Elvis's 31 Feature Films: Which are watchable?

Hi Shawn.

I dont, I looked for it last nite and couldnt find it.

 

Not everything......mostly the 60s movies from 61 onward.

 

All the movies I mentioned are post 61 and a lot of on-location filming. Not to mention many others that I did not mention. The article is just plain fiction.

 

Hey, don't forget Yvonne Craig!

 

Essential:
Loving You
Jailhouse Rock
King Creole
Viva Las Vegas
That’s the Way it Is

Worthwhile:
Love Me Tender
Flaming Star
Wild in the Country
Blue Hawaii
Girls! Girls! Girls!
Fun in Acapulco
Charro!
Change of Habit
Elvis on Tour

Silly but fun:
G.I. Blues
Follow That Dream
Kid Galahad
Girl Happy
Double Trouble
Live a Little, Love a Little

Dog puke:
the rest

 

To be fair, Elvis didn't film any scenes in Fun In Acapulco in Acapulco, and no scenes in GI Blues with Elvis were filmed in Europe.

 

Since I visited Hawaii, I've always had a soft spot for "Blue Hawaii".

 

See, what happened around 1961 or so, was that the accountants and executive producers came to this conclusion, that they made more money on a Elvis movie if they DIDNT spend on Production values, in other words, just as many people came to see them when filmed on the back lot. Sam Katzman even said in an interview that the money they saved allowed them to spend more on OTHER pictures, which really steamed Elvis, who was essentially subsidizing other actors films. Cant blame Elvis.

 

correct!

 

Raylind: Note sure what your point is........Obviously it isnt EVERY movie that they cheaped out on, but they *did* on the large majority of the 60s movies. Sure, every Elvis movie has scenes not filmed on the back lot.....as does every other movie.

But you seem to be trying to push the idea that they spent lots of money making the Elvis pictures to make great films....which is absolutely not true. This has been documented, and you should do some more research.

 

I was at home on a Saturday sometime last year (might have been raining outside) and Follow That Dream came on the television. Wasn't much else I wanted to do, so I figured I'd watch a bad Elvis movie that I hadn't seen before. Surprisingly, it was much better than I thought it would be (my expectations were very low). Elvis made plenty of films worse than this one. The best part of the film is the plot line with the psychologist. The worst part is probably the plot line with the gangsters.

 

Something I get a chuckle out of is that Tickle Me (as mentioned above, one of my least favorite Elvis movies) - and I quote from Wikipedia - 'became the third highest-grossing film in the history of Allied Artists and saved the studio from bankruptcy.The film was popular at the box office, making over $3 million in the US and $5 million worldwide. It became the third highest-grossing film in the history of Allied Artists and saved the studio from bankruptcy.'

Tickle Me - Wikipedia

 

Well, yea, thats the thing. Virtually every Elvis movie has *some* good stuff in it, that raises the average. Its just that some of the plots werent the greatest idea, like Harum Scarum. But, for me personally, I can watch any of the 29 Elvis movies and enjoy it.

 

Actually, EVERY Elvis movie made $$ after the final tallys were made for the year. A few scraped along at the bottom making only a small profit, but a ton of them made solid profits, which is why they continued to churn them out. They were easy to make, and after while the crew had the technical end down pat. They even reused location footage from other movies in Elvis movies, like docks, the ocean, planes overhead, etc.
Also, another thing they did was to keep the films in theater circulation longer than others. Some Elvis movies ended up subcontacted to 4th Tier showings, meaning drive ins, and tiny independent movie houses in the mid west. For these exhibitors, the name Elvis on their marque was a great draw. Point is, they knew how to wring every last dime from an Elvis movie.

 

Huh. I wouldn't go THAT far. A lot of Elvis movies are garbage (unless you're an unrepentant Elvis fan). Not all of them, but an awful lot. I expected Follow That Dream to be one, and it was better than that, and it was better than a movie that has some good stuff in it.

 

His best film is the 2000 recut version of That’s the Way It Is.
If you need more of that, then Elvis on Tour is watchable, but not nearly as good.

Flaming Star -- This Western is one of his better films.

For the more typical, lightweight turn-off-your-brain so-called "Elvis movie" genre, these are watchable, as long as you know what you're getting into:
It Happened at the World's Fair
Fun in Acapulco
Blue Hawaii
Change of Habit

I'm okay just watching highlight clips from Jailhouse Rock, Viva Las Vegas, etc. Young Elvis had a pretty good screen presence, but I find it hard to finish most of his films. Even Michael Curtiz' King Creole. Curtiz directed a few classics, but that isn't one of them.

 

My favorites are "Roustabout" (Elvis definitely put more effort into this movie, no doubt because he had Barbara Stanwyck demanding it from Elvis.)
and "Charro".

 

I would! Good Stuff could be a couple of good songs, a good dance scene, a good love scene, etc. there are plenty of those among the Elvis movies.

 

I'm a big fan but there's some that I just cringe when remembering. My list would be these.

Any 50's...
Blue Hawaii
Viva Las Vegas
Wild in The Country
Fun in Acapulco
It Happened at The World's Fair

 

Elvis' very less than enthusiastic rendition of "Confidence" on the record is a guilty pleasure of mine!

 

I liked ROUSTABOUT a lot more-the script made more sense.

 

I always got a kick out of the record of "Old MacDonald" from DOUBLE TRUOBLE; "a HUM-BOOGAH medium raaaaaaare"!

 

I don't know....I think some of those dog puke films aren't so bad

 

my choices are

Love Me Tender
Loving You
Jailhouse Rock
King Creole
Blue Hawaii
Flaming Star
Girls! Girls! Girls!
Viva Las Vegas
Live A Little Love A Little
Clambake

chad

 

Fantastic theme tune as well, even if it does sound like Elvis is singing in a wind tunnel.