Wild Guitar (1962) User Reviews (45)

Likable time passer

[haildevilman · 6/10 · 16 April 2006]

Your typical 'wannabe rock star finds fame, gets his ethics tested, but finds his heart too' story.

Arch Hall Jr. was very likable in the lead. Supposedly, he was a musician first and only made films because his father talked him into it. I think he's a retired cargo pilot in Colorado now.

Arch Hall Sr. 's role as the manager was basically a sleazier version of himself.

Steckler (aka Cash Flagg) as Steak was fun to watch too. Because he and Hall Jr. were supposed to fight in the end, and Hall Jr. was visibly larger, he played the Steak character as an evil sleaze too. This way no one felt sympathy for this little guy getting beat up by a big guy. R.D.S is a professional even if it's all low budget.

Nancy Czar looked great too. She was also the lone survivor of that plane crash that killed most of a figure skating team a few years before.

Classic 60's rock movie. It belongs in a time capsule.

An amazing confluence of dreck!

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 8 October 2009]

Wow. The father-son team of 60s dreck films (Arch Hall Sr. and Jr.) have made another movie with Ray Dennie Steckler--a man who might have had even less talent than the Halls! The Halls have combined for such great films as EEGAH! (which made the list of 50 Worst Films by Harry Medved) and THE NASTY RABBIT. Steckler is responsible for the worst-named films of the era, RAT PFINK A BOO BOO and THE INCREDIBLY STRANGE CREATURES WHO STOPPED LIVING AND BECAME MIXED UP ZOMBIES as well as the incredibly bad LEMON GROVE KIDS MEET THE MONSTER. Both Steckler and Arch Hall, Sr. directed, produced, wrote and acted in many of their films, while Arch, Jr. was an actor and teen singing heart-throb...of sorts. All of their movies are really bad low-budget affairs but there is a certain goofy kitchiness that make them appealing to bad film fans. It's hard to imagine all three combining their talents (such as they are) to make this film--just like the did for EEGAH!.

The film is a modern morality tale about success in the rock 'n roll world. A goofy hick (Hall, Jr.) comes to Hollywood with dreams of becoming a success. In the silliest success story in history, Hall becomes a star in only one day! And unfortunately for him, he comes under the sway of the sleaziest thief in the industry (Hall, Sr.) and his nasty sidekick (Steckler). Will our rather dim hero fall prey to the allure and glitz of "the easy way" or will he get out before it's too late? And, when out of the blue, three total morons kidnap Junior, will he escape with his miserable life?

Arch Hall, Jr. did an okay job as the young guitar star. While he'd never me mistaken for Fabian or Frankie Avalon due to his doughy face and acting limitations, his singing is adequate and his great hairdo make up for any deficiencies. He's good for a low-budget film, though--and probably about the best Steckler and Hall, Sr. could afford! As for Hall, Sr., he was actually very good and was the best actor in the family...as well as in this film. He was believably sleazy and convincing as the promoter. Steckler also came off fairly well in the film because he played a relatively "normal" person--not the arrested adolescent he played in his next few films but more of a laconic heavy--for which he was better suited. Concerning Nancy Czar as the female lead, well her skating is very nice...'nuff said (gimme a break--I'm trying to be nice here).

By far the worst acting in the film were the three moron kidnappers. Rarely, even in stupid low-budget films, have I seen more annoying and pathetic acting as these three cretins did in the film. Obviously they were meant to be comic relief, but apparently they thought this entailed behaving as if they'd all suffered traumatic brain injuries. In fact, they were the worst and most amateurish thing about the film. We are talking cringe-inducing bad!

Overall, despite the film's many, many limitations, considering the very small budget and modest pretenses, it's a very good film for the genre. This shows that Steckler and the Halls would have been best suited to avoiding monster films--which were by far their worst outings. This does NOT mean WILD GUITAR a good film--just good for a craptastic drive-in type film--plus, it's a lot of fun and a decent film considering its budget.

By the way, just a few years later, Hershell Gordon Lewis remade this film as THE BLAST-OFF GIRLS. I have no idea whether or not he had permission to do this--I strongly suspect he just "borrowed" the story...a bit. It's much, much, much less interesting than WILD GUITAR and features the worst music I've ever heard. If you need to watch one graze-z rock 'n roll fable, make it WILD GUITAR.

