The Beatniks
About The Beatniks
Eddy Crane leads a gang that knocks over small stores. After one job they meet Harry Bayliss, a music man whose car has broken down. Bayliss hears Eddy sing to a diner jukebox, puts him on television, and talks up a record and a show. Bob “Moon” Mooney will not let the gang go. Eddy splits from Mooney and from Iris, and the arrest ends the singing job. Tony Travis plays Eddy. Peter Breck plays Mooney. Karen Kadler plays Iris. Paul Frees wrote and directed.
Cast & crew
More about The Beatniks
Kenneth Herts produced it. It was shot in 1958 under the title Sideburns and Sympathy. IATSE campaigned against the picture because Herts used a rival union’s crew. He retitled it and opened it through Barjul. The Phoenix opening was 5 June 1959. Copyright is 25 May 1959, LU3154. Murray De Atley photographed it. Harold White edited. Stanley Wilson was music director. Songs are by Eddie Brandt and Paul Frees. Wikipedia times it at 77 minutes. The AFI Catalog lists 72 or 79. This record’s year is 1960.
Themes
Making
The union fight changed the title and the distributor. The songs stayed Frees and Brandt, and the lead stayed a robbery that turns into a TV spot.
Look
Murray De Atley shot the robberies, the diner, and the television turn in black and white.
Music
Eddie Brandt and Paul Frees wrote the songs. Stanley Wilson was music director. Westrex recorded the sound.
Preservation
Prints circulate. Copies are on the Internet Archive and Wikimedia Commons.
Notes
- Joyce Terry, Bob Wells, and Sam Edwards are billed. Frees and Martha Wentworth also appear.
- The diner belongs to Iris’s mother. The gang celebrates there after the robbery.
- Mystery Science Theater 3000 later ran the film.
- Herts made no other feature. He went back to television.
- A Commons file titles the picture 1959.
Scenes
- Bayliss hears Eddy sing in the diner and offers an audition.
- Eddy gets a television spot and is called an overnight sensation.
- The arrest ends the career he had just been promised.
Also available
- Internet Archive (the_beatniks)
- Wikimedia Commons (The Beatniks (1959) by Paul Frees.webm)
