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."
Article comments
1 - john saxon
Well Dave, Most of the films in that set are pretty dire. I would however like to make a few comments........ Kissin' Cousins was actually made AFTER Viva Las Vegas, even though it was released before, so it's not a pre- 'Vegas' movie. It is also known that Cousins was made in 2 weeks!
Tickle Me - the songs. Ok it's a lipsinc job but
did you know that some of those songs actually came from the classic Elvis is Back album? So they weren't all bad.
Stay away joe should be seen in the context of the day. Stereotyping was still quite normal in 1968. The rest is pretty fair comment.
2 - Brian Quinn
Personally I love Elvis' movies. Why? Because Elvis is in them. Period. I do not care about acting, plots etc. just that I have a chance to watch Elvis - the Greatest Entertainer who ever lived.
I saw them first time around on the big screen and the effect of seeing Elvis was magnetic. I could not take my eyes off him.
R.I.P. Elvis and thanks for the memories.
3 - Dave Lifton
Sorry, I'm just getting to this now.
Brian, I think that's precisely why they continue to get re-released and shown on the classic movie channels. Even in the worst of them (and I've seen about 25 of the 33), there's a presence, a charisma that's undeniable.
John, I did see it in that context, but that didn't make it any less creepy.
That makes sense about Kissin' Cousins. The reason I mentioned Viva Las Vegas is because, after that movie was when the Colonel started slashing the budget, so having one that cheesy come out beforehand didn't make sense. Thanks for clearing that up.