Distributed by Full Throttle Video

Movie review by www.HotRodHotLine.com

From the Producers

From the guys who brought you "Back From The Dead," Shake, Rattle and Roll throws a match in the gas tank and slams it in gear with a burning hot soundtrack, smoking pin-up girls, and low-down dirty hot rods.

Join the Gonners car club as they cruise the hardcore streets of South Central LA and stop traffic with a kustom car block party.

Jump in the backseat with top pin-up models as photographers Mitzi & Co and Dan gilday snap pictures for their upcoming book releases. With everything from kustom art and car show scenes, to under the hood and on the street blazing action footage.

Shot in drop-dead black & white film and living color HD, Shake Rattle and Roll is edited with a lumberjack's chain saw that keep the screen burning til the very last mile!

Movie Critics Richard Parks and Roger Rohrdanz

Richard: Shake, Rattle and Roll is an hour video on the Hot Rod, Rat Rod and Kustom Kulture. It is owned and produced by Circle King Films and distributed by Full Throttle Video in a color format. Jeffrey B. Grubert is the Executive Producer and the video was produced and directed by Brooks Ferrell. Gavin Whalen did the editing and the music supervisor was Miles Ferrell. Brooks Ferrell and Mark Combellick did the cinematography. The music was provided by; SpeedBuggy, Jackass, The White Buffalo, The Phantom Riders, The Sore Thumbs, Mezcal Brothers and Once for Death. The video is 63 minutes long, including the bonus clips and trailers. The clubs portrayed are the Gonners of East Los Angeles, Road Zombies Rod & Custom Car Club and the Rumblers from San Francisco, California.

Roger: This video does a good job of showing the diversity of the car culture in California. These car people are altering their cars with very creative and innovative ideas. I missed hearing the sound of the cars, I suppose they felt the music was more important.

Richard: The video is divided up into segments, each independent of each other, but all fitting together to explain the Hot Rodding, Rat Rod and Kustom Kar Culture. The music fits the scenes, and has a rhythmic beat that is modern and yet nostalgic. The cars represent all aspects of the culture, which is based on the 1940’s, ‘50’s and early ‘60’s, with a central point being the early Elvis years of the 1950’s. The people in the video live and dress in this era with remarkable accuracy and ease. They don’t appear to be acting out of their era, but living in this time span. The clothes and make-up are as authentic as this writer has ever seen in the rockabilly culture. The director has a real feel for those who are on screen and the acting, if it is acting, has a naturalness to it that puts the viewer right on the scene. There are some additional trailers and clips that are ads, but they are done so well that I returned to watch them several times, and they could just as easily have been added to the main video.

Roger: In general, “Rodders” show respect for “the car,” depending on whom is talking and about whom they are talking about. A “Rodder” can be someone with an old rust bucket, because that’s all they have the resources for, but not someone whom deliberately rusts and abuses a car. A “Rodder” is one who works within his budget to build a car in the old 1950’s fashion with the parts that they can scrounge up, buy or restore. A “Rodder” doesn’t abuse a car, rust it out, and use a blowtorch to cut holes for the sake of cutting holes in a car, or show a lack of respect for “the car.”

Richard: This wasn’t a ‘movie’ video per se. Instead it was a series of shorts that led the viewer along a story plot line. For those immersed in the Hotrod, Rat Rod and Kustom Kulture, it will be easy to play portions that they enjoy. It is the general audience in the car culture that will have to stop and take stock of the content. I believe it has a potential for crossing over into the mainstream car world. My first impression was that the music grabs your attention and the cars and girls are stunning. It’s an eye-opening, jaw dropping sensation that takes a while to control. You are looking at voluptuous shapes, sounds and colors in everything that takes place in the video. I searched for an explanation for why my senses were being stretched by this video and saw an article in the local newspaper about fashion models in Europe. The photos showed models wearing hideous baggy clothes, with feathery things all over them. The models were thin, pale, ashen-looking sticks drained of all life. Then I glanced at the video and it was obvious why Shake, Rattle and Roll seemed so stunning. The people in the video were alive, the cars were remade into something that equaled the personalities of their owners, and the throbbing music was full of vitality. It didn’t matter at that point whether one was 18 or 88; the feelings and emotions spanned all ages, classes and ethnic lines. 

Roger: The future of our hot rod car culture will come from young groups like these, my only thought is…which one will it be? Which direction would you want your son or daughter to follow?

Richard: I think Ian Roussel will reach the creative abilities of some of the best car builders and designers, and his personality will make him a star. Carlos Tabares, the Gonners Car Club leader, has a natural appeal that goes beyond charismatic. If he isn’t an actor, he ought to be one. The director brought out the best in his subjects and definitely in the editing of the film. The one problem is that it isn’t long enough to draw out the characters more, especially the women. The men have dialogue and you can see who they are and what they believe in. Except for Morningstar’s achingly beautiful, but short description of the love these young people have for their cars and culture, the women were mainly silent objects. I’m going to give this video 7 plus spark plugs for the vitality and sheer vibrancy of the people, cars and directing and go back and watch the video again. It just might give me the push to give it a “perfect engine purring” 8 spark plugs. 

Roger: As I said earlier, the video was well done and it deserves 8 spark plugs. Some of the content that shows a lack of respect, deserves 4 spark plugs. I’ll Shake’m up and Roll out with a generous “6 spark plugs.”