Saturday, April 10, 2010

Late Night TV Movie: "The Fastest Guitar Alive"


I woke up early this morning....it happens occasionally. So, I made some coffee and zipped through the satellite TV schedule and found "The Fastest Guitar Alive" starring....are you ready for this? Roy Orbison. Yup, this was a western, set during the Civil War. Roy and his buddy and a group of girls are traveling through the Southwest with gold that they stole from a mint. They were trying to finance the Confederate Army. Roy played the part of a spy. His guitar was rigged to double as a gun. Actually, the movie was written for Elvis! Elvis turned down the project...and we all know how discriminating Elvis was in picking his movie scripts! "The Fastest Guitar Alive" was horrible, however it had some key elements that peaked my interest - Roy Orbison was the star of the movie! Hell, I never knew he made a movie. I never knew he could act...well, he couldn't, but with enough practice, like Elvis, he could have improved. The movie also had it's share of pretty girls, including Maggie Pierce. Maggie who? Maggie Pierce, she starred with Jerry Van Dyke on "My Mother The Car!" She was the "wife." Also, did you know that Jerry Van Dyke turned down Bob Denver's role on "Gilligan's Island?" Oui, he turned it down for the role on "My Mother The Car."

Finally, on "The Fastest Guitar Alive" there is a brief appearance by Sam The Sham. How can you hate this movie? I'm hoping that they start a satellite TV channel devoted to camp "B" movies of the 50's & 60's. I'd watch....and I'd never get any sleep!