| Wild Guitar Directed by Ray Dennis Steckler ( U.S.A �1962) Wild Guitar is a larger than life muckraking look at the world of pre-fabricated popular music from the director of The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed Up Zombies (1967). The one and only Arch Hall jr. plays the terminally na�ve Bud Eagle; a country kid who�s just ridden into Hollywood on his trusty (or should that be rusty?) motorcycle with a battered suitcase, an even more battered electric guitar, and around fifteen cents to his name. In retrospect, perhaps he shouldn�t have bought that fifty dollar bag of magic beans from that nice old man on the side of the freeway when he was passing through Nevada on his way to sunny California. Like many young men and women who make the life altering pilgrimage to Hollywood, young Bud has stars in his eyes, and room to let in his brain. After parking his bike, in a Tinseltown back alley, Bud Eagle giddily wanders down Hollywood blvd. He stops to admire the famous Mann�s Chinese Theatre, and is almost salivating as he gazes up at the Capital Records building. It�s hard to tell what the starry eyed youth is daydreaming about, but it�s a safe bet that it�s something along the lines of living the rock star life, and snorting cocaine from the breasts of submissive Capitol secretaries in the president�s plush penthouse office. But such dreams of success are a long way off. The downtrodden boy from Spearfish South Dakota slouches into a downtown Hollywood caf� for a bite to eat. The last of the big spenders buys a coffee and a donut with his fifteen cent kitty. A wannabe blonde Hollywood starlet named Vicky Wills is sitting beside him. She can tell that the shy country boy is about as well financed as an Enron shareholder. She offers him her untouched meal, telling the grateful Bud Eagle that she isn�t hungry. As the last real angel in the city of angel�s gets up to leave, she nearly trips over our hero�s sorry looking guitar case. �Say, are you a musician?� she asks admiringly. �Well, I wouldn�t go so far as to say that� Bud sighs. �What�s your edge? To get anywhere in showbusiness, you have to have a gimmick, or know somebody� the starlet informs her puzzled new friend. As far as Eagle�s concerned, he has that covered. �I�ve got a letter from the manager of the radio station at Spearfish. That�s where I used to play and sing� the soft in the head young hopeful gushes with a stupid grin. �Who�s the letter to?� Vicky asks, barely containing her laughter. �Nobody in particular� Bud concedes. �Do you wanna see it?�. �To whom it may concern? Forget about it. That isn�t gonna help� she advises him. Vicky also tells him that she�s been trying to make it in Tinseltown as a dancer for sometime to no avail. Bud feels crushed, and tells the Ginger Rogers wannabe that if someone as pretty as her can�t make it, then there�s no hope at all for him. After destroying the kid�s lifelong dream over coffee, Vicky feels somewhat guilty. She cheers Bud up by offering to take him along to a taping of the Hal Kinton Show. Hal is a little like Ed Sullivan, except for the fact that he has more neck and less charisma. After a scheduled performer falls ill (nearly filling his saxophone with vomit), Bud Eagle steps up to the plate. The wide eyed kid from South Dakota performs a wholesome musical number, and drives a studio audience full of easily excitable pre-pubescent schoolgirls wild. An unethical talent manager by the name of Mike McCauley (played by the producer of Wild Guitar Arch Hall senior) is eagerly watching backstage. He sees true shooting star potential in Bud Eagle. McCauley lives buy the mantra of �buy �em, make a buck, burn �em out, and toss �em on the nearest garbage pile. �That�s our boy� get him� he barks at his right hand goon Steak (played by Ray Dennis Steckler. Budding guerilla filmmakers take note: if you want to save money and dispense with those pre-Madonna antics of angst ridden thespians, play all of the major roles yourself). Mike takes Bud Eagle under his wing, and carefully moulds him into the �now� product. He�s swept up into the false world of fan clubs, and personal appearances at shopping malls as his first single rockets up the charts. His crafty manager sets him up in an up market apartment, outfits him with a new wardrobe, and a shiny new guitar. All the while, Mike is keeping his latest sensation broke via the magic of creative bookkeeping. Despite the fact that Bud Eagle is about as intelligent as a lobotomized Labrador, he�s able to see through at least part of Mike McCauley�s elaborate scam. He also isn�t enamoured by the fact that he has about as much artistic integrity as Justin Timberlake. He wants out of the whole deal. �Does everything have to be so phoney?� Eagle asks his manager one evening as he�s packing his bags to return to his old home town. He also tells Mike that he can�t just force people to like him with a barrage of hype. But the shrewd manager knows a lot more about showbiz than his na�ve prot�g�. �That�s exactly what you do. Life is a big game of follow the leader� Mike knowingly tells his young ward. Bud is caught in a contractual trap, and it�s going to take all of his seven brains cells to figure out how to escape the sleazy world of pre-fab music relatively unscathed. Arch Hall jr. is something of an exploitation phenomenon. The reluctant star was thrust into the limelight by his vicariously ambitious producer father, who had high hopes that young Arch would become the next Elvis� or at least the next Frankie Avalon. Although he never became a genuine mainstream success, he�s widely regarded by many as the James Dean of exploitation. The irony of playing a manufactured star in this film doesn�t appear to be lost on the lead actor. Despite a somewhat patchy acting career, the kid seemed to excel whenever he played a role that he could really relate to. The character is probably more like the actor himself than he�d care to admit. Arch Hall sr. is also basically playing an exaggerated version of himself. It�s a casting tactic that definitely works in favour of the movie. Wild Guitar may appear to be a very superficial film, yet cleverly lampoons both the music business, and the traditional Hollywood musical. After watching it, you�ll never look at an Elvis movie the same way again. Entertainment : 3 out of 4 Watchability : 4 out of 4 Overall : 3.5 out of 4 Reviewed by Blake |