THE
BEATNIKS (1959)
Directed by Paul Frees
Alpha DVD
Reviewed 05.24.04
Review by Joseph A. Ziemba
THE FILM
When you look forward to an obscure
film for a long time, always reading
about it, hyping it up in your head,
you’re almost always set up
for a letdown. I should know. With
that in mind, I’m happy to
report that Paul Frees’s sole
excursion into filmmaking (a break
from his immeasurable voice talents
on Rocky & Bullwinkle
and Beany & Cecil,
just to name a few) is a fantastic
slice of unknown goodness. After
a long wait, I wasn’t the
least bit disappointed, so let’s
hit Sunset circa 1959 and have at
it.
In the finest of exploitation traditions,
The Beatniks contains no
actual beatniks. Wouldja settle
for some scrappy punks instead?
Good. Eddie Crane and his pals are
a bunch of tough mugs, full of wise
cracks and criminal gusto. Donning
rubber skull masks, they rob the
local convenience store and return
to a neighborhood diner for some
gloating. While there, Eddie lip-syncs
a schmaltzy serenade to his gal,
Iris. Lucky for him, Harry Bayliss,
a big Hollywood agent, is on the
payphone. Harry sees stars and invites
Eddie to appear on a local Los Angeles
TV show...the next night! Boy, they
sure moved fast in the good ol’
days. Anyway, Eddie must soon decide
between his lifelong hood friends
and the neon allure of Beverly Hills.
Murder, authority-bashing, all night
parties, a few more Eddie musical
numbers, and a terrific downbeat
ending could only happen next.
Shot indifferently with mostly medium
set-ups, The Beatniks survives
on its quirky characters (over-the-top
“Moon” Mooney in particular)
and portraits of a Hollywood backdrop
long forgotten. The actors are likable,
sometimes hammy, and the industry
brass are portrayed as fatherly
good guys...a far cry from the usual
scumbags that lurk in stuff like
Wild Guitar and Blast-Off
Girls. Paul Frees’s
voice even shows up, dubbing a TV
announcer and a cop. All in all,
a crisp and cool night at Charlie’s
Diner...unless of course, you forget
your shiv.
AUDIO AND VIDEO
Plucked from a relative death in
the vaults (aside from the Mystery
Science Theater lashing), Alpha
gives The Beatniks quite
a nice DVD debut. Print and transfer-wise,
it’s by far one of the nicer
Alphas discs I’ve seen as
of late. The full frame print has
its share of scratches, slight emulsion
lines, and other film noise, but
the picture is crisp and filled
with contrast. On the downside,
there’s a brief video blip
at 21 minutes (but it’s no
biggie) and a couple of jump cuts
present. The mono sound is very
clear.
EXTRAS
Just an Alpha cover gallery and
chapter stops.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Cheap, fast, and tough -- just like
the crazy punks that inhabit the
picture. The Beatniks is
a great little obscurity, perfect
for midnight b-movie kix. If you’re
on the fence, don’t hesitate
in a pick-up. The price is certainly
right. |
Skullface stick-up
Big time
She loves ya
Mooney gets rudey
|
