Elvis Presley acting career

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

Elvis Presley became a film star in 1956, and would go on to appear in a total of 33
feature films. He first became interested in acting in his youth; despite later
declarations that he had no acting experience, fellow Humes High School students
recall that he was often cast as the lead in the Shakespeare plays they studied in
English class. He admired actors such as James Dean and Marlon Brando, and
reportedly paid close attention to their performing styles long before he ever set foot
on a movie set.[1] On March 26–28, 1956, just days after the release of his first album,
he did a screen test for Paramount Pictures. Part of the test was an audition for a
supporting role in The Rainmaker, starring Burt Lancaster. Screenwriter Allen Weiss
compared his acting to that of "the lead in a high school play." Then, to his recording
of "Blue Suede Shoes", Presley gave a lip-synched performance, complete with
gyrations. In Weiss's description, "The transformation was incredible...electricity
bounced off the walls. ... [It was] like an earthquake".[2] In a radio interview two
weeks later, Presley excitedly declared that he would be making his motion picture
debut in The Rainmaker.[3] The part ultimately went to Earl Holliman.[4]

King Creole (1958) was Presley's personal favorite among his many films.[5]

On April 25, Presley signed a seven-year contract with Paramount that also allowed
him to work with other studios.[6] In November, he made his big-screen debut with the
musical western Love Me Tender. It was panned by the critics but did well at the box
office.[7] The original title—The Reno Brothers—was changed to capitalize on the
advanced sales of the song "Love Me Tender". The commercial success led to the
release of three more Presley film vehicles over the next twenty months. The singer
would go on to star alongside several well-established actors, including Walter
Matthau, Carolyn Jones, Angela Lansbury, Barbara Stanwyck, Jack Albertson, Gig
Young, and Mary Tyler Moore. An eleven-year-old Kurt Russell made his screen
debut in It Happened at the World's Fair (1963).

A couple of Presley's early films, Jailhouse Rock and King Creole (1958), called for
relatively dramatic performances. The erotic, if not homo-erotic,[8] dance sequence to
the former's title song is often cited as his greatest moment onscreen.[9] It was
choreographed by Alex Romero after watching Presley himself.[10] Howard Thompson
of the New York Times began his review of the latter movie, "As the lad himself might
say, cut my legs off and call me Shorty! Elvis Presley can act."[11] But the majority of
Presley's movies aimed for little more than reliable returns on modest investments and
the promotion of their accompanying soundtrack albums.[12] To maintain box office
success, he would later even shift "into beefcake formula comedy mode for a few
years."[13]

His first film after his return from the Army, G.I. Blues (1960), directed by Norman
Taurog, set the tone. As described by critic Al Clark, it was the "first in a series of
nine bland Presley vehicles directed by Taurog, and the film which engendered a
career formula of tepid, routine comedy-musicals."[14] Presley at first insisted on
pursuing more serious roles, but when two films in a more dramatic vein — Flaming
Star (1960) and Wild in the Country (1961) — were less commercially successful, he
reverted to the formula. So formulaic that his output has been called "Elvis movies,"
and a genre unto themselves.[15] For most of the 1960s, during which he made 27
movies, there were few exceptions,[16] such as the non-musical western, Charro!.

Presley's movies were generally poorly received—one critic dismissed them as a

"pantheon of bad taste."[17] As a typical comment put it, the scripts "were all the
same".[18] It was further noted that the songs seemed to be "written on order by men
who never really understood Elvis or rock and roll."[19] Indeed, for Blue Hawaii,
"fourteen songs were cut in just three days."[20] Julie Parrish, who appeared in
Paradise, Hawaiian Style, says that Presley hated many of the songs chosen for his
films; he "couldn't stop laughing while he was recording" one of them.[21] In Sight and
Sound (1959) Peter John Dyer wrote that in his movies "Elvis Presley, aggressively
bisexual in appeal, knowingly erotic, [was] acting like a crucified houri and singing
with a kind of machine-made surrealism."[22] Hal Wallis, who produced nine of
Presley's films, also had a reputation for such prestige productions as Becket (1964),
starring Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole, and he received 16 Academy Award
nominations for his movies. But Wallis's goals were clearly very different for his most
reliably profitable star: "A Presley picture is the only sure thing in Hollywood," he
said.[23] Presley later branded Wallis "a double-dealing sonofabitch", realizing there
had never been any intention to let him develop into a serious actor.[24] Critics
maintained that "No major star suffered through more bad movies than Elvis
Presley."[25] According to Priscilla Presley, in the late 1960s, "He blamed his fading
popularity on his humdrum movies" and "... loathed their stock plots and short
shooting schedules." She also notes: "He could have demanded better, more
substantial scripts, but he didn't."[26].

