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G.I. Blues |
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Released: 1960 Paramount Pictures Available on VHS & DVD Fun Fact: this was one of his most popular films and the soundtrack gave him a long-standing album on the charts and U.K. number 1. ------------------------------------------------------------ In an effort to cash in on Elvis' return from the army G.I Blues is roughly based on Elvis' time in Germany. G.I Tulsa McLean (Elvis) is posted to Frankfurt and on arrival he and his unit place a bet with another unit that no one can spend the night with Lili (Juliet Prowse) a dancer at the Cafe Europa. Needless to say our guy is chosen to melt the ice maiden, but is given several knock backs before she finally warms to his charms. Although it was just supposed to be a bet Tulsa also falls in love and their courtship involves much singing to puppets, babies, cable car rides etc, but everything is almost ruined when Lili learns of the wager. All is explained in the end and everyone is happy.
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Flaming Star |
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Released: 1960 Twentieth Century Fox Available on DVD & VHS Fun Fact: Marlon Brando was originally going to portray Elvis' character in what was going to be called, 'Black Star'. ------------------------------------------------------------ Elvis Presley stars as Pacer Burton, son of a white father (John McIntire) and Native American mother (Dolores del Rio) who finds his loyalties tested in a war of attrition between a fierce Indian tribe, the Kiowa's, and a group of racist white settlers on the Texas frontier in 1870. Although his parents attempt to remain outside the fray, his father is eventually killed in an Indian attack on the settlement. A white man, enraged over the Indian attacks, & kills Pacer's mother. Shunned by white society after the Indian attacks, Pacer elects to fight on the side of the Kiowa's while his brother, Clint (Steve Forrest), stays with the settlers. When Clint rides into the Kiowa camp alone and kills their chief to avenge his father's murder, Pacer fights off the entire tribe to protect his brother, and Clint barely escapes with his life.
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Wild In The Country |
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Released: 1961 Twentieth Century Pictures Available on VHS & DVD Fun Fact: Tuesday Weld would later go on to portray a mother in a story about Elvis. Millie Perkins would portray Gladys in a television show about Elvis. ------------------------------------------------------------ Elvis plays Glenn, who's had more than a couple of run-ins with the law—his mother has died and his father can't handle him, so he's paroled into the custody of his uncle (William Mims), who puts Glenn to work slapping labels on the liquor he peddles as medicinal. Everybody thinks that Glenn is trouble! As they should be, all the women are after Elvis in this one. There's the standard good girl/bad girl split here—Millie Perkins plays Betty Lee, the virtuous brunette who is Glenn's sweetheart, and Tuesday Weld is Noreen, the tart of a blonde flinging herself at him, who also happens to be family. Glen falls for his psychiatrist who is much older then him played wonderfully by Hope Lange.
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Blue Hawaii |
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Released: 1961 Paramount Pictures Available on VHS & DVD Fun Fact: The part played by Joan Blackman, was originally intended for Juliet Prowse. ------------------------------------------------------------ Showcased by beautiful panoramic shots of Hawaii and boasting one of the best selling soundtrack albums of all time, this great, if unoriginal movie makes you want to hop on a plane for the islands faster than you can say Hawaii Five O. Elvis is in top form returning to the islands after a stint in the army to take up a position with a travel agent showing tourists around. Elvis' relationship with Maile Duval (Joan Blackman) is threatened when Elvis has to escort a bunch of amorous school girls around the island on a holiday as well as getting unwelcome attention from the glamorous teacher. Angela Landsbury is terrifically over the top as Elvis' middle class mother.
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Follow That Dream |
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Released: 1962 United Artists Available on VHS & DVD Fun Fact: shot in Florida, Elvis had to change his shirt 22 times in one day because of the 100° heat. ------------------------------------------------------------ When the Kwimper family car runs out of gas on a new Florida highway and an rude state supervisor tries to run them off, Pop Kwimper digs in his heels and decides to do a little homesteading. He and his son Toby and their "adopted" children - Holly, Ariadne and the twins - start their own little community along a strip of the roadside. The fishing is good and the living is easy until the mob sets up a gambling operation and the state supervisor sticks a sexy social worker on the Kwimpers in an effort to take away Ariadne and the twins.
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Kid Galahad |
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Released: 1962 MGM Pictures Available on VHS & DVD Fun Fact: Elvis lost 12 pounds for this performance! ------------------------------------------------------------ A remake of a Warner Bros. golden oldie that starred Edward G. Robinson, Bette Davis, and Humphrey Bogart. Kid Galahad stars Elvis as an ex-G.I. who comes back to his hometown in upper state New York. He wants to be an auto mechanic after returning from the Army, but instead he's reluctantly roped into being trained to be a boxer. Elvis has an anvil-fist and an iron jaw. Soon, he becomes boxing champ nicknamed "Kid Galahad". Joan Blackman returns and plays Elvis' love interest and the sister of the boxing camp owner Gig Young. Great picture formula, great songs and beautiful and breathtaking mountain scenery.
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Girls! Girls! Girls! |
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Released: 1962 Paramount Pictures Available on DVD Fun Fact: this is the first Elvis movie with a nude scene! Take a look at the children playing on the dock when Elvis arrives with Laurel to the island, in case you can't tell, watch Elvis cover Laurel's eyes. ------------------------------------------------------------
Elvis stars as
Ross Carpenter, a fishing guide. Trouble arises for him when he has to get
his dad's fishing boat out of hock by singing songs in a local night club.
As usual, he's besieged by girls, too, including a little rich girl spending
the summer by the shore, and Robyn, a tough club singer. |