Fly Like An Eagle, A Bud Eagle

[cutterccbaxter · 27 March 2006]

Wild Guitar has great economic story telling. It only takes Arch Hall Jr an afternoon to become a singing sensation. He arrives in Hollywood and before he has a chance to even tune his guitar he's making his TV debut. By nightfall he's hooked up with a crooked manager and is well on his way to becoming an overnight sensation. Personally I think the cherub faced Hal Jr has more talent in his left pinkie than all the American Idol winners combined. He doesn't really play a wild guitar however. The skating scene nicely showcases Nancy Czar's talents on blades. It also reveals why Arch Hall Jr would never be up for the lead part in The Bobby Orr Story. Unless of course, his dad produced it.

The Cabbage-Patch Elvis is Back!!! :

[MooCowMo · 1/10 · 28 October 1999]

Yes, Arch Hall Jr.("Eegah")is back, with dad in tow, in yet another unbelievably bad, cheesy, horrifying low-budget cowflop. This time, the Halls have teamed up with Ray Dennis Steckler ("Rat Fink A Boo Boo", "Incredibly Strange Creatures yada yada yada")for an "insider's look" at the sleazy side of the music industry. Arch Hall, Jr. plays Bud Eagle, the Oakie from Miskokie, fresh off the bus with nothing but $.15 and his puffy, livid ugliness. At a coffee shop he meets Vicky, an equally vacuous puffy-faced blonde, who might have passed as his sister, and they immediately hit it off. Vicky is a dancer (sort of...), and gets Bud on the local Teenage Hepcat Show. Bud trips over a wire, sings an awful, falsetto song, does an odd little shuffling dance, and immediately becomes the object of mass teen adoration. I mean, in less than 5 minutes! Naturally, the recording industry is interested, and so Mike McCauley (Arch Hall, Sr., also "Eegah"), an evil, deceitful manager, signs him up. It's not long before dumb, innocent Bud is rapaciously exploited by everyone with 1/2 a brain cell in their head, which is basically everyone other than Bud. Wonderfully horrible scenes uncoil before your very eyes. Bud performs "Vicky", the odious, terrible song from "Eegah", while our favorite snugglebunny Carolyn Brandt (Rat Fink A Boo Boo) performs a bizarre dance with a scarf. 3 unbelievably idiotic crooks decide to kidnap Bud, one of which speaks in appallingly obvious malapropisms that are as subtle as a dead trout("Oh, we'll have the elephant of surprise with that"). Bud finally learns his lesson, out-foxes his manipulative manager, and everyone lives happily ever after. But this moovie... The actors cowstantly touch and stroke each other in the moost disturbing manner. And if ya didn't quite get the point with "Eegah", "Wild Guitar" proves that Arch Hall Jr. hasn't got the talent of the average 10 year-old. And his horrible, puffy face constantly leers beneath his grotesquely bleached pompadore hairdew. Ray Dennis Steckler himself plays Steak (as Cash Flagg), the criminally bland and shady "assistant" to McCauley. All the usual "Steckler" touches are here: the weird musical scenes, the ridiculously staged fights, the wild beach-bash finale, the useless, stupid criminals, the odd little visual bits and sounds that happen for no apparent reason, the jaw-dropping, mind-numbing dialogue. Even the fake-looking desiccated mummies from "Eegah" show up in the crooks' shack. What it all boils down to is an instant cheese classic; it should be shown in every house & vcr in America, in a triple feature with "Eegah" and "Rat Fink A Boo Boo". The MooCow says, if yer a trash moovie hound, then "Wild Guitar" is definitely up your dark, scary alley!!

:

Archie & Friends

[sol-kay · 4/10 · 5 November 2005]

Formula plot about a small time boy Bud Eagle, Arch Hall Jr, from North Dakota coming to Hollywood looking to make it big in the world of Rock & Roll music.

Meeting cute Vicki Wills,Nancy Czar, who gives the starving and broke Bud her lunch to eat at a local diner she tells the naive and shy out of towner that's she to appear at the local amateur hour TV show that evening and invites him to come along.

Just like in the movies, damn I keep forgetting this is a movie, the person thats to appear with Vickie on the stage gets stage fright and runs out of the theater and now the shows MC Hal Kenton, Paul Voorhees, is forced to put the startled North Dakotan with Vickie on stage! Bud ends up knocking the crowd dead with his wild guitar and high-pitched voice to becomes an instant Rock & Roll success and teenage idol.

The movie "Wild Guitar" has it's moments with a bunch of Bowery Boys wannabes, that's really aiming high in Hollywood, who kidnap Bud only having him turn the tables on them and then using the three jerks Weasel Stupid & Brains,Bill Llyod Jonathon Krle & Mike Trelbor, to shake down his manager Mike McCauley,Arch Hall Sr, for $15,000.00. The kidnappers end up losing the ransom money when Mike's top henchman Stake, Ray Dennis, breaks into their hideout. After what has to be one of the most insane and crazy slug-feasts this side of the World Wresteling Federation the three take off after dropping Stake but forgetting to take the ransom money with them!