For all that, Presley's films were indeed commercially successful, and he "became a
film genre of his own."[27] On December 1, 1968, the New York Times wrote: "Three
times a year Elvis Presley ... [makes] multi-million dollar feature-length films, with
holiday titles like Blue Hawaii, Fun in Acapulco, Viva Las Vegas, Tickle Me, Easy
Come, Easy Go, Live a Little, Love a Little and The Trouble With Girls. For each film,
Elvis receives a million dollars in wages and 50 per cent of the profits. ... [E]very film
yields an LP sound-track record which may sell as many as two-million copies." The
silver screen gave many of his fans around the world their only opportunity to see
him, given the almost complete absence of international appearances by the singer.
(The only concerts Presley ever gave outside of the United States were in three
Canadian cities in 1957.)[28] Still, as film critic and historian David Thomson asked,
"Is there a greater contrast between energy and routine than that between Elvis
Presley the phenomenon, live and on record, and Presley the automaton on film?"[29]

Change of Habit (1969) was Presley's final non-concert movie. His films were no
longer profitable, for by the late sixties, the Hippie movement had developed and
musical acts like Jefferson Airplane, Sly and the Family Stone, Grateful Dead, The
Doors and Janis Joplin were dominating the airwaves.[30] Therefore, Presley shifted his
career back to recording and touring, and his last two theatrical films were concert
documentaries in the early 1970s. He was reported to have been offered the starring
role in West Side Story (1960), and Jon Voight's role in Midnight Cowboy (1969) but
either he or the Colonel turned them down.[citation needed] In 1974, he lost the opportunity
to co-star with Barbra Streisand in a big-budget remake of A Star Is Born when Parker
demanded 50 percent of the profits from the production along with other extravagant
financial demands.[31] With Kris Kristofferson as the male lead, the film became a
major hit.

The type of Elvis Presley film varied widely, from the drama of Jailhouse Rock
(1957) and King Creole, the latter directed by Michael Curtiz and based on the Harold
Robbins 1952 novel A Stone for Danny Fisher, to the light comedies Kissin' Cousins
(1964) and Tickle Me (1965). A quote attributed to Elvis Presley in the documentary
This is Elvis alleged that some of the films even made him physically ill.[citation needed]

Top grossing movies at the box office

Based on the Box Office Report database, the top grossing Elvis Presley movies based
on the yearly Top 20 box office rankings were:

1. Viva Las Vegas (May, 1964, MGM), no. 11 on the list of the top grossing movies of
the year in the U.S., $5.152 million
2. Jailhouse Rock (October, 1957, MGM), no. 12, $3.9 million
3. Blue Hawaii (November, 1961, Paramount), no. 13, $4.7 million
4. G.I. Blues (August, 1960, Paramount), no. 15, $4.3 million
5. Loving You (July, 1957, Paramount), tied for no. 15, $3.7 million
6. Girls! Girls! Girls! (November, 1962, Paramount), no. 19, $3.6 million
7. Love Me Tender (November, 1956, Twentieth Century Fox), no. 20, $4.2 million
8. Girl Happy (1965, MGM), no. 25, $3.1 million
9. Kissin' Cousins (1964, MGM), no. 26, $2.8 million
10. Roustabout (1964, Paramount), no. 28, $3 million

Please note that these figures have not been adjusted for inflation.
[edit] Awards and nominations

Elvis on Tour (1972) won the 1973 Golden Globe award for Best Documentary film.
Academy Award-winning director Martin Scorsese was the montage supervisor for
the film. Andrew W. Solt was a researcher on the movie.

Anthony Lawrence and Allan Weiss were nominated for the award for Best Written
American Musical by the Writers Guild of America for writing the script for the 1964
film Roustabout (1964).

In 2004, Jailhouse Rock (1957) was selected for preservation in the United States
National Film Registry as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically
significant."

[edit] Filmography
Year Film Role Trivia

First movie role. The only film in which Presley's

character dies on-screen; also the only one in which
1956 Love Me Tender Clint Reno
he did not get top billing. He came third, after Richard
Egan and Debra Paget.

Jimmy The first Elvis film in color. Presley's parents were cast
Loving You Tompkins as audience members. After his mother's death in
(Deke Rivers) 1958, Elvis never watched this movie again.
1957 Co-star Judy Tyler was killed in a car wreck on July 4,
1957, three days after filming ended. Presley refused
Jailhouse Rock Vince Everett
to watch the movie as a result. Composer Mike Stoller
appears in the movie as the band pianist.

Presley's favorite of the films he made.[5] This was also

the last Elvis movie filmed in black and white. The
1958 King Creole Danny Fisher
movie was loosely based on a 1952 novel A Stone for
Danny Fisher by Harold Robbins.

The 32nd Armored was Presley's regiment when he

was in the army so it was used for the film. The
G.I. Blues Tulsa McLean soundtrack album went to No. 1 on Billboard and
1960 spent over two years (111 weeks) on the Billboard
charts.

