Plot: What’s it about?
In Wild Guitar, a talented young musician learns the ropes of the music business, thanks to a crooked, swindling manager. Bud Eagle (Arch Hall, Jr.) ventures to Los Angeles with his guitar in his hand and some big dreams in his head, but little does he know that those dreams shall soon become a reality. Soon after he arrives, he winds up on a television show and wows the audience, gaining the attention of talent manager Mike McCauley (Arch Hall, Sr.) in the process. McCauley owns a small record label and sees a real find in Eagle, but he doesn’t want to help Eagle find success, he just wants to cash in on the youngster’s talents. Will Eagle ever wise up to the underhanded antics of McCauley and if so, will he still be able to retain his newfound fame? In The Choppers, a band of troubled youngsters ransack cars for valuable parts, which are then sold to the local salvage baron, Big Moose. At first, little evidence was located and police were baffled, but of late, the trail has started to form and the authorities continue to close in. But who are the Choppers and when the police do crack the case, will they find the kind of people they expect, or will they be shocked by the findings?
I’ve seen all of Something Weird’s releases and while some have been very strange indeed, perhaps none have been as odd as this one, a double feature of Arch Hall, Jr. pictures, if you can believe that. I mean, as if one film with Arch wasn’t enough, Something Weird graces us with a pair, what a value! Of course, this is bad news if you like good acting, but good news if you love bad acting and hilarious movies, because both Wild Guitar and The Choppers supply the latter in grand amounts. In Wild Guitar, Arch plays a rockin’ hipster who gets sucked into the dark side of the music business, with humorous results. As entertaining as that film is however, I think The Choppers is the real find here, as it supplies endless unintentional humor. In truth, just seeing Arch getting all the chicks is enough to make anyone laugh, since he looks like a plastic serial killer, nevermind his bubbly personality, mind you. But thanks to Hall’s priceless presence, both of these films move up from just bad to so bad they’re almost good, with an emphasis on almost, of course. Even so, fans of cult cinema and hilariously bad pictures should invest this release, if just to take one more step toward a complete Arch Hall, Jr. collection.
Video: How does it look?
Wild Guitar and The Choppers are both presented in full frame transfers, which seem to be acceptable in terms of aspect ratio. Both are black & white movies from the early sixties and look good, especially given the low profile nature of the films. I think Wild Guitar looks better, but both movies have solid source prints and accurate black levels, although The Choppers sometimes appears to be a little dark. Wild Guitar has a very clean print, but shows some shimmering at times, while The Choppers has a little more print wear, though it still looks a lot better than expected, to be sure. I commend Something Weird once again, as they’ve wrangled terrific looking prints of two older, cult level pictures.
Audio: How does it sound?
The included mono tracks won’t teach you how to swing like Daisy could, but they sound solid and have held up well over the years. No, these audio mixes don’t sound as clean & sharp as more recent tracks, but all things considered, the material is well represented and while flawed, the tracks are more than acceptable. The outta sight music in both films sounds stable and adds to the fun, while the various sound effects are thin, but these are older mono options, so that is to expected, I think. No real problems in terms of dialogue either, as vocals are clean and understandable throughout, leaving me to score these tracks well enough.
Supplements: What are the extras?
This disc includes theatrical trailers for both films, three bonus short films (Hot Car!, Dance Craze, and Twist Car), a selection of exploitation artwork, and of course, a slew of bonus teens gone bad trailers.