Bud who fell in love with Vickie has the devious and scheming Mike split them up because he felt that she would hurt his career by making him not available, as a boyfriend or husband, to the millions of frenzied young girls and teeny-boppers, calling themselves Eagle Feathers, all over the USA in Bud Eagel fan clubs who are just wild and crazy about him.

Hiding out in Madge's,Marie Denn, diner as a dishwasher Bud gets in touch with his All-American football hero brother Ted, Al Scott, back in North Dakota for help and the two set up his manager Mike McCauley together with his #1 henchman Stake with of all things a gift that Mike gave him to improve his music and singing.

Even though the movie "Wild Guitar" is both corny and cheaply made it did show how things in the music business is done in regards to taking an up and coming Rock & Roll singer, who's not too sharp when it comes to his or her financial future, and how after he's no longer popular and not putting cash in the till he's then drop like a case of the Black Plague.

There's a very effective scene in the film where Buds, after he was held captive and almost raped by Mike's sexy dancer Daisy/Virginia Broderick,having a heart to heart talk with another Mike McCauley discovery former Rock & Roll phenomenon Don Proctor, Robert Crumb, with him telling Bud what he's in store for with a sleazy crumb like his former boss McCauley as his manager.

One of those really bad movies that is Fun to watch.

[livinginidaville · 3/10 · 15 October 2005]

I never heard of this film till I bought it for a buck. The title has nothing to do with the film plot. More Frankie Avolon than Elvis, Arch looks like a hard nose punk but has a heart of gold. Songs don't fit, waded through the whole film looking for some connection to the title, no such luck. "Bud" (Arch) strapped on a guitar but played like Elvis did in his films ( He didn't). Seen this type of film hundreds of times. This movie is so bad, but so fun to watch. I needed relief from the comedy relief. Might have been a much better film without it. If you got some time to waste and can find the film on DVD for a buck like I did, watch it! Hey Arch I'm a FAN!

Low-budget cult item with gleaming cinematography...

[moonspinner55 · 5/10 · 25 November 2006]

Incredible-looking drive-in item with Arch Hall Jr. playing a singer-songwriter-guitarist from South Dakota who comes to Hollywood hoping for his show business break. The story is naïve, the continuity and writing have problems, a sub-plot involving three stooges who hang out at a coffee shop is dire, and yet this generally unpolished picture really does look fantastic. The assured black-and-white cinematography is by Joseph C. Mascelli, who even gets a wistful teenage moment out of an ice-skating sequence wherein the rink's spotlights are shining directly into the camera lens. Arch Hall Jr.'s notorious father co-wrote the screenplay under a pseudonym, but Arch Sr. doesn't have a good ear for give-and-take dialogue, nor does the sluggish direction by Ray Dennis Steckler (a.k.a. Cash Flagg) ease up on the awkward hesitations. However, one can almost believe a kid like Arch Jr. could be a star; with his bottle-blonde pompadour and dimply semi-smile, he looks like Michael J. Pollard's kid brother. Arch has a not-bad singing style patterned after the teen idols of the day (such as Ricky Nelson) and he downplays the goofy general handling for a winning effect. The plot attempts to give the woeful a-star-is-born formula a modern spin--and it surprises by being not half-bad, especially for fans of 1960s underground cinema. ** from ****

Ms Vickie can skate but Archie can't sing

[huemannus · 3/10 · 11 February 2007]

Tonight's feature: Wild Guitar, starring Arch Hall Jr. and Ms. Vicky.

Oh, where to begin? Just say Arch Hall Jr. and you have a good start. He has it all. The pushed in, pug nosed, beady eyed face that only a mother could love. The massive, "wish a mad barber would chop it off" type of hair that he can't stop running his comb through endlessly.

Its not hard for Arch to play the dumb hick from sticksville USA. He's a natural. Can anyone do the chicken neck, wide beady-eyed look better than Arch? Can anyone claim to be any more wooden or sing and deliver lines with more obvious raw amateurism? No need to answer.

The crowd that went wild at his fortuitous singing debut must have been paid off or they were listening to something off stage that we didn't see. Aside from the absorbing plot points, of which there were many, the highlight of the film has to be the hip three stooges act that abducts Arch for a ransom. I was on my knees begging for relief by the time they finished their negotiations with Arch over how much money to demand.

No wait, the real highlight was Arch's touching, molasses slow, romantic ballad to his girlfriend, Vicky. Dogs two blocks away howled for hours after he hit those yodeling off pitch high note croons.

