THE BEATNIKS (1959) **

Don’t be fooled by the title cuz there isn’t a single damn beatnik in the whole damn movie!  Tony Travis, a young hoodlum gets discovered by a record producer while singing in front of a jukebox.  (He sounds more like Sinatra than Kerouac, although he is “on the road” in one scene).   He’s torn between a singing career and his loyal but out of control friends.  The crazy one, Moon (Peter Breck) likes to say, “I’m gonna moon you man!”  They cause trouble in a diner that leads to Moon killing the owner.  “I didn’t kill that fat barkeep!”  Breck’s out there performance is the only thing to recommend in this dated musical/drama.  Travis also sings a song called “Sideburns, Don’t Need Your Sympathy!”  Breck was also in The Crawling Hand.