SunnyHello Nice effects though.

WillSushyMedia This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Ketrivie It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

Taha Avalos The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Lechuguilla A youthful gang of punks includes one guy named Eddy (Tony Travis), who has singing talent and is discovered by a talent agent in a restaurant. Which makes his gang members jealous. As the gang tries to sway Eddy away from a singing career, he makes some mistakes in judgment. The result is an off-screen murder event wherein Eddy is a witness.This puts Eddy is something of a predicament. At one point, one of the gang members, played by Peter Breck, reminds Eddy: "You're in it (the murder) just as much as I am; we're all in it, together ... you're one of us ... you hip?" "The Beatniks" is mostly a character study of one juvenile delinquent's dilemma in being loyal to his gang vs. pursuing a promising singing career.The underlying premise is fine. But the script is below average with corny dialogue; too much talk; and the inclusion of Tony Travis' singing, which stops the plot flow. You get the feeling that the film is nothing but a singing vehicle for Travis.Some of the acting, especially from Peter Breck, is really hammy. Casting is poor in that most of the actors look like they're closer to the age of thirty. B&W lighting is acceptable, if conventional. Background music is nondescript jazz, which is the only element that remotely conveys a "beatnik" theme.The film's title is deceptive. Despite that, and other major problems, it's not a terrible movie, just not as good as comparable films from that era. Thankfully, the short runtime makes viewing less painful.

Eric Stevenson It's nice to understand what makes something truly dated. It's so easy to tell that this was made in the 1960's, heck even in exactly 1960. The film's main flaw is that the characters are themselves very unlikeable. There's this one guy who keeps imitating what other people say and it's apparently some lame attempt at comedy. The plot is just that this guy wants to be a singer. Oh, and some people get shot as well. It seems like this was a thing back then. You just had a bunch of boring stuff show up and then tie in some random violence. 90% of the characters in this were completely pointless.The biggest flaw is how unmemorable everything is. I can barely even remember any plot points or dialogue. I wish this had more than 1,000 votes. Then it could be featured on the IMDb Bottom 100. It's hard to pay attention to what's going on and everything is just so dull you don't care in the least. The pacing is very poorly done with pointless scenes stretched out. This is seriously one of the worst films ever made. 1/2

Dextrousleftie God, its awful. Yet in such an inept, cheesy, lame sort of way that I always end up laughing hysterically whenever I watch it. Moon is especially hilarious, with his drugged-up weirdness and schizophrenic behavior. Him screaming in that shrill voice: "I killed that fat barkeep!" Makes me laugh every time. The women are both mannish and homely as hell, the 40 yr old 'teen' is just pathetically amusing...and the music being sung IS very femmy and ridiculous, especially when the hood singing it is supposed to be a beatnik. Beatnik my booty...Eddy's just an idiot, who should have ditched his loser friends the moment he was offered a recording contract. The continuity errors are many in this film, including some terrible editing in several scenes and the appearance of the boom shadow on the wall in several others.

kilgore2345 This is my largest complaint; no Beatnik culture, no snapping fingers and performance poetry, marijuana, not even the stereotypical black clothes and sunglasses -- how can you get that part wrong? Instead the "Beatniks" are mostly your typical 50s squares and range to a geek-greaser (Mooney) and the lone woman in the group, think of a "Grease" Frenchy-Rizzo mix.Since, the majority of the plot of this movie revolves around Eddie's musical ability the audience gets plenty of solo performances. The music is fine for a low budget movie like "Beatniks", nothing you will remember past the end credits. Again, even when Eddie was a "Beatnik" he wasn't singing Beatnik music, more like Mel Torme-like crooning.Other glaring mistakes in this movie is the continuity (see the GOOFS section) and the character of Moon is just ridiculous, with a catch phrase that will live on forever (I'm gonna MOON ya'!). The Eddie character is a little annoying in his inconsistency -- is he a goon with a heart of gold or just a jerk? All in all this is a very, very bad movie.