Wild guitar? Arch! Pick it up or Ms. Vicky is going to dump you and go back to ice skating.

The more I think about it, this is the best movie ever.

[rooprect · 7/10 · 2 February 2010]

Well OK, maybe not the best movie ever, but definitely the best rock 'n' roll movie ever. Or at least the best r'n'r movie of 1962. How about the best 1962 r'n'r movie that has an Olympic figure skating scene? Settled.

This is one of those films that's so bad it wraps around the scale back to the good side. IMDb voters must have a collective colon blockage if they can't appreciate the magnificence of this picture. It truly breaks all the laws (and I suspect deliberately so, knowing the bizarre, tongue in cheek humour of director/co-star Steckler).

First you have an anti-antihero: a punk who comes motoring into town looking like Brando on a bad hair day, but as it turns out, he's about as square as a boyscout, polite as a busboy and has babyface cheeks you just want to pinch and say oogyboogyboo.

Next you have a bunch of felonious thugs who are so endearing & hilarious you want to make them the best man at your wedding. We have a goofy chick who suddenly breaks into a world class ice skating routine. And finally--here's the clincher--totally out of left field we have director Steckler himself playing the role of "Steak", a psychopathic headcase who would make Jeffrey Dahmer turn in his meat cleaver. This movie has it all!!

The story itself gives us a hyper-cynical satire of the filthy entertainment industry, but it's packaged in a neat, wholesome, early-Elvis type show. Still, there are indeed some moments of dark lucidity, especially in a particular scene where a drunk Willem Dafoe-looking fellow gives us a powerful prophecy of how all rock sensations die in LA. Throughout the film, we get camera shots from bizarre angles & creepy closeups, again giving us the impression of a bad acid trip. But somehow the film manages to stay squarely in the realm of campy fun.

So I can't make up my mind... Is this film so bad that it's good? Or is it so groundbreakingly good that it's bad? In either case you need to check it out. If nothing else, you will remember it forever.

Another Arch Hall Epic!

[shepardjessica-1 · 5/10 · 22 November 2004]

I've seen 4 of the 6 Arch Hall films and this one's a hoot! Consistently bad dialogue and performances with music that's blander than the characters.

I love these films though, but cannot give higher than a 5 rating of IMDb. THE SADIST is the best I've seen, although this one has all the Arch Hall trademarks.

I don't quite get the three goofy guys playing cards, but the cinematography is great with some interesting camera angles. Arch's dad (a major role in this one) had a wonderful idea - bankrolling his son's acting career with these exploitation flicks, and I wonder if Jr. enjoyed making them or not. The lead blonde chick should stick to ice-skating.

A Classic, for some

[Vornoff-3 · 8/10 · 16 June 2003]

At times the marriage between the Arch Halls and Ray Dennis Steckler seems to have been a bit rocky. This movie may rank as Ray's most `coherent,' (or least experimental) because of the heavy hand of Arch Sr. as producer, or because of Steckler's insecurity, or Arch Jr.'s need for more guidance, or some combination of all three. Arch Jr.'s frustration shows through in certain scenes, such as the one in which he plays opposite the criminal `lemon grove kids' and seems to be asking `what, am I supposed to direct this thing myself?' It's too bad, because everyone here does some of their best work, but never in unison with what anyone else is doing.

Arch Jr. never wanted to be in show biz – that was his dad's idea. It turned out that, while he didn't sing or write music especially well, he actually did have a talent for acting (as proven in `the Sadist'), but the roles his dad lined up for him were a poor school for a young actor. `Wild Guitar' may have been one of his best opportunities – he plays a young kid who winds up manipulated into being a star by a devious producer played by: his dad! One of the reasons this movie manages to ring true in spite of its campiness and naivete (and typical Steckler ad-libbing) is because Arch Jr. as Bud is truly playing himself. The fact that the world in which he moves is bizarre and unreal just makes the real part of the story – Arch himself – seem that much more compelling.

Ray Dennis Steckler, who later went on to direct such classics of surrealism as `Rat Fink a Boo Boo' and `The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Died and Became Mixed-Up Zombies' was obviously kept on a leash for this film, but not so much that he didn't manage to sap it of the kind of drive-in sensibility that characterized `Eegah' and `The Choppers.' He plays a typically Steckleresque character in `Steak:' a psychopathic thug employed by the villainous producer who only eats Steak. Steckler sneers so much in this film his face must've hurt at the end of each shooting day. I'm still not sure whether Harvey Keitel's character in `Mean Streets' was consciously imitating him with the `match trick' or not, but Steckler did it first. Other Steckler influences include the above-mentioned criminals, whose grasp of English and crime are equally weak, the extended Carolyn Brandt dance-sequence and the leggy `Daisy,' brought in by Steak to help Bud forget his girl troubles.

