Wild Guitar

Plot synopsis:
Bud Eagle (Arch Hall Jr.), a young singer-songwriter, arrives in Hollywood on a motorcycle. At Marge's Koffee Kup Cafe, he meets Vickie (Nancy Czar), an aspiring dancer, who quizzes him about his "gimmick" and promises to give him the "inside dope" on the music industry. He attends her performance at a television variety show later that night. When the scheduled saxophonist is unable to perform, Bud steps in with a ballad that earns him a standing ovation.
Bud's performance also earns the notice of talent scout Mike McCauley (Arch Hall Sr.), who offers him a record deal. Bud accepts the McCauley's proposal. McCauley immediately installs Bud in a penthouse apartment, providing him with tailored suits, a Fender Jazzmaster, a mini tape recorder, and a new backing band ready to record his songs. Bud's music career takes off in spite of his mounting doubts about the unscrupulous McCauley, who pays high school students to promote his music at their schools. Bud attempts to leave McCauley more than once, but relents when McCauley reminds him of the money he's owed. Bud performs "Vickie" (also heard in the less contextually-appropriate Eegah) live on television, and Vickie sees the broadcast. She runs to the television studio where they joyfully reunite. They spend the night ice skating in Vickie's uncle's rink; Nancy Czar being a former figure skater
When Bud returns to his penthouse apartment, he is confronted by Don Proctor, McCauley's previous client. He warns Bud that McCauley is cheating him, and manipulating him. McCauley's henchman, Steak (Ray Dennis Steckler), arrives with a girl, Daisy, who begins to dance seductively, distracting Bud while Steak and Proctor go outside to fight. Steak throws Proctor down a staircase. As Daisy kisses Bud, Vickie walks in, and runs out again in tears. Bud chases after her but is kidnapped by a trio of comical bums from Marge's Koffee Kup Cafe.
Eager to take advantage of McCauley, Bud helps the kidnappers to plan the crime, encouraging them to ask for more ransom money. They try to share the money with him, but he refuses. Steak breaks into the kidnappers' hideout, the group scatters, and Bud goes into hiding. He takes a job as a dishwasher at Marge's Koffee Kup Cafe, where he and Vickie reconcile, but are quickly apprehended by McCauley and Steak, who threaten violence if Bud does not return to them.
After a climactic fist fight between Steak and Bud, Steak flees, and Bud demands that McCauley reform his dishonest business. McCauley refuses. Bud reveals that he has recorded the incriminating conversation using the mini tape recorder, and he threatens to make the recording public. McCauley relents, promising to manage Bud's career fairly from now on. The movie closes with scenes of Vickie and Bud dancing together on the beach as Bud sings "Twist Fever."

