The Beatniks

No Beatniks appear in this film, the acting by the young leads is execrable, the song lyrics are both insane and badly lip-synched, and the plot is dumb. As others have commented, radio and voice actor Paul Frees assembled quite a nice cast of fellow radio and voice actors to play the "normal" people in this tale of troubled youth, but he neglected to cast credible actors as the over-the-hill "teens" who hang around engaging in delinquent acts of senseless violence. I was quite pleased to see radio and voice actor Stanley Farrar on screen, and, like other comment writers i wonder whose rather nice voice actually sang the lame songs that the character Eddie was inexpertly mouthing along to, but all in all, this one is a loser. Having read all the reviews here, some folks will no doubt seek it out for its sheer badness. To them i say, "Come back later and tell us if it was really worth it!"

This has to be one of my favorite MST3K episodes of all time. And a reason why Paul Frees has stuck to animation and cartoon voice overs, since this was his first and last live action feature film he has ever done.

Though the movie is suppose to be a serious musical/crime drama, I sure laughed my head off over it, especially with Joel and the bots there to save it. It deals with an Elvis clone named Eddy Crane whom hits the top when a music agent and a sexy blond woman discovers his so-called "talents". However, his so-called "beatnik" friends want him to come back to him and stop singing, especially a nutcase named Mooney, whoms immortal lines were "One word outta you and I am gonna moon ya!" "MOON, YOU!". That part right there cracks me up.

And another thing, why did Paul Frees decided to call this movie "Beatniks"? It is a gang of juvenile deliquents (perhaps special ed rejects?) whom like to get into trouble. What was Paul Frees on when doing this?

Oh well, at least Frees learned his lesson here, while there are some much worse so-called "talents" whom have not.

I watched this movie because of my interest in voice actor Paul Frees, who wrote and directed "The Beatniks." He also wrote the lyrics to all the songs in the picture, with music by Eddie Brandt (who had worked with Spike Jones). In the Frees biography, his ex-wife (who stars in it) warns readers NOT to bother watching it because it's AWFUL. She claims that Frees knew nothing about directing, and that the photography and sound were also terrible. And she was right: this movie is a stinker, loaded with clichés about teenage troublemakers and also the entertainment industry of the 50s. It never really getting off the ground, leaving in the "deep Frees."

One of the very worst of the "troubled teenager" genre so popular in the late '50s/early '60s. Tony Travis as Eddie Crane is a dull hero who seems to be wandering aimlessly through life (and this movie), his girlfriend is about as interesting as dishwater, and his beatnik friends, especially Peter Breck as the horribly over-the-top Moon, give new meaning to the word "stereotype". However, I urge everyone to see the Mystery Science Theater 3000 version of The Beatniks - it's hilarious.

You take your chances with the Digiview flicks at the Wal-Mart Dollar DVD kiosk. Every once in a while you find a small gem. Paul Frees' The Beatniks is not one of them.

This is a grade Z, bottom-of-the-drive-in-bill waste of celluloid that deservedly got a MST3000 treatment. How does stuff like this get made? You could call the distributor, but most everyone involved in The Beatniks is probably dead and Digiview just scoops up cinematic flotsam and jetsam and puts in cheap disks for your viewing amazement. The trouble is it's simply so bad, so utterly inept that no one dare get mad at it.

All one can do is--if one is so inclined to sit still for 70+ minutes--watch in slack-jawed amazement at cinematic awfulness.

C'mon . . . it's only a buck!