Less easy to place is the responsibility for the quite convincingly sweet (and noticeably cross-eyed) love-interest, Vickie Wills, portrayed by the obscure Nancy Czar. Nancy must have been an Olympic skater, because the main `love scene' of the movie is an extended skating sequence, with Arch Jr. hobbling helplessly along as Nancy literally skates circles around him. Nancy never worked for Steckler again, but was in the painful `What's Up Front' with Arch Sr., so may have been a friend of the Halls. I think the young couple manages more chemistry than we see in any other Arch Hall film, with the possible exception of the demented `Sadist' and his gal.

`Wild Guitar' is a must-see for fans of classic low-budget `naïve cinema.' While it never plumbs the incoherent depths of Steckler's later work, nor soars to the heights of the best films of the period, it manages to hold interest, to entertain, and at times to surprise with its fresh and honest approach to filmmaking. It manages to flip back and forth from startlingly `bad' to rather `good' and doesn't make the mistake of laughing at its audience when it should be laughing at itself. On the whole, a very enjoyable film – for the right people.

More like `Less-than-Tame Guitar'

[InzyWimzy · 7/10 · 19 March 2004]

This fun filled romp about overnight sensation Bud Eagle, played not too well by Arch Hall Jr, is another contribution from Fairway International. The movie tries to be a musical comedy; I repeat "tries". Steak, played by Ray Dennis Steckler, does his role so serious that his loathsome presence made him the most interesting to watch. Mr. McCauley....I mean Mike, plays the unscrupulous typical agent. Ironically, this was probably an attempt to launch Arch Hall Jr's music/movie career by his dad, but it really didn't pan out as planned. Ah, Arch's song "Vickie" is here and makes more sense as opposed to being in Eegah where Arch's gal is named Roxie. Was anyone else holding their lunch down in the sappy rink scene. Too much Arch Hall face there! There are 3 Stooges wannabes and I cringe at every scene on how phonetic and unfeeling their delivery is. Have you ever seen a holdup with a branch? You will. I really wanted Steak to pistol whip these dolts.

Arch Hall Jr goes to town lip-synching at least 4 numbers here. There's "Twist Fever" where Arch embarrasses himself with in that white suit and some song with the words "I'm gonna be a big boy" which had me laughing with those kooky camera angles and the band and gals trying to pretend to be interested (watch the girl singing silently to the song – so FUNNY!). And why did this song make me start singing "You keep on knocking but you can't come in"? More fun with Vickie's obsession over Bud and her glassy eyed, maniacal, stalker-like stare. When she watches Bud from home in her more than formal dress, notice her completely different outfit during her running scene. I guess the living room attire wasn't good enough for him. Don't miss the exciting fight climax which involves an empty truck which looks similar to the PDS truck from "The Choppers"! Also, those really lame mummies from "Eegah" show up for no apparent reason in a run down shack. All in all, a typical Halls production, but it's a hoot to watch.

Very bad, but a few redeeming qualities

[bill_golden · 3/10 · 12 March 2013]

Of course this is a very bad movie by most conventional standards, but it did have a couple of redeeming qualities. First, the basic storyline, while a bit convoluted, does contain a kernel of authenticity: many artists of that era were blatantly ripped off by crooked managers, producers, promoters, record companies, etc. The scene in the ice skating rink I thought was surprisingly effective, in fact it almost didn't fit. And the closing shot of the teens doing the twist on the beach brought back memories of that era, since I was a kid growing up in Southern California at the time, and yes, people of all ages did the twist.

The Wild, Wild Guitar of Arch Hall, jr

[zmaturin · 7 February 2002]

This was the historic collaboration between Arch Hall, Sr, who wrote the script, and first-time director Ray Dennis Steckler. It's not on the level of Steckler's future bizarre works, but still has enough strange artistic choices to keep Stecklerites interested.

Lunk-headed Bud Eagle (Eegah's scrunchy-faced teen dream Arch Hall, Jr), spastically rides his motorcycle into Hollywood to become a star and before the night is over he's stumbled onto a variety show, played his guitar, and gotten tons of offers to cut records, be on TV, and sleep with comely starlets. Unfortunately, he gets signed by crooked agent Mike McCauley (played by Arch Senior) and his evil henchmen Steak (Steckler) who sets Bud up in the house from `Eegah', the one with the oven in the living room. They also give him a new guitar to replace his crummy one, but I'm not sure which guitar is the titular wild one. Mike goes about getting Bud some gigs: `Bud Eagle? For five hundred dollars? You're talking- you're crazy! Five THOUSAND is more like it! He's the hottest thing in the country!'

