Viva Las Vegas

Viva Las Vegas (1964)

Runtime: 85 minutes

Directed by: George Sidney

Starring: Elvis, Ann-Margaret, Cesare Danova, William Demarest, Nicky Blair

From: MGM

As today is the 81st birthday of Elvis, of course I had to watch this last night so I could talk about it today. I picked out one of his most famous movies. My Letterboxd review is below:

One thing this movie taught me: if a romantic interest/lover/spouse/whatever is mad at you, gift them a tree. Somehow, it will cause them to swoon and make them fall in love with you all over again!

As today was the day that Elvis was born on back in 1935, it was appropriate to watch one of his films last night so I could post the review today. Talking about the wacky more obscure entries has been interesting to me (if no one else) but I figured it was about time to see one of his more famous and more highly regarded movies, and as I have this in my collection...

The plot is rather flimsy: Elvis is auto racer Lucky Jackson, who is in town for the upcoming Grand Prix. He gets to know a Eurodocuhe competitor known as Count Elmo Mancini, who of course becomes a rival. Lucky unluckily loses a large sum of cash and besides being unable to pay the bill at the hotel, he needs an engine for his racecar; along the way, those two fight over Rusty Martin, a lovely breathy dame.

The story is nonsense, yet it is still a memorable Elvis movie and I do understand why there are plenty that rate this real highly. The songs and musical numbers are more memorable than what you see in a Presley picture; the title song is cool, his version of What'd I Say is rad, and so are the duets he has with Ann-Margaret. Oh, what a memorable role for Ms. Ann. Besides being a lovely lady who you can understand why men fall for her, she delivered a spicy performance where she was able to act, dance and sing and not be overshadowed by Elvis and all his natural charisma and instead be able to keep up with him; that and their chemistry are a big asset here.

Las Vegas is an awesome city I've been in before, but the last visit was years ago so I'd love to visit it again in the future. It's a loud city with a lot to do and it was cool seeing it back during this time period, between how all the neon looked, the nice weather, the stage shows, and all the rest. As for when I'll see my next Elvis movie, it may be awhile as I have plenty of other things I have the desire to see in the near future but this was a nice way to tip my cap to a legend that'd be 81 if they were alive today.