The Moving Finger (1963)

Wretched time capsule from the New York underground involving a bunch of beatniks who run across a wounded bank robber and then... well, not much happens after that. There's lots of pseudo-hip dialogue and obnoxious beatniks doing obnoxious beatnik-y things (crashing an art gallery to steal hors d'oevres, holding an impromptu and pointless cockroach race, etc.), but nothing in the way of anything remotely interesting or cinematic. Lionel Stander and his marvelous speaking voice attempt to class up the joint, but this is no Blast of Silence; although his turn as a venal coffee-shop owner (and terrible poet) is the only thing that approaches professionalism, it's not enough to keep this from feeling like 85 minutes of excrement. Never released theatrically for a good reason, this thing is a movie only in the loosest sense of the word.

Grade: D-