Directed by: John Rich
Starring: Elvis, Barbara Stanwyck, Joan Freeman, Leif Erickson, Sue Ann Langdon
From: Paramount
As yesterday was the 45th anniversary of Elvis Presley passing away, there was an exigency to check out one of his movies last night I hadn’t checked out before & this was one of the pictures that HDNet Movies played all day/night in tribute to The King. A cast that had other names I recognized (Joan Freeman, Leif Erickson, Pat Buttram, Sue Ann Langdon, Steve Brodie, Jack Albertson, Marianna Hill), two rather big names in small roles-Raquel Welch and Teri Garr-a very big man in a small role (Richard Kiel), and a very small man in same-Billy Barty-but the highlight was a star from the Golden Age of Hollywood in an important part, Barbara Stanwyck. How couldn’t I watch that?
Elvis is-get this-a singer who is fired from his gig for a barroom brawl; much to my delight, he uses his KING-FU skills. Via further circumstances (that involve his Honda motorcycle along with his horniness; as expected some are xenophobic about a Japanese bike) he has to work in a run-down carnival that’s not as successful as the one in Nightmare Alley. Elvis becomes popular due to his singing and the rest of the plot is largely what you’d expect: romance, drama with the father of the main love interest, the carnival possibly going broke, etc.
Of course it’s rather silly and slight yet the carnival setting will always tickle my fancy and the songs are fine as least by the standards of Presley movie soundtracks. The King ends up driving around in a circle around a sphere a la Ryan Gosling’s character in The Place Beyond the Pines… except that his character wasn’t as scuzzy as Gosling’s. Sure, he was a jerk at times but still not as sleazy.
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