The weird thing is, Mike and Steak insist on doing shady business deals to make Bud a star, like creating fake teenage fan clubs and trying to start an `Eagle feather' fad. But what the hell? They're doing all these under-handed things to make money, but they don't have too. I mean, Bud got all those offers, right? So why don't they just take the offers and make money? They also constantly try to sabotage Arch's relationship with weird-faced diner-denizen Vicki. Bud's response it to squeeze out the love ode `Vicki' as heard in `Eegah'. While he sings, Steckler's wife Carolyn Brandt `dances' around the stage.

Steckler's next movie was his `Citizen Kane', `The Incredibly Strange Creatures who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb', while The Halls continued their downward spiral, with Hall, Sr, insisting his son was star material in flicks like `The Sadist', `The Nasty Rabbit', and `Deadwood ‘76'.

This was featured on `Teenage Theatre', a video series produced by Johnny Legend (who sings the Teenage Theatre song) and hosted by antediluvian `teen' Mamie Van Doren, who more recently frightened movie goers in `Slackers'.

Contractual Arrangements

[bkoganbing · 1/10 · 29 April 2012]

The Hall Family who gave us Eegah the missing link which combined bad rock and roll with bad science fiction decided to stick to just bad rock and roll in Wild Guitar. This was another attempt by the senior Hall to make junior a star. These two remind me of Charles Foster Kane trying to make Susan Alexander an opera star.

Arch Hall, Jr. with a blond pompadour that would not be seen again on the screen until the German film Gossen or with Brad Pitt in Johnny Suede gets a big break as a last minute substitute for another act on a television variety show. As a result Hall, Sr. who plays a record company producer signs Junior to a long term record contract which gives him a comfortable existence, but all of his money is tied up with Sr. Junior is living on an allowance, nice, but not enough to maintain living as a popstar should.

Added to that is Ray Dennis Steckler who also directed this monstrosity playing a psychotic enforcer for senior. All in all not a good situation.

I'm hard pressed to find anything to praise here. The sets were cheap, the directing uninspired and Steckler to his defense was dealing with an incredibly mind blowingly bad cast. This one stunk up the drive-ins in the early Sixties and offered absolutely no distraction to those who came to the theater with something else in mind.

20 Things I learned from "Wild Guitar".

[Meven_Stoffat · 1/10 · 8 August 2010]

1. Girls in the 60s went for guys with incredibly bad hair.

2. Guys in the 60s went for women who looked 20 years older than them.

3. Movies can be about rockstars trying to make it big and have but only TWO performances of the protagonist's songs.

4. Managers don't sign musicians, instead they "handle" them.

5. The best way to perform a love ballad about your loved one on live TV is to be on a weird looking platform and have some stripper dancing around in the background.

6. And speaking of the aforementioned love ballad, the best way of writing a song about your loved one is to repeat that person's name for half the song.

7. TV studio security sucked back in the 60s (how the protagonist's girlfriend ran into the studio at 10 PM at night... WTF???) 8. No rockstar movie is complete without a hit-man subplot.

9. Guys will suddenly start skating good when a girl shows off how good she is.

10. You can run away from a groupie and somehow strangely end up back in the same room she first started creeping you out in.

11. No love story is complete without the girl walking in on a guy being kissed by another girl.

12. The softest kidnappers EVER go for the musician.

13. Musicians apparently WANT to be kidnapped (Stockholm Syndrome much?) 14. The best excuse for #11 is that it was a publicity stunt...

15. ...and the excuse in #14 totally works on a girl.

16. Managers act like it's the end of the world when you tell them you're firing them.

17. Telling the manager you're firing them will result in a fight scene that goes on for WAY too long.

18. Musicians can fight. Good.

19. No musician movie is complete without a music video!!! 20. Thankfully there will NEVER be a rockstar movie like this one again!

A bad.good classic

[preppy-3 · 1/10 · 4 December 2006]

Young, naive Bud Eagle (Arch Hall Jr.) travels to Hollywood to find fame and fortune. He meets sweet, innocent Vicki (Nancy Czar) who immediately gets him on a TV show. He becomes a rock star overnight and unscrupulous agent William Walters (Arch Hall Snr.) signs him up. BUT he is using him, giving him no money. making him drop Vicki and Eagle discovers that life in lonely at the top. You can probably figure the story out from there.

