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Elvis - The Hollywood Collection, Vol. 1

By Blogcritics / Dave Lifton, September 09, 2007 | Video
As Elvis Presley's popularity declined in the mid-1960s, so did the quality of his films. What began as a promising career eventually devolved into a seemingly endless series of embarrassing movies. The main problem was that, rather than find good projects suited to his client's talents, Col. Tom Parker routinely slashed the budgets to maximize his own profits. Also, since all the songs had to go through Elvis' publishing company, they were no longer written by solid hitmakers, but by hacks willing to give up their rights for the exposure.

To coincide with the 30th anniversary of Elvis' death, Warner Brothers has taken six Elvis movies, of varying degrees of quality, from this period and put them in a DVD box set called The Hollywood Collection, Vol. 1. Each DVD is presented, for the first time, in widescreen format with the theatrical trailer, and comes with five photo cards.

Nearly all Elvis movies feature cheesy dialogue, a handful of songs, and lots of beautiful girls, so, using those criteria, here is a chronological guide to the six movies in the set:

Kissin' Cousins (1964)

Plot: The Army wants to build a missile base on top of a Tennessee mountain, but the family that owns the land doesn't want to sell. It's up to Lt. Josh Morgan (Elvis) to convince his distant cousin, Jodie Tatum (also Elvis, in a blond wig) to make the deal.

Quality of songs: Weak, including some Hollywood takes on Appalachian bluegrass. The songs are as interesting as their titles - "Barefoot Ballad," "Smokey Mountain Boy," and "Catchin' On Fast" - suggest.

Quality of women: Pretty good. Yvonne "Batgirl" Craig, making her second appearance in an Elvis film, is cute as Josh's love interest, Azalea Tatum. Cynthia Pepper is a WAC who eventually falls for Jodie. There's also a nearby gang of hillbilly hotties, the Kittyhawks, led by, of all people, Maureen Reagan.

Sample dialogue: "The catfish eyes bring out the flavor in the possum tails."

Memphis Mafia cameo: Joe Esposito is Mike.

Overall: An example of the lazy, lighthearted comedic fare foisted on us by the Colonel, with lots of stereotypes about mountain folk. Elvis does his best to overcome the material, but it's not one of the better pre-Viva Las Vegas movies.

Girl Happy (1965)

Plot: Singer Rusty Wells (Elvis) and his band are hired by a Chicago gangster to look after his daughter (Shelley Fabares) in Fort Lauderdale during Spring Break, but spend most of their time chasing co-eds.

Quality of songs: The title track and "Do The Clam" are B-list Elvis classics. The others are mostly fun, silly numbers, with "Puppet On A String" as the ballad.

Quality of women: Very high. Shelley Fabares, in her first of three Elvis movies, and former Miss America Mary Ann Mobley lead a bikini-clad cast.

Sample dialogue: "I've given up the mental types. This is the type for me. Not much upstairs, but what a staircase!"

Memphis Mafia cameos: Red West is an extra in the Kit Kat Club.

Overall: Some good tunes, light comedy, and a beautiful cast. What more could you ask for from a beach movie?

Tickle Me (1965)

Plot: Lonnie Beale (Elvis) is a singing rodeo star working at a spa that caters to models and actresses. They chase him, but he has his eyes on the aerobics instructor. That's all you need to know.

Quality of songs: Despite songs by names like Otis Blackwell, Pomus-Shuman, and Leiber-Stoller, nothing is particularly memorable.

Quality of women: No big name actresses, but there is still plenty of eye candy among the patrons of the spa.

Sample dialogue: "You know how it is when a pack of women get together… They begin clawing and scratching like wildcats. Try to keep everybody happy, won't you?"

Memphis Mafia cameos: Red West is an extra in a bar.

Overall: It's not a mess like, say, Harum Scarum (the next film he would make), but you could still see that, by this point, they had lost the plot. And I still can't figure out how the title relates to the story.

Stay Away, Joe (1968)

Plot: Native American Joe Lightcloud (Elvis) returns to the Arizona reservation to help it prosper through a cattle-raising deal with a Congressman. There's lots of drinking and fighting. I couldn't figure out much more than that.

Quality of songs: There aren't too many songs, but one is about a bull. The soundtrack wasn't even released, so if even the Colonel didn't want to put this out, that should tell you something. Did I mention there's a song about a bull?

Quality of women: Like the rest of the movie, Quentin Dean as Mamie Callahan is hardly up to Elvis' usual standards. Some cute extras, though.

Sample dialogue: "Why don't you find out while I rescue a certain white man from being scalped by wild Indians. Female Indians."

Memphis Mafia cameos: Sonny West as Jackson He-Crow, Joe Esposito appears as a workman.

Overall: After some lovely opening shots of Sedona, Arizona, it's an incomprehensible pile of stink, and its portrayal of Native Americans is practically indefensible by today's more enlightened standards.

