Rusty Wells (Presley) and his band (Gary Crosby, Joby Baker and Jimmy Hawkins) are a smash-hit at the Chicago night club owned by Big Frank (Harold J. Stone). Not wanting to lose his best act, Big Frank refuses to let Rusty and the others leave for Spring Break in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Big Frank has a change of heart, however, when he learns that his beloved daughter Valerie (Shelley Fabares) is herself heading to Fort Lauderdale with some of her college friends. Issuing orders for Rusty and his buddies to keep an eye on Valerie, Big Frank sends them to Florida, all expenses paid.
But what the guys hope will be a relaxing time in the sun, surrounded by pretty college girls, quickly turns into a 24-hour job when Valerie is romanced by Italian playboy Romano (Fabrizio Mioni). Fearing what Big Frank might do to them if he finds out, Rusty and the others do whatever it takes to keep Valerie and Romano apart, even if it means getting her to fall in love with Rusty himself!
As with many of Elvis’s films, there isn’t a whole lot of story in Girl Happy. But it has its charms. Chief among them is the music, which, though it doesn’t feature any of Presley’s better-known hits, boasts energy to spare. Especially catchy are "Spring Fever" (sung by Presley and Fabares), "Wolf Call" (a duet of sorts where Presley is joined by co-star Mary Ann Mobley, who plays his early love interest Deena), and "The Meanest Girl in Town" (where, to keep her away from Romano, Rusty convinces Valerie to join them on-stage when this song is performed).
While the music is absolutely the selling point of Girl Happy, it does offer up a few entertaining non-musical moments as well, including a very memorable scene in a jail house that features both Jackie Coogan (Uncle Fester in the ‘60s TV sitcom The Addams Family) as an overzealous cop and Elvis himself… in drag!
Like Blue Hawaii, Girl Happy takes advantage of its tropical setting, and features more than its share of bikini-clad beauties. But make no mistake: it’s Elvis’s golden voice that will keep you watching until the end.
Rating: 7.5 out of 10
Elvis plays Chadwick “Chad” Gates, who as the movie opens is returning home to Hawaii following a 2-year stint in the Army. He’s met at the airport by longtime girlfriend Maile (Joan Blackman), but instead of going home to see his parents (Roland Winters and Angela Lansbury), Chad spends a few days hanging out at the beach with his island buddies.
Knowing his parents will pressure him to join the family business – a lucrative fruit company – Chad instead gets a job as a tour guide, working for Maile’s boss, Mr. Chapman (Howard McNear). Chad’s first customers are school teacher Abigail Prentice (Nancy Walters) and four of her teenage students, including bratty Ellie Corbett (Jenny Maxwell). As Chad spends his days showing the attractive Miss Prentice and her charges all that Hawaii has to offer, Maile can’t help but feel a little jealous, convinced that Chad and Miss Prentice are doing more than just seeing the sights together.
Directed by Norman Taurog, Blue Hawaii is breezy, lightweight entertainment, but make no mistake, it is entertaining. Elvis belts out a number of catchy tunes, including “Aloha Oe” and “Can’t Help Falling in Love (With You)”, the latter of which would go on to become one of his all-time biggest hits, going platinum in 1962. There are some 14 songs in all throughout Blue Hawaii, and each and every one of them is a winner. Blue Hawaii also takes advantage of Hawaii’s beautiful locales, with scenes shot on-location in, among other places, Waikiki and Diamond Head.
As it is with most of his movies, Elvis is more convincing when he’s singing in Blue Hawaii than when he’s trying to act, though the supporting cast makes up for his shortcomings. Lansbury is especially memorable as Chad’s airhead Southern Belle mother, while a late scene featuring Jenny Maxwell’s Ellie, where she steals a jeep and runs away, gives the film its lone dramatic moment (and an effective one at that).
Sun, sand, music, and pretty girls; that sums up Blue Hawaii in a nutshell, and while it won’t linger in the mind long after its over, it’s plenty of fun while it lasts.