Tags: cult

Review:
At times the marriage between the Arch Halls and Ray Dennis Steckler seems to have been a bit rocky.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
This fun filled romp about overnight sensation Bud Eagle, played not too well by Arch Hall Jr, is another contribution from Fairway International.
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.
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!).
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.
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.
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'.
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.
Naturally, the recording industry is interested, and so Mike McCauley (Arch Hall, Sr., also "Eegah"), an evil, deceitful manager, signs him up.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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..
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.
But it's probably the best of the Arch Hall films.
Maybe Arch Hall Jr. and Ray Dennis Steckler's Best.
The aforementioned, strangely "attractive", top-heavy, Arch Hall Jr., whose legacy has endured because of an innocent appeal and a completely weird Personality, and Director Ray Dennis Steckler who persevered for Decades, churning out one mind-boggling Movie after another that were always God-Awful.
You see, after seeing this movie, I've just decided that Arch Hall, Jr. is my role model, and frankly I don't think that's a very healthy thing.The thing is that I've never been known for my looks and personality.
But Arch Hall, Jr. is as ugly as a canker sore, and has a personality (at least in this film) that grates like a table saw cutting through a nail.
"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.
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.
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.
I'd never heard of Arch Hall or Wild Guitar, but I am a fan of this era and pop/rock music in general.
wild guitar is one of my favorite steckler movies.
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.
"Star" Hall, Jr. was more or less induced into appearing in the film by his producer-father if b-movie legend is to be believed.
Yes, this is a bad movie classic, but at least not one of those big-budget prestige films that Hollywood used to turn out by the bucket-load that were supposed to impress you even as you slumbered along.
I say we stand the Oscar statuette on its head, and hand one out to Wild Guitar for Best Bad Movie of 1962.
The sequence going from Arch Hall, Jr. singing "Vicky" with Carolyn Brandt's totally unconnected dancing, to Nancy Czar's rushing through the streets, to the ice-skating scene, is one of the greatest bits of simultaneous camp and surrealism I've ever seen.
Here he's the perfect foil to ultra-innocent Arch Hall, Jr., mugging and sneering as the evil psycho henchman.Although this may be his best film as an actor, it's probably not his best as a director.
"Wild Guitar" stars Arch Hall, Junior and if you wondered what senior looks like, he's in the movie too.
Arch Hall, Senior, by the way, looks nothing like his blondined and peroxided son, Archibald Junior.
It is gobs of fun with amazing songs as performed by Junior, and just watching his pompadour that looks like cotton candy is worth the price of admission.
WFMU is a great station, they've been playing Arch Hall Jr. for years but i didn't know the back story until now..
Wild Guitar (1962)* 1/2 (out of 4) Bud Eagle (Arch Hall, Jr.) arrives in Hollywood with very little cash, a suitcase and his guitar.
WILD GUITAR is a fairly forgettable film except for cult movie fans who are going to watch it because of Hall, Jr. and the "story" behind his "career" and the movie is also noteworthy because it was the first film from cult director Ray Dennis Steckler.
Is WILD GUITAR a good movie?
Of course, I've always been fascinated by the career of Hall, Jr. and the fact that his father pretty much finances his movies to try and pass him off as an Elvis type actor-musician.
Yes, it's true this is probably the only way Hall, Jr. would have gotten lead roles but the history behind the films are still interesting.
Tonight's feature: Wild Guitar, starring Arch Hall Jr. and Ms. Vicky.Oh, where to begin?
Young, naive Bud Eagle (Arch Hall Jr.) travels to Hollywood to find fame and fortune.
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.
If The Beatniks wasn't bad enough, there's Wild Guitar on the disk's flip side, a very clear reason why generations of children were conceived at drive-in movies (because a movie like this is so awful, there's nothing else to do but hop in the back seat).There's simply no good reason for getting mad at Wild Guitar, with Z-Grade actors performing (who'd call it acting?) a story about the evils of the music industry.Why would you fuss?
"Bud" (Arch) strapped on a guitar but played like Elvis did in his films ( He didn't).
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!
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.
Arch Hall, Jr. did an okay job as the young guitar star.
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.
This shows that Steckler and the Halls would have been best suited to avoiding monster films--which were by far their worst outings.
Rookie director Ray Dennis Steckler's musical romance "Wild Guitar" chronicles the rags-to-riches rise of a naïve, young singer from South Dakota who suffers at the hands of producer Mike McCauley (Arch Hall, Sir.) who deceives him from the start.
Before he realizes it, Bud (Arch Hall, Jr. of "Eegah") buys into everything that the unscrupulous Mike tells him.
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.
"Wild Guitar" stars Arch Hall, Jr., a kind-of rockabilly Cabbage Patch Kid come to life, as a singer who hits Hollywood with nothing but a suitcase and a guitar.
All this on his very first day in Hollywood!Okay, so at this point we can see that reality is not a priority here, but "Wild Guitar" is a fun teen movie with some decent moments.
(whose stage name is William Watters) was the producer and co-star of "Eegah!," and "Wild Guitar," and the mastermind behind the low-budget film factory known as Fairway Studios.
Senior- who once had a promising acting career before he left Hollywood to tend the family business- had an idea about turning Arch into a teen idol with a record contract and a series of B-movies like this.
It didn't quite work out but the films they made are good silly fun, like this one.Nancy Czar as Vicki is unbelievably sweet and beautiful.
Afterwards Arch and Nancy walk through the late-night Hollywood streets, and although this is by no means Artistic Cinema, the scene does capture the innocence and joy of young love.Arch is no DeNiro himself, but he's fun and enjoyable enough as the naive singer snagged in the dirty world of the music industry, and this film might have been a lost drive-in classic if it weren't for one thing: the kidnapping sequence.