The Beat Generation (1959)

A detective is assigned to track down and capture a crazed serial rapist.

Director:

Charles F. Haas

Writers:

Richard Matheson, Lewis Meltzer

Stars:

Steve Cochran, Mamie Van Doren, Ray Danton

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Steve Cochran	...	Detective Sgt. Dave Culloran
Mamie Van Doren	...	Georgia Altera
Ray Danton	...	Stanley Belmont aka Stan Hess
Fay Spain	...	Francee Culloran
Louis Armstrong	...	Louis Armstrong (as Louis Armstrong and His All-Stars)
Margaret Hayes	...	Joyce Greenfield (as Maggie Hayes)
Jackie Coogan	...	Jake Baron
James Mitchum	...	Art Jester (as Jim Mitchum)
Cathy Crosby	...	The Singer
Ray Anthony	...	Harry Altera
Dick Contino	...	Singing Beatnik
Irish McCalla	...	Marie Baron
Vampira	...	Poetess
Billy Daniels	...	Dr. Elcott
Max 'Slapsie Maxie' Rosenbloom	...	Wrestling Beatnik (as Maxie Rosenbloom)

Storyline

A detective is assigned to track down and capture a crazed serial rapist.

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Plot Keywords:

rapist | detective | poetry | husband wife relationship | new york city | 

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Taglines:

Behind the Weird "Way-Out" World of the Beatniks!

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 July 1959 (USA)

Also Known As:

This Rebel Age

Company Credits

Production Co:

Albert Zugsmith Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

"On the Road" author Jack Kerouac was disturbed that his friend, author John Clellon Holmes, managed to get his "Beat Generation" novel "Go" into print before his own was published ("Go", in which Kerouac is a main character, was published in 1952, while "On the Road" was not published until 1957). Kerouac was worried that Holmes was plagiarizing him, although Holmes was careful to credit Kerouac with creating the term "Beat" for their generation, and much of the material was common amongst them and other writers of their circle, such as Allen Ginsberg. Ironically, producer Albert Zugsmith outfoxed Kerouac by copyrighting the term "The Beat Generation", which he used as the title of this egregious exploitation film, which was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1959. A year later, M.G.M. released a film of Kerouac's novel "The Subterraneans", made by with top talent: It proved to be a major disappointment as it grossly misrepresented the scene (as well as Kerouac's novel). Ironically, "The Subterraneans" probably is the premier contemporary movie about the Beats, as so few "Beat" movies were made ("On the Road" has never been filmed), the phenomenon occurring during a time of strict screen censorship in the United States. By the time censorship was lifted in 1967, the Beats had been supplanted by the Hippies.

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Soundtracks

"The Beat Generation"
Written by Walton Farrar (as Tom Walton) and Walter Kent
Performed by Louis Armstrong and His All-Stars

User Reviews

One wild ride down the slick road of sleaze ....

Mamie Van Doren is deliciously "pneumatic" as always, a rougher version of Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield.This film is one of my favorite bad films

• and from me that's a compliment!

Juvenile delinquency films were Mamie's forte - check her out in Girls Town and High School Confidential - they have cool casts like this film, bad racy scripts, and Miss Van Doren herself "The Queen of Teen".

In this film we have everything - the lovely Mamie Van Doren, a serial rapist "The Aspirin Kid"(played by Ray Danton), one of my favorite B movie hunks (namely Steve Cochran) in a bathing suit no less, a hula-hooping suburban housewife, and even a very blonde Vampira (!) in a speaking role, reciting some hip Beatnik poetry about parents being a "drag". And the children of (much more talented) famous parents: Charles Chaplin Jr, Jim Mitchum, etc. What more could you ask for in a camp trash late '50s flick?

This film is definitely a must-see for any trash, B movie lover . . . as are most of Mamie Van Doren's late "50's films.