Rating: 7 out of 10
Spec5 Tulsa McLean (Presley) spends the days with his tank crew in Germany, and nights dreaming of becoming a singer and opening his own club. Needing money to make his dream a reality, he bets $300 that fellow soldier Dynamite (Edson Stroll) can win the heart of German dancer Lili (Juliet Prowse), a woman who has thus far rejected the advances of every American G.I.
When Dynamite is transferred to another base, Tulsa himself, urged on by his pals Cookie (Robert Ivers) and Rick (James Douglas), reluctantly agrees to stand in for Dynamite and woo the elusive Lili. Things go well at first, with Lili falling hard for Tulsa’s country charm, but the closer the two become, the more Tulsa’s conscious bothers him, and though he has developed feelings of his own for Lili, the guilty G.I. considers calling the whole romance off.
That’s about as trite a plot as you can get, but director Norman Taurog somehow pulls it off, delivering a fun, breezy musical romance. As for Presley, his performance as Tulsa was a definite step down from the fine turn he delivered in 1958’s King Creole, but fans were undoubtedly happy that his singing voice was as strong as ever. And while many of the songs he performs throughout G.I. Blues are forgettable, the film’s final two numbers, "Big Boots" (a lullaby he sings while babysitting for Rick’s son) and "Didja Ever" (the rousing finale performed in front of his entire battalion) are excellent.
As for the rest of the cast, Juliet Prowse is certainly an impressive dancer (she performs a couple of numbers during the movie), but only a so-so actress, while Robert Ivers (as the conniving Cookie) and Arch Johnson (as Master Sergeant McGraw, who keeps loaning money to Tulsa and rarely gets it back) are quite good in support. This, plus the beautiful technicolor footage of Germany (much of which was shot by Producer Hal Wallis while Elvis was still in the Army) make G.I. Blues an entertaining, if somewhat slight, entry in Elvis’s filmography.
Rating: 7 out of 10
That’s exactly what happened with 1958’s King Creole, a black-and-white drama / musical directed by the great Michael Curtiz (Casablanca, The Adventures of Robin Hood).
After getting into yet another scuffle at school, Danny Fisher (Presley) is told by his teacher that, for the second year in a row, he won’t be graduating. Ignoring the wishes of his father (Dean Jagger), who wants him to give school another chance, Danny decides he has had enough and follows his dreams of becoming a professional singer.
Quitting his job as a busboy, Danny agrees to perform nightly at the King Creole, a club owned by Charlie LeGrand (Paul Stewart). But LeGrand’s chief competitor, Maxie Fields (Walter Matthau), who controls most of New Orleans, wants Danny to work for him. When Danny refuses, Maxie first orders his steady girlfriend Ronnie (Carolyn Jones) to seduce Danny, and when that doesn’t work Maxie and his henchman Shark (Vic Morrow) start playing rough, threatening to reveal a secret to Danny’s father that could potentially tear his family apart.
Presley performs a number of toe-tapping tunes throughout King Creole, including the title song (which is my favorite), “New Orleans”, and “As Long as I Have You”. And while his performance as Danny wouldn’t have won him an Academy Award (his scenes with Delores Hart, who plays Danny’s new girlfriend Nellie, are hit and miss), Presley did impress me through much of the film, especially during the scenes in which Danny and his father butt heads (Danny is embarrassed that dear old dad won’t stick up for himself, and as a result vows to never let anyone push him around).
Solid in support are Jagger as Danny’s father, Matthau as the loathsome crime boss Maxie, and Vic Morrow – who made a career out of playing the heavy – as Maxie’s henchman, Shark. Standing head and shoulders above them all, however, is Carolyn Jones, who delivers what might be her greatest performance as Ronnie, the alcoholic former singer who eventually falls in love with Danny (her scenes are easily the best in the entire movie).
Presley was on record as saying that of all his films, King Creole was his favorite. Thanks to its solid performances, the crisp direction of Michael Curtiz, the catchy musical numbers, and the stunning cinematography of Russell Harlan (portions of the film were shot on-location in New Orleans), I’d have to say it’s my favorite Elvis Presley film as well.
Rating: 9 out of 10
Directed By: George Sidney
Starring: Elvis Presley, Ann-Margret, Cesare Danova
Tag line: "It's that "go-go" guy and that "bye-bye" gal in the fun capital of the world!"
