Monday, November 26, 2012

WILD GUITAR / Fairway International Pictures - 1962

It's Musical Monday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. We gots a cool lil' flick produced by Fairway International, who also brought you EEGAH! and THE SADIST. Unfortunately, they also produced the ultimate stink bomb... DEADWOOD '76!

Eegah!! sent us over a musical smathering of tunes from the movie for our listening enjoyment, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button there by the lead curtain, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula! Here's our audio offering for... WILD GUITAR!

Arch Hall, Jr. plays Bud Eagle, a country boy who gets a break in Hollywood and signs a music contract with what else, Fairway Records, run by savy businessman Mike McCauley, played by Arch Hall, Sr.

Mike bribes Bud with a new guitar (Fender Jazzmaster) to get him to sign, Ray Dennis Steckler directs and plays Mike's creepy weirdo assistant, Steak!

Just like these shots, one of my favorite lines from fifties rock 'n' roll is... "Nobody likes a square record!"

Nancy Czar plays Bud's girlfriend, Vickie, which is also a classic love tune by Arch Hall and The Archers. Nancy was an Olympic ice skater and she totally shows off in one scene at the ice rink. She worked background on a few Elvis movies but quit acting in 1970 and became a coach to the South Korean figure skating team!

Mike wants to break up Bud and Vickie, so, he has Steak bring in a showgirl to seduce Bud!

Robert Crumb, not the comic artist, plays has-been alcoholic Fairway Records artist, Don Proctor. Steak don't like him hanging around Mike's place, drinking his booze and running his mouth, so, pushes him down some stairs!

Bud gets kidnapped by a small gang of losers for a ransom, but, they end up working with him to even things up with Mike, who's been cooking the books in his own favor!

Steak delivers the ransom to the specified location, a garbage can! Steak pretends to disappear but hides behind a hedge to find out who the kidnappers are... Duh!

There's a showdown at the end when Bud's older brother shows up. Steak swings away but is the one who gets decked! Everything works out and Mike decides to go legit when confronted with his options.

And, we'll stop here with a happy WHERE THE ACTION IS type ending!

7 comments:

  1. I've decided I'll watch anything with Arch Hall, Jr.

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  2. We totally agree with you RH, here at The Dungeon!

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  3. WoW!
    ANOTHER great synopsis of a totally ignored, yet underrated film!
    Can I come to your house sometime?

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  4. The guitar in the screencaps looks more a Fender Jazzmaster than a Stratocaster.

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  5. That's a Jazzmaster, not a Strat (and he's playing a Danelectro in the first scene).

    Other than that, great writeup!

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  6. P. - Hmmm, I thought the whammy bar looked in the wrong place... I'll correct the caption - thanks

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  7. Thank you also for your correction MDG... I'm a Tele guy myself.

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