MartinHafer 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.

desertangel1 I won't bother to summarize since there are many good summaries here... I just wanted to leave a post saying how much I appreciate this campy little black and white movie.I don't mind tossing a dollar here or there to see if a movie is any good. I'd never heard of Arch Hall or Wild Guitar, but I am a fan of this era and pop/rock music in general. I was really pleasantly surprised, even though it's in black and white. I've watched it twice in the one week that I've owned it. Thank You Dollar Tree! The Beatniks, flip side movie, totally sucked in comparison. The thing I like best is the fact that it is soooo period. It's just OLD and I LOVE IT!! We still have a drive in theater near where I live and I would be really happy if they played this movie there. Anyone who is a nostalgia buff needs to have this movie!

cutterccbaxter 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.

Poseidon-3 Yet another entry in the "young kid with a voice stumbles into overnight fame" genre, this low-budget flick entertains for all the wrong reasons. Hall is a virtually bankrupt (except for one dime and one nickel!) kid with a suitcase and a guitar who lands in downtown Los Angeles and has the good fortune to have a cup of coffee and a donut next to Czar, who's about to dance on a local TV show that evening. Contrivances lead up to Hall performing on the show and drawing the attention of Watters, a powerful and highly manipulative manager who takes over Hall's career and life instantaneously. After hitting it big, his fans run around with feathers stuck in their Bryl-creamed and Aqua-netted hair (his character's name is Bud Eagle.) Hall discovers the fame he sought, but finds that the cost is far higher than he'd anticipated, especially if he intends to maintain any integrity, pride or independence. Hall, sporting what simply has to be the very highest pompadour ever inflicted upon America during the 1960's, gives a wide-eyed performance full of naïveté and ineptitude. His little-boy speaking voice is at odds with his gnarled, severe face. He's actually rather endearing, but mostly because everyone else around him is so repellent. Watters (a pseudonym for Hall's father, Arch Hall Sr.) is appropriately demanding and controlling. Flagg (yet another pseudonym - actually the director Steckler) gives an understatedly menacing and jaded performance as Watters' henchman. Czar is a typical blonde bubble-head who looks like a poor man's Annette Funicello. She has several hilarious scenes including "dancing" on TV in a fringed dress, running from her home to the TV studio to see Hall and, most notably, performing what's close to an Olympic figure skating short program on a date with Hall to a vacant ice rink! (Note that, though the place is closed and the couple is alone, spotlights follow them all over the ice!) There are also three unbearable buffoons who hang out in the favored coffee shop and who attempt to kidnap Hall for ransom. The coffee shop is run by the rather severe-looking Denn, who acts as a sort of surrogate parent to Czar. One neat thing the film has going for it is it's opening sequence, which shows L.A. as it was in 1962. Shots of Capitol Records, Graumann's Chinese Theater (where hall steps into the footprints of Van Johnson, of all people!), Hollywood and Vine, The Pantages Theater, Dino's and other places are included. Other than that, and for the pleasure of poking fun at some pretty poor musical numbers (one taking place on a beach with a motorcycle and some chilly kids), there isn't a lot going for this film. It's cheap, trite, pat and idiotic, though it doesn't seem to be taking itself TOO seriously. Witness the neighbor who opens her front door only to have her unseen husband scream "Stella!", after which she refers to him as Stanley. The Kowalskis??