Trivia: Some theatres chose to bill Ann-Margret above Elvis due to her popularity at the time
The first time I heard the name "Elvis Presley" was on the day he died.
It was August of 1977, and we had just moved into a new house. My father, returning home after running a few errands, told my mother that he heard on the radio Elvis was dead. I had no idea who this person was, yet I could tell by the looks on their faces he was someone pretty important.
My mom dug out her original 45 single of “Hard Headed Woman”, but it was an album she bought a few days later, featuring all of Elvis’s number one hits ("Hound Dog", "Love Me Tender", "Jailhouse Rock", and a slew of others) that finally introduced me to the King of Rock and Roll.
It was also around this time that I saw my first Elvis movie, Love Me Tender, though I only watched half of it. Over the years, I would catch bits and pieces of other Presley vehicles, including Jailhouse Rock and 1969’s Change of Habit (which co-starred Mary Tyler Moore). But it wasn’t until today that I finally sat through an entire Elvis Presley film, and I have to say that Viva Las Vegas was much better than I was expecting it to be.
Race car driver (and part-time singer) Lucky Johnson (Elvis) travels from Los Angeles to Nevada to enter his vehicle in the Las Vegas Grand Prix. There’s only one problem: his car doesn’t have an engine!
To purchase one in time for the race, Lucky wins a small fortune at the Flamingo Casino, only to lose it all a short while later.
Now unable to even pay his hotel bill, Lucky and his chief mechanic Shorty (Nicky Blair) are forced to work as waiters at the Flamingo, giving Lucky plenty of chances to sweep the hotel’s pretty swimming instructor, Rusty Martin (Ann-Margret), off her feet.
Unfortunately, Italian Count Elmo Mancini (Cesare Danova), the European racing champion, also has his eye on Rusty. And what’s more, the Count brags non-stop that he will be the one finishing first in the upcoming race.
Will Lucky win the girl and the Grand Prix, or will he be the runner-up in both?
Elvis Presley still ranks as one of the most influential rock and roll artists of all-time, but even his most ardent supporters would agree he was (at best) a mediocre actor. In the 1983 book Rating the Movie Stars, which was published by the folks at Consumer Guide magazine, writer Joel Hirschhorn called Presley’s films “a series of silly, tailor-made vehicles”, adding that his fans didn’t seem to mind “his total lack of talent as an actor”. While I’m certainly no expert on Presley’s movie career (in fact, I’m a novice), Hirschhorn’s statement strikes me as kinda harsh.
It was in regards to Viva Las Vegas, at least, where Elvis occasionally proved himself a competent comedic performer (a late scene in which he intentionally ruins the Count’s dinner date with Rusty has some funny moments). In addition, I thought he and co-star Ann-Margret had great chemistry together (according to the tabloids, their romance continued even when the cameras weren’t rolling). And, of course, Elvis is given several opportunities to do what he did best: belt out memorable tunes like the title number; “Come On, Everybody”; and a spirited cover of Ray Charles’ “What’d I Say”.
Ironically, though, I don’t consider Elvis Presley the true star of Viva Las Vegas. In almost every scene in which they appear together, he is upstaged by Ann-Margret. Fresh off of her career-making turn in Bye Bye Birdie, Ann-Margret lights up the screen as Rusty. Her first scene is as sexy and enticing as they come (she strolls into the garage where Lucky and The Count are hanging out, wearing tight white shorts and an equally sexy red top); and her dance routine at the school auditorium is an absolute show-stopper. In addition, the film’s best song (in my opinion, anyway), is “The Lady Loves Me”, which Elvis and Ann-Margret perform as a duet, and while Elvis does manage to hold his own in the acting department, it’s clear that, even at this early stage of her career, Ann-Margret was a much better actor than the King of Rock and Roll.
Viva Las Vegas is certainly not perfect. The film drags (badly) in the middle, and the tumultuous nature of Lucky’s and Rusty’s relationship is maddening at times (she loves him one moment, can’t stand him the next). But as a lighthearted vehicle for both Elvis and Ann-Margret, Viva Las Vegas is as breezy as they come.