Terrible by the numbers story offers no surprises. The dialogue is awful, the acting dreadful and the direction is just pathetic. Hall's singing isn't bad, but the songs themselves are mediocre and the way the singing parts are shot are hysterically funny. Plot holes galore in this one--at one point Vicki invites Bud to a skating rink where there's no one else but them---yet a spotlight follows her along when she's skating! A sequence with three idiots (who make the Three Stooges look restrained) "kidnapping" Bud is SO bad my jaw dropped! This movie is so badly made on EVERY level it's absolutely fascinating to watch. I actually got impressed watching it--it fails so completely on every level! The ending especially had me in hysterics. Not a good film by any means but worth watching. A camp classic!

Mesmerizing. But why?

[filepolicia · 2/10 · 23 September 2010]

Maybe it was my insomnia. Or my Chihuahua's. Whatever the cause, neither of us could tear away from Wild Guitar recently aired on TMC. For the first half-hour I just sat slack-jawed not only that this movie was being telecast, but that it ever got made or saved. Then, when I regained control of my thought processes, I knew I should stop watching, but it was too late. It must be what crack addicts experience: You know it's rotting your brain, and you just want more. In addition to this addictive quality, if you still miss the raw sexuality and sheer athleticism of Peggy Fleming, as I do, there's a not-to-be-missed scene that could have been shot in Grenoble, albeit six years later. I guess Wild Guitar was just ahead of its time, on the ice anyway. I gave the movie a 2 out of 10, but my scoring belies my action. I watched it through to the final credits.

This movie is being recycled

[zeke2677 · 3/10 · 26 February 2005]

I heard an interview with Arch Hall Jr. on WFMU.ORG, you can listen to the archive for 2.26.05 for the 6 P.M. show. According to the interview some aspiring filmmaker from Flordia, Mark Terry, is making a movie that that will utilize clips from WIld Guitar as well as the soundtrack. Will we ever see this movie? Probably not, but the concept seems interesting. The interview is great. They play clips of radio spots, the movies, and old interviews. I never heard of Arch Hall Jr. or Sr. but now i'm practically an expert on the subject. Arch Hall's music isn't half bad and he'll be doing a concert in New Orleans in the next few months. WFMU is a great station, they've been playing Arch Hall Jr. for years but i didn't know the back story until now.

Not bad...compared to "Eegah!"

[jimtinder · 6/10 · 12 May 2000]

Okay, I'll admit it...I've actually got kind of a soft spot for "Wild Guitar." It comes off as more polished and sincere than Mr. Hall's predecessor film. And there is a certain amount of charm to the film, courtesy of Miss Nancy Czar. She's no dancer, but her performance is natural. Incidentally, Miss Czar was in real life a figure skater. In the early 60s she supposedly missed a flight that killed others on the USA skating team. Her reward for failing to make the flight? The leading lady role in "Wild Guitar!"

Filmed after "Eegah!", "Wild Guitar" is no sequel. And that's a good thing. Budgeted at $15K, "Eegah!" couldn't help but make money, and so was spawned "Wild Guitar" - at an incredible $30,000 budget!

Despite the small budget, the quality of the film is much better than "Eegah!" In "Wild Guitar," they could afford to record voices live, not dubbed as in "Eegah!" They saved cash by filming in black and white - money that was better spent in actually coming up with halfway decent sets.

Okay. So "Wild Guitar" isn't a classic. But it's probably the best of the Arch Hall films. It even boasts an appearance by the woman who accused Greg Brady of smoking in that classic "Brady Bunch" episode! Here, in "Wild Guitar," she plays a short order cook. It's also decently directed by Mr. Ray Dennis Steckler.

But is that REALLY Robert Crumb, the underground cartoonist, as Don Proctor???

Why was this movie made?

[[e-mail] · 1/10 · 3 November 2005]

More Arch Hall Jr. than you can handle. This has to be Arch Jr's worst movie ever (that's saying a lot after Eegah). Arch Jr plays a kid from Kansas or one of the Dakotas who comes to Hollywood to become a famous musician (that plot has been driven into the ground). He meets Vicky at a coffee shop who helps him out by getting him a spot on a variety show that she's dancing on (like this would really happen). Arch Jr is noticed by a producer/scumbag played by Arch Sr (again, the only way Arch Jr. could get work was because of his dad's "films"). Arch Sr. has an associate/bodyguard/goon named Steak (Ray D. Stenkler the director of this piece of crap) who is supposed to take care of Arch Jr. Needless to say, the whole plot is that Arch Sr. is trying to make the kid a big hit and bilk him for everything he's worth. Steak is supposed to keep Arch Jr. and Vicky apart (to protect the golden goose, I guess).

