an insult to the era, and to the audience.

I purchased this video at Wal-Mart in a two for ten bucks basket. For anyone who may have grown up in the 50's and loved the old time rock and roll this movie is absolutely great!

James Walters plays a rebellious teenager who ends up in a home for boys. John Travolta is a music teacher who comes looking for a job which the boys' home needs. His job is to teach them music but he has been introduced to a black rhythm and blues radio station out of Memphis, which is playing some new music which seems to upset the establishment. That music is the birth of rock and roll.

Travolta introduces the boys to this new music by first playing some 45RPM records and then telling them to get a radio and listen to the Midnight Rider. From then on the boys are hooked.

Heather Graham is the daughter of the man who runs this boys' school and is the romantic interest of Jamie Walters. She looks wonderful. Walters is a junior James Dean with a rock and roll soul.

Ultimately the music is bound to clash with the locals and that is what really brings this movie to an outstanding conclusion. Two songs really kept me going back and watching parts of the movie over and over. "Alimony" by a black couple by the names of Womack & Womack is a fantastic piece of music and the final song by Walters called, "Rockin' the Pad" is produced by Dave Edmunds. The guitar playing could very well be that of Edmunds.

Having started high school in 1955 and graduating in 1959 this movie is a real piece of nostalgia.

After just seeing the movie Shout for the first time, I came away with a feel good impression. Basic plot but fun to watch. John Travolta stars as a music teacher on a Boys Farm in 1955 Texas. James Walters aka Jamie Walters from 90210 fame, plays a boy sent to the boys ranch who is really a good kid at heart. John's character introduces them to rock n roll while he is their music teacher and the movie takes off from there. There is good music, a good moral and this is probably the first film for Gwenyth Paltrow. Heather Graham is also in this movie and all are young! Fun to watch, not a lot of bad language or violence and it teaches kids they have to pay the piper when they do something wrong but sticking it out gets them what they want in the end, Have fun!

Rock n' Roll has been associated with sin ever since the white man stole the sound from African-American musicians.

And while the music teacher in this drama isn't intent on co-opting black culture, he is intent on using the up-beat arrangements to inspire his students.

On the lam from police, harmonica-player Jack (John Travolta) holes up in an all-boys school, where he lands a gig teaching marching progressions.

A rebel-at-heart, however, Jack tutors his students (James Walters, Scott Coffey, Glenn Quinn) on a new rhythm that's sweeping the nation.

Meanwhile, the pious principal (Richard Jordan) is displeased with Jack's teaching of the devil's music as well as one student's intentions towards his daughter (Heather Graham).

A cheesy teen revolt against the puritanical beliefs that plague a small-town, Shout is as seditious as it is silly.

Besides, playing Rock n' Roll won't conjure up demons until you play it backwards. (Yellow Light)

vidiotreviews.blogspot.com

Here's a chance to see some smooth moves out of John Travolta, dancing with the lovely Linda Fiorentino. There's a great soundtrack that's apparently impossible to find at less than sky-high prices. There's an impressive early performance by Glenn Quinn, who died too young, and a look at Heather Graham and Gwyneth Paltrow when they were still fresh-faced ingénues. The setting is a little bit "Last Picture Show" meets "Cider House Rules" and there's an interesting surface skim of race and class structure in the '50's. The story line could have been meatier, but having spent two hours today with "Ultraviolet," I was grateful enough for the linear progression.