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STUDIO: Warner Home Video
MSRP: $19.97
RATED: NR
RUNNING TIME: 86 Minutes
SPECIAL FEATURES: Theatrical trailer
Before music videos became popular, filmed performances of music were a pretty boring affair. There were no awesome effects or novel concepts to distract you from just how much the music often sucked. There were just a bunch of guys standing on a podium playing their songs. Only the truly electric performers could make such a bare bones affair something exciting to watch. Jamboree is an exercise in patience that dares you to wait through several of these uninspired middle act performers just to catch a rare glimpse of the truly electric ones.
Jamboree is an exceptionally lazy musical. Rather than spend more than five minutes trying to come up with a plot that would necessitate a large number of rock and roll acts performing, the filmmakers came up with a bland framing plot and the idea of a fundraiser to justify the performers. Basically, you’re watching a telethon but on a movie screen. To achieve the full effect, they should have had the ushers demand money in the aisles or else the movie would be shut off. Better yet, make people donate in order to leave the theater and go far away from this boring film.
Shock jocks of the 1950s.
The entire reason this film exists is because of the musical performers. That’s all anyone viewing this film came to see and the only thing marketable about it. The “plot” of the film matters so little that it isn’t even mentioned on the back of the DVD case and the two lead actors only get a tiny postage-stamp sized picture on the poster. It makes you wonder why they even put a plot in this film at all. Just a simple collection of musical performances would have made this a much more enjoyable film and an interesting snapshot of ‘50s music.
The filmmakers apparently thought that since this was a movie it absolutely demanded a framing plot. This plot centers on Pete and Honey, a musical duo with a hit single. Their managers are a couple that was once married but got divorced. All Pete and Honey want to do is be in love and have fun singing together. The managers, always trying to one-up each other, manipulate Pete and Honey behind the scenes to further their own goals. The machinations of the two managers end up breaking Pete and Honey apart, but once they realize the wrong they’ve done the two managers work to break them back together.
The framing plot is the dagger in the side of this movie. Anytime the rock and roll performances start to get really energetic and get the audience interested, the plot comes back into play and sucks all the energy out of the film. It doesn’t help that the two singers in the framing plot aren’t rock and roll in the slightest. Their bubble gum soft ballads have absolutely no place in a movie with Jerry Lee Lewis and Fats Domino. It would be as ridiculous as Kelly Osbourne performing at Ozzfest. Oh, wait.
"I hosted this telethon to help people, but its gone much, much farther than that. I’ve tore a hole in our universe, a gateway to another dimension. A dimension of pure chaos. Pure evil. Donate or burn in the flames of eternal suffering."
The framing plot merely exists to get Pete and Honey into the musical studio and on television. Anytime the two get near a studio there just happens to be another performer there who decides to perform for the camera. The two get involved in a telethon for “The United Charities” so that the film can just show musical performance after musical performance with out any need for explanation. The most interesting thing about this part of the film is the use of real video jockeys from the day such as a fresh faced Dick Clark, who comes across more as a stone faced soul eater than a cheerful guy in this film. He makes me think you’d better donate to The United Charities…or else.
The film’s lazy plot becomes even more humorous towards its conclusion. Pete and Honey meet up at a dance club where the biggest acts in the film play. We’re supposed to believe that the actors are in the same room as the performers, but that’s a little far fetched since all the musicians are performing in a white void. Most of the performances throughout the film take place in the same void, although a few artists are lucky enough to get a few props like cardboard palm trees. Watching nerdy looking white guys stare into your soul while singing isn’t a very thrilling experience, but the great performers like Jerry Lee Lewis manage to be entertaining with little more than a piano and a stool.
As a movie, Jamboree has all the depth of an episode of Saved by the Bell. The plot is one of the most generic on Earth and has no merit whatsoever. As a musical, it’s a bland but decent way to get a look at the hottest acts of the day performing their signature hits. ‘50s music fans might want to watch Jamboree, but they might hurt their thumbs hitting the forward button to skip over the plot.
4.0 out of 10
Either hug it or play it, you can’t do both at the same time.
The Look
There are a lot of scratches and dust all over this transfer at some points, but for the most part it’s remarkably clear. I’m talking “see all the disgusting stuff clogging the male lead’s pores” clear. This could be interpreted as a good thing or a bad thing, since many of the performers involved made it big during the age of radio when looking good wasn’t a requirement of being a huge recording star. Hope you like being stared at by lanky white guys in suits!
7.0 out of 10
Is this man having a heart attack or trying to dance? You make the call!
The Noise
Jamboree is presented in Dolby Digital Mono. It’s a very good mono track with no noticeable hiss or sound drop-outs. You can jam with this track and listen to the stars lip sync like true professionals. Fans of ‘50s music will be upset over the lack of a stereo track at the very least.
6.0 out of 10
As happy go-lucky Ron stared at the camera and Hula Joe wailed on the guitar, the drummer silently waited for the booby-trapped paper tree to explode and kill them both.
The Goodies
The only extra is a piddling trailer that shows off the film’s bevy of stars. Once again, the main plot of the film is totally ignored in the advertising. It makes you wonder if that was always the plan, or if the plot was supposed to be good and its overwhelming awfulness convinced the marketing director to completely ignore it. The trailer shows off some of the more visually interesting performances and bills the top stars, with the smaller acts having to be included in the “with lots lots more!” phrase at the end. Interestingly enough, many of the lesser billed acts would go on to bigger success such as Slim Whitman and Frankie Avalon.
0.5 out of 10
Jimmy and the Zombies bring the house down with their hit single – "Got Your Brains on My Mind (Darlin’)"
The Artwork
The DVD artwork is the original theatrical poster for Jamboree. The poster features all the top performers, with the main characters in the plot being stuck in a tiny box at the lower left-hand corner. The two actors are accompanied by a blurb that states “A fast-spinning love story behind the scenes of today’s brand new kind of Tin Pan Alley!” I don’t know why they’d brag about trying to resurrect the cookie cutter blandness of Tin Pan Alley era music, but judging by the film’s plot I’d say the filmmakers loved to strive for mediocrity.
6.0 out of 10