Wild Guitar
Encyclopedia
Wild Guitar is a 1962 musical
drama film
starring Arch Hall Jr.
, Arch Hall, Sr. (credited as William Watters), Ray Dennis Steckler
(credited as Cash Flagg), and Nancy Czar. The movie was directed by Ray Dennis Steckler and was produced by Arch Hall, Sr. The film was targeted towards the drive-in
market, and is generally regarded as a B-movie
, but has become infamous as part of a series of films made by Arch Hall, Sr. which starred his son, Arch Hall, Jr.
, 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.
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."
, who went on to #1 pop hits in the 1970s.
Note that the "Robert Crumb" who stars as Don Proctor in this movie is not the famed underground cartoonist who signed himself R. Crumb.
.
It was also featured in an episode of This Movie Sucks!
hosted by Ed the Sock
and Liana Kerzner.
Musical film
The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...
drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
starring Arch Hall Jr.
Arch Hall Jr.
Arch Hall, Jr. is an American actor, musician, aviator, and author.-Early career:Born in Van Nuys, California, Hall began his career as a teen actor and musician, appearing in a number of 1960s films that were all produced by his father, Arch Hall, Sr...
, Arch Hall, Sr. (credited as William Watters), Ray Dennis Steckler
Ray Dennis Steckler
Ray Dennis Steckler , also known by the pseudonym Cash Flagg, was an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor best known as the low-budget auteur of such cult films as The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies...
(credited as Cash Flagg), and Nancy Czar. The movie was directed by Ray Dennis Steckler and was produced by Arch Hall, Sr. The film was targeted towards the drive-in
Drive-in
A drive-in is a facility such as a bank, restaurant, or movie theater where one can literally drive in with an automobile for service. It is usually distinguished from a drive-through. At a drive-in restaurant, for example, customers park their vehicles and are usually served by staff who walk out...
market, and is generally regarded as a B-movie
B-movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....
, but has become infamous as part of a series of films made by Arch Hall, Sr. which starred his son, Arch Hall, Jr.
Plot
Bud Eagle (Arch Hall Jr.), a young singer-songwriterSinger-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
, 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
Gimmick
In marketing language, a gimmick is a unique or quirky special feature that makes something "stand out" from its contemporaries. However, the special feature is typically thought to be of little relevance or use. Thus, a gimmick is a special feature for the sake of having a special feature...
" and promises to give him the "inside dope" on the music industry. He attends her performance at a television variety show
Variety show
A variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling...
later that night. When the scheduled saxophonist is unable to perform, Bud steps in with a ballad
Ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...
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
Penthouse apartment
A penthouse apartment or penthouse is an apartment that is on one of the highest floors of an apartment building. Penthouses are typically differentiated from other apartments by luxury features.-History:...
, providing him with tailored suits, a Fender Jazzmaster
Fender Jazzmaster
The Fender Jazzmaster is an electric guitar designed as an upmarket sibling to the Fender Stratocaster. First introduced at the 1958 NAMM Show, it was initially marketed at jazz guitarists, but found favor among surf rock guitarists in the early 1960s...
, a mini tape recorder
Tape recorder
An audio tape recorder, tape deck, reel-to-reel tape deck, cassette deck or tape machine is an audio storage device that records and plays back sounds, including articulated voices, usually using magnetic tape, either wound on a reel or in a cassette, for storage...
, 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
Eegah
Eegah! is a 1962 horror film starring Arch Hall, Jr., Arch Hall, Sr., Marilyn Manning and Richard Kiel in the titular role....
) live on television, and Vickie sees the broadcast. She runs to the television studio where they joyfully reunite. They spend the night ice skating
Ice skating
Ice skating is moving on ice by using ice skates. It can be done for a variety of reasons, including leisure, traveling, and various sports. Ice skating occurs both on specially prepared indoor and outdoor tracks, as well as on naturally occurring bodies of frozen water, such as lakes and...
in Vickie's uncle's rink.
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
Crime
Crime is the breach of rules or laws for which some governing authority can ultimately prescribe a conviction...
, 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."
Cast
- Arch Hall, Jr. as Bud Eagle
- Arch Hall, Sr. as Mike McCauley (credited as William Watters)
- Nancy Czar as Vickie Wills
- Ray Dennis StecklerRay Dennis StecklerRay Dennis Steckler , also known by the pseudonym Cash Flagg, was an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor best known as the low-budget auteur of such cult films as The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies...
as Steak (credited as Cash Flagg) - Marie Denn as Marge
- Carolyn BrandtCarolyn BrandtCarolyn Brandt is an American actress and dancer. She was the wife of cult film director Ray Dennis Steckler and starred in many of his films, including The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!?, The Thrill Killers, and Rat Pfink a Boo Boo.-External links:*...
as Dancer on Ramp (Uncredited) - Virginia Broderick as Daisy
- Robert Crumb as Don Proctor
- Rick Dennis as Stage Manager
- Jonathan Karle as Kidnapper #3
- William Lloyd as Weasel
- Al Scott as Ted Eagle
- Mike Treibor as Brains (Kidnapper #1)
- Paul Voorhees as Hal Kenton
Production notes
The screenplay was written by Arch Hall, Sr. (under the name Nicholas Merriwether), Joe Thomas, and Bob Wehling, and the musical director was a high school friend of Arch Hall Jr., the young Alan O'DayAlan O'Day
Alan O'Day is an American singer-songwriter, best known for writing and singing "Undercover Angel," a song which was number 1 in 1977. He also wrote songs for several other notable performers, such as 1974's Helen Reddy number 1 hit "Angie Baby" and the Righteous Brothers' number 3 hit "Rock And...
, who went on to #1 pop hits in the 1970s.
Note that the "Robert Crumb" who stars as Don Proctor in this movie is not the famed underground cartoonist who signed himself R. Crumb.
In popular culture
Wild Guitar was later featured on an episode of Deadly CinemaDeadly Cinema
Deadly Cinema is a television show on NTTV, a Student television station at University of North Texas. The program aired for two seasons from 2003 to 2005.-Synopsis:...
.
It was also featured in an episode of This Movie Sucks!
This Movie Sucks!
This Movie Sucks! is a Canadian comedy television series hosted by Ed the Sock, premièring on May 28, 2010, two years after Ed's Night Party went off the air. The show is similar to another former Ed the Sock series, Ed's Nite In...
hosted by Ed the Sock
Ed the Sock
Ed the Sock is a puppet, created and voiced by Steven Kerzner, that became a Canadian television personality in the 1990s, best known for his appearances hosting programming on MuchMusic and his own talk show, Ed's Night Party, later renamed Ed & Red's Night Party...
and Liana Kerzner.