Andy Warhol's famous diptych of Presley as a cowboy

Flaming Star Pacer Burton
came from a shot in this movie.

1961 Wild in the Millie Perkins broke her arm when she had to slap
Glenn Tyler
Country Presley's character.

Blue Hawaii Chad Gates The soundtrack for this movie became Presley's most
 successful chart album. It spent twenty consecutive
weeks on the #1 spot of the Billboard Top LP's chart in
1961-1962. Golden Globe and Tony Award winning
actress Angela Lansbury co-starred as Elvis' mother,
although in reality she was only 10 years older than
him.

Follow That Toby Shot in Citrus County, Florida and Levy County,
Dream Kwimper Florida.

Walter Gulick
/ Dustin The remake of a 1937 film, Gig Young and Charles
1962 Kid Galahad
Holmes / Kid Bronson co-starred.
Galahad

Ross The only one of his feature films to be nominated for

Girls! Girls! Girls!
Carpenter a Golden Globe.

It Happened at Mike Uncredited movie debut of Kurt Russell; he runs on

the World's Fair Edwards screen and kicks Elvis in the shin.
1963
Mike Teri Garr makes an uncredited movie debut as an
Fun in Acapulco
Windgren extra, Ursula Andress co-starred.

Elvis' first dual role. Presley loathed the "strawberry

Josh blond" wig he had to wear as the hillbilly cousin in
Kissin' Cousins Morgan / this film, in part because it made him look as he had
Jodie Tatum before deciding to dye his hair black in 1957. [32], Jack
Albertson co-starred.

Elvis had an off-screen romance with his co-star, Ann-

1964 Lucky Margret. This would be Presley's most successful film
Viva Las Vegas
Jackson at the box office, returning more than $5 million to
MGM on an investment of less than $1 million.

Joan Freeman and Barbara Stanwyck were co-stars.

Charlie Presley insisted on doing his own stunt work,
Roustabout
Rogers including a fight scene in which he incurred a head
wound.[33]

1965 Shelley Fabares co-starred in one of her three films

Girl Happy Rusty Wells
with Elvis.

Lonnie This is the only movie for which Presley did not record
Beale / a new soundtrack. All the songs had been recorded
Tickle Me
Panhandle between 1960 and 1963 and had already been
Kid released.

Harum Scarum Johnny The only film Elvis was paid a million dollars to act in,
 although part was paid in installments. Mary Ann
Tyronne
Mobley co-starred, as she had in Girl Happy.

Frankie and Donna Douglas of The Beverly Hillbillies and Harry

Johnny
Johnny Morgan of M*A*S*H were the co-stars.

1966 Paradise, At age ten, this was Donna Butterworth's last picture.
Rick Richards
Hawaiian Style James Shigeta co-starred.

Spinout Mike McCoy Once again, Shelley Fabares co-starred.

The ship featured in the first part of the movie is the

USS Gallant, an ocean-going minesweeper. The movie
Easy Come, Easy Lt. (j.g.) Ted
featured Pat Priest, Elsa Lanchester, and Pat
Go Jackson
Harrington, Jr., who later played Schneider in the
1970s TV series One Day at a Time.
1967
Only movie Annette Day ever made. It co-starred
Double Trouble Guy Lambert
Norman Rossington.

Scott The red sports car in this film is a 1959 Chevrolet

Clambake Heyward / Corvette Stingray Racer. Also featured: Bill Bixby and
'Tom Wilson' Shelley Fabares.

Joe Elvis as an Indian rodeo rider. Burgess Meredith

Stay Away, Joe
Lightcloud played his father.

Steve The auto-racing film co-starred Nancy Sinatra, with

Speedway
Grayson cameos by NASCAR drivers.
1968
Albert, the Great Dane in the movie, was played by
Live a Little, Love Presley's own dog, Brutus. Presley's father is a model
Greg Nolan
a Little for one of the photo shoots. The movie featured the
song "A Little Less Conversation".

Only film in which he was not filmed singing. Also the

only movie in which Presley wears a beard.
Charro! Jess Wade
Gunsmoke and Rawhide producer Charles Marquis
Warren was the director and screenwriter.

The Trouble with Only Presley release that was part of a double bill,
1969 Walter Hale
Girls with The Green Slime (1968).

Playing a doctor who falls for a nun, this would be

Dr. John Presley's last feature film role. Mary Tyler Moore and
Change of Habit
Carpenter Edward Asner co-starred prior to their Mary Tyler
Moore Show success on TV.

1970 Elvis: That's the As himself Concert film; shot during Presley's third season in Las
Way It Is Vegas.
 Concert film; 1973 Golden Globe winner for Best
1972 Elvis On Tour As himself
Documentary film (it tied with Walls of Fire [1971]).