I don't know who ever found this to be entertaining, funny or even remotely good. Arch Jr. didn't have singing or acting talent. The plot, or lack there of, was so boilerplate that it's disgusting. Obviously, Arch Sr. just wanted to make a quick buck and have his kid get more acting experience.

Arch Hall Jr. is the most, Daddy-O!

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 30 June 2016]

Naïve hick rock musician Bud Eagle (a winningly sincere performance by Arch Hall Jr.) becomes an instant sensation after he makes a big splash on a TV talent show. Bud signs with slick high roller manager Mike McCauley (well played with oily aplomb by Arch Hall Sr.), who proves to be an evil, deceitful, and utterly unscrupulous greedy jerk.

Director Ray Dennis Steckler relates the entertaining story at a swift pace, maintains a likable lighthearted tone throughout, nicely captures the sheer joy, vibrancy, and pleasant innocence of the early 60's rock music scene right before the British Invasion happened, and delivers lots of groovy dancing and catchy'n'lively bebop rock tunes. The compact script by Hall Sr. and Bob Wehling offers a neat exploration of the more corrupt and phony aspects of show business. The game cast display plenty of energy and enthusiasm: Hall Jr. projects an engagingly goofy wide-eyed charm, Nancy Czar makes for quite a cute and appealing love interest as the sweet Vickie, Steckler has a ball as McCauley's sleazy thug lackey Steak, Marie Denn does well as friendly diner waitress Marge, Robert Crumb contributes a sturdy turn as washed-up has-been singer Don Proctor, and leggy brunette knockout Virginie Roderick vamps it up deliciously as slinky temptress Daisy. The sub-Bowery Boys antics of three bumbling kidnappers provides several belly laughs. Kudos are also in order for Joseph V. Mascelli's crisp black and white cinematography. A hugely enjoyable romp.

"Breathless" à l'americaine

[markwood272 · 6/10 · 10 March 2013]

"Wild Guitar" was the first film I have seen in the Ray Dennis Steckler oeuvre. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience thanks to TCM.

Arch Hall, Jr. plays a young musician whose career is managed by a character resembling Bob Marcucci or "Colonel" Tom Parker. The manager is played by Arch Hall, Sr., using the name William Watters. The elder Hall ran the production company that made "Wild Guitar", and he did in fact promote his son's career. The movie imitated life, generally, specifically – and strangely!

Nothing to add to all that has been said except–

The straight-from-the-can Cheez Whiz organ for the music textures the soundtrack in a wonderful 60's way. A pop culture time machine worthy of Proust!

And –

"Wild Guitar" got me thinking about a much praised French language work released two years earlier:

Both films offer takes on fame and celebrity in the early 1960's.

The male leads in both possess odd facial features and portray star-struck characters.

The acting is wooden, especially from the female leads.

The directors in each movie play parts.

The plots in both films feature absurd crimes.

Location shooting on city streets is used. Some shots look as if the cinematographer, equipped with a hand-held Arriflex, had been turned loose on Hollywood Boulevard or the Avenue des Champs-Elysees.

Some sequences are quite artistic. Example: the (improbable) night skating sequence in "Wild Guitar".

Editing in both is rough, the continuity laissez-faire.

Low-end production values predominate, so low that immediately after production the star of the European film believed the movie was so bad he thought it would never be released.

The credits display poverty row or no-name production companies' logos.

Each film still has a substantial following today, half a century later, and each is enjoyed retrospectively via cable and DVD, as well as at revival showings at theaters.

Both remain topics of film journal essays.

Are the cynics right? Is a movie's reputation mostly a matter of marketing, of packaging, of its distribution channels. . .?

Give the Halls French dialogue with English subtitles. Show their movie on the art house and festival circuit. Dub that foreign art film into English and peddle it to drive-ins and late night TV shows. Jean-Luc Godard might be recognized today only as a European precursor to Ray Steckler, with "Breathless" nothing more than the French "Wild Guitar"!

far better than I thought it'd be

[grnhair2001 · 2/10 · 16 August 2011]

yes, I only rated it a two, but I thought I'd want to rate it negative 5. I had no idea Ray Dennis Steckler had unpretentious competence in him as a director, but he does exhibit just that in this clichéd but not terribly offensive teen drive-in flick. Some okay supporting performances. The music and dancing aren't good, but they're miles beyond the junk on stage in Incredibly Strange...Zombies.

I hate to be cruel, but the girl love interest is one of the ugliest women I've seen a love-interest role. In real life, she may have been a beauty and a delightful human being, but the camera didn't like her. I suspect Arch would have done much better in real life.