bill_golden Of course this is a very bad movie by most conventional standards, but it did have a couple of redeeming qualities. First, the basic storyline, while a bit convoluted, does contain a kernel of authenticity: many artists of that era were blatantly ripped off by crooked managers, producers, promoters, record companies, etc. The scene in the ice skating rink I thought was surprisingly effective, in fact it almost didn't fit. And the closing shot of the teens doing the twist on the beach brought back memories of that era, since I was a kid growing up in Southern California at the time, and yes, people of all ages did the twist.

zee yes, I only rated it a two, but I thought I'd want to rate it negative 5. I had no idea Ray Dennis Steckler had unpretentious competence in him as a director, but he does exhibit just that in this clichéd but not terribly offensive teen drive-in flick. Some okay supporting performances. The music and dancing aren't good, but they're miles beyond the junk on stage in Incredibly Strange...Zombies.I hate to be cruel, but the girl love interest is one of the ugliest women I've seen a love-interest role. In real life, she may have been a beauty and a delightful human being, but the camera didn't like her. I suspect Arch would have done much better in real life.

dougdoepke ( Of course, the 9 stars is a register on the Inspired Bad Movie scale, not to be confused with Just Plain Bad Movies.)The movie should be titled Wild Hair since Hall Jr.'s blond thatch shape-shifts faster than Pampas grass in a windstorm. Bad films like this are not made, instead they mutate somewhere in a Petrie dish to menace the world. We're in Ed Wood territory here, the land of inspired bad movie-making. Just when you think the acting, directing, and dialogue can not get worse, they do. This is what happens when a determined band of no-talents sets out to commit a movie and does. The story itself is not exactly from Shakespeare, nor even from the guy down the block. An innocent hick arrives in Hollywood to find True love, Show-Business success, and Real values. Pity poor Hall Jr. who resembles nothing so much as the Pillsbury doughboy. Stuck with a face fashioned by a wine press, it seems he was forced into show-business by an ambitious father who should have been jailed for child abuse. The lad strives manfully, but the genes are against him. His high point comes half-way through in a cavernous stage left over from a 30's horror film. Posing there as a teen-idol with what can only be described as a battleship pompadour, he warbles a top tune from hell, while flitting around somewhere beneath is one of those girls who acts like she''s celebrating her brand-name underwear. I guess she was supposed to add an artistic touch. Together, however, they're beyond surreal. I could go on, especially about the three mental cases whose comic relief makes the Bowery Boys look like brain surgeons, but you get the idea. Yes, this is a bad movie classic, but at least not one of those big-budget prestige films that Hollywood used to turn out by the bucket-load that were supposed to impress you even as you slumbered along. Those were truly bad movies, easily forgotten. But inspired awful movies like Guitar can never be forgotten. Hats off to Arch Hall Jr. for quitting the business at just the right time. Hats off too, to whoever decided to debunk the artificial world of teen idols. You can bet no studio of the time with its record company sub-division would have dared anything so revealing about its bread and butter. I say we stand the Oscar statuette on its head, and hand one out to Wild Guitar for Best Bad Movie of 1962. It may be 50 years too late, but somehow that seems fitting.

haildevilman Your typical 'wannabe rock star finds fame, gets his ethics tested, but finds his heart too' story.Arch Hall Jr. was very likable in the lead. Supposedly, he was a musician first and only made films because his father talked him into it. I think he's a retired cargo pilot in Colorado now.Arch Hall Sr. 's role as the manager was basically a sleazier version of himself.Steckler (aka Cash Flagg) as Steak was fun to watch too. Because he and Hall Jr. were supposed to fight in the end, and Hall Jr. was visibly larger, he played the Steak character as an evil sleaze too. This way no one felt sympathy for this little guy getting beat up by a big guy. R.D.S is a professional even if it's all low budget.Nancy Czar looked great too. She was also the lone survivor of that plane crash that killed most of a figure skating team a few years before.Classic 60's rock movie. It belongs in a time capsule.