Live A Little, Love A Little (1968)

Plot: Photographer Greg Nolan (Elvis) encounters a flighty woman (Michele Carey) who causes him to lose his job and his apartment, and he is forced move in with her. He works two jobs simultaneously, at a nudie magazine and an ad agency, to get her out of his life.

Quality of songs: "A Little Less Conversation", which became a worldwide #1 hit in a 2002 remix version, is sung during the party. "Edge Of Reality" offers some late-'60s psychedelic pop, a new direction for Elvis, but without the drugs.

Quality of women: Carey is the requisite beauty, but the others are inconsistent.

Sample dialogue: "You don't taste bad for a Sagittarius."

Memphis Mafia cameos: Joe Esposito, Red West and Elvis' father, Vernon Presley, appear as extras.

Overall: An attempt at a manic sex farce, but without the sex. As a result, it doesn't quite work, but it also isn't horrendous.

Charro! (1969)

Plot: An historic Mexican cannon is stolen by an outlaw gang and they have falsely accused Jess Wade (Elvis, with a beard!) as the thief. Elvis tries to clear his name and win back the love of the woman he left behind.

Quality of songs: Apart from the title song that plays over the opening credits, Elvis doesn't sing. Instead, there is a decent sub-Morricone score by Hugo Montenegro.

Quality of women: Ina Balin is rather unappealing as Elvis' love interest, and gets upstaged by one of the dancing girls.

Sample dialogue: "You are, without a doubt, the most beautiful woman I was ever not allowed to look at."

Memphis Mafia cameos: Charlie Hodge is uncredited as a Mexican peon.

Overall: Filmed shortly after the '68 Comeback Special, it's a surprisingly average Western. It's slow in spots, and occasionally overacted, but it conforms to the expectations of the genre, and Elvis is engaged throughout.

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jenko wrote on September 09, 2007
can any one tell me r they selling these as single dvds as well?
Marten wrote on September 09, 2007
That's pretty malechauvinistic commenting the women in the film, and not mentioning Jocelyn Lane in Tickle Me while you're at it is even lower ... ;-) I would say that Julie Adams is famous if you've seen Creature from the Black Lagoon (yes, you have at least heard about that one, havent you). And there are some great songs in Tickle Me as well, although they were not recorded for the film. Well worth a comment, dont you think?
mature_elvis_fan75 wrote on September 09, 2007
Yes you can buy these seperately,i get all my stuff besides the ftd's at cd universe, the dvd's there are like 7 bucks and they have great service!
JerryNodak wrote on September 09, 2007
I bought this set and I'm glad I did. All the movies look great. It was like seeing them again for the first time. I didn't learn anything new from this article. The movies are well known. 99.9% of fans are familiar with them and already have well formed opinions about them (pro and con). What was the point? Yes, these movies are available individually.
Greg Nolan wrote on September 10, 2007
I picked it up, too, Jerry, and was very pleased with it for the same reasons. In fairness, this article is for a mainstream, non-fan source, so I'm not surprised it's sort of basic. This set was one of the highlights of a truly great Elvis year in DVDs and CDs, official and otherwise. Thank you to those behind its release!
Juliepresleyfan wrote on September 10, 2007
Elvis Presley's Films are not at all embarassing , no worse than cliff richard's summer holiday or mario lanza's movies both of which i also like very much, its just the way they made em in those days, nothing atall with his acting ability which according to some of his co stars like walter mathau was pretty good.
FJE wrote on September 10, 2007
I have bought this set as well. It works out cheaper if you buy the whole set than purchasing them individually and you still get the goodies(!) inside plus the added outside box cover as shown above. This is a Region 1 release and I don't know if it's available in other Region Codes. The picture quality is extremely good which helps when you're watching them on a 50" Plasma Display like I have. On the other hand the audio is in mono unfortunately but I suppose since they were originally released that way there's nothing you can do about that. Just a point of interest, and I think you're not going to believe this, Girl Happy and Tickle were banned by the local censors in Malta, where I live, and remained unreleased theatrically due to the many bikini-clad girls in them!!! Tickle Me was eventually released in 1971 to some limited showings. Live A Little, Love A Little and Change Of Habit also remained unreleased due to poor distribution resulting from the lack of interest in Elvis' movies by that time. Then of course came Elvis - That's The Way It Is. Nuff said!
lray wrote on September 10, 2007
Great to have these at last. Picture quality is A+. They all look brand new. Even though in mono sound, the sound is crisp and clear. I think Girl happy and Tickle Me are the most fun of the bunch.
Martin DJ wrote on September 10, 2007
Girl Happy is fun to watch indeed, partly because one of the co-stars is Gary Crosby, who is the spitting image of his father (Bing). A shame though that Tickle Me isn't available in Europe.
mature_elvis_fan75 wrote on September 19, 2007
Its a shame tickle me was released at all!