The Beatniks: Paul Frees

I don't think Paul Frees actually knew what a beatnik was when he made The Beatniks. Now, I'm not a scholar on beatnik culture, but I'm pretty sure that they didn't spend their time robbing gas stations, killing diner owners, and getting into shoot-outs with the police. It seems to me that Paul Frees needed a gimmick for his new teen crime-spree movie, so he labeled his characters "beatniks," threw in some truly terrible faux-slang, and went about like it was business as usual. And so we have The Beatniks, a film with a tiny bit of interesting character drama that is unfortunately drowned in a rip-tide of schlocky performances and terrible film-making. It all starts when a young man with a golden voice named Eddy Crane is discovered by a music exec at a roadside diner. Eddy is offered a big-time music contract and the opportunity to be a big star! The only problem is that Eddy is the leader of a gang of "beatniks" who get their kicks robbing people. So Eddy's friends demand that they tag along and get famous as well. This problem is exacerbated when it is revealed that Eddy's friends are absolutely psychotic. When one of them commits a murder, he threatens to drag Eddy's name through the mud if he doesn't protect him. I'm actually surprised that Eddy's friend apparently hadn't killed before considering that fact that he looks and acts like Norman Bates crossed with Daffy Duck. Gibbering like a complete maniac didn't help him, either. But I digress. The Beatniks is so over-the-top that it borders on camp. Too bad that it's not entertaining like the kind of camp that's actually fun to watch.

4/10