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Victor 2008, p. 2.
2. ^ Guralnick and Jorgensen 1999, p. 67.
3. ^ Guralnick and Jorgensen 1999, p. 68.
4. ^ "Notes for The Rainmaker (1957)". TCM.com.
http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=19458&category=Notes. Retrieved 2009-
12-27.
5. ^ a b Bronson 1985, p. 1959.
6. ^ Victor 2008, p. 315.
7. ^ Harbinson, p. 62.
8. ^ See Brett Farmer, Spectacular Passions: Cinema, Fantasy, Gay Male Spectatorships
(Duke University Press, 2000), p. 86.
9. ^ Brown and Broeske 1997, p. 124; Billy Poore, Rockabilly: A Forty-Year Journey
(1998), p. 20.
10. ^ Gordon, Robert - The Elvis Treasures (2002 Elvis Presley Enterprises), p. 24.
11. ^ Thompson, Howard (1958-07-04). "King Creole: Actor With Guitar". New York
Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?
_r=1&res=9D05E0D91E31E73BBC4C53DFB1668383649EDE. Retrieved 2009-12-23.
12. ^ Falk and Falk 2005, p. 52.
13. ^ "Elvis goes Hollywood: Fun in the sun, and not much else". CNN.com.
14. ^ Clark 2006, p. 508.
15. ^ Marcus 1980, p. 391
16. ^ Ponce de Leon 2007, p. 133.
17. ^ Caine 2005, p. 21.
18. ^ Kirchberg and Hendrickx 1999, p. 67.
19. ^ Jerry Hopkins, Elvis in Hawaii. Bess Press, 2002, p. 32.
20. ^ Hopkins, p. 31.
21. ^ Tom Lisanti, Fantasy Femmes of 60's Cinema: Interviews with 20 Actresses from
Biker, Beach, and Elvis Movies. McFarland, 2000, pp. 19, 136.
22. ^ Peter John Dyer, "The Teenage Rave." Sight and Sound, Winter 1959–60, p. 30.
23. ^ Fields, Curt (2007-08-03). "A Whole Lotta Elvis Is Goin' to the Small Screen".
Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2007/08/02/AR2007080200660.html. Retrieved 2009-12-27.
24. ^ Guralnick 1999, p. 171.
25. ^ Christopher Lyon, The International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers. Vol. 3,
1987, p. 511.
26. ^ Presley 1985, p. 188.
27. ^ Lisanti 2000, p. 18.
28. ^ See "Elvis Aaron Presley 1957: The King of Rock 'n' Roll". Elvis Australia.
http://www.elvispresleymusic.com.au/elvis_presley_1957.html. Retrieved 2010-01-
04.
29. ^ Thomson 1998, p. 602.
30. ^ Lisanti 2000, p. 9.
31. ^ Guralnick 1999, pp. 563–65.
32. ^ Guralnick 1999, p. 157.
33. ^ Guralnick 1999, p. 169.
[edit] References

 Bronson, Fred (1985). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits. Billboard. ISBN
0823075222.
 Brown, Peter Harry, and Pat H. Broeske (1997). Down at the End of Lonely Street:
The Life and Death of Elvis Presley. Signet. ISBN 0451190947.
 Caine, Andrew (2005). Interpreting Rock Movies: The Pop Film and Its Critics in
Britain. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 0719065380.
 Clark, Al (2005). "G.I. Blues", in Time Out Film Guide (11th ed.), ed. John Pym. Time
Out Guides. ISBN 1904978878.
 Falk, Ursula A., and Gerhard Falk (2005). Youth Culture and the Generation Gap.
Algora Publishing. ISBN 0875863671.
 Guralnick, Peter (1999). Careless Love. The Unmaking of Elvis Presley. Back Bay
Books. ISBN 0316332976.
 Guralnick, Peter, and Ernst Jorgensen (1999). Elvis Day by Day: The Definitive Record
of His Life and Music. Ballantine. ISBN 0345420896.
 Kirchberg, Connie, and Marc Hendrickx (1999). Elvis Presley, Richard Nixon, and the
American Dream. Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Company. ISBN 0786407166.
 Lisanti, Tom (2000). Fantasy Femmes of 60's Cinema: Interviews with 20 Actresses
from Biker, Beach, and Elvis Movies. McFarland and Company. ISBN 0786408685.
 Marcus, Greil (1980). "Rock Films," The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock &
Roll, second edition. Random House. ISBN 0394739388.
 Ponce de Leon, Charles L. (2007). Fortunate Son: The Life of Elvis Presley. Macmillan.
ISBN 0809016419.
 Presley, Priscilla (1985). Elvis and Me. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. ISBN
0399129847.
 Thomson, David (1998). A Biographical Dictionary of Film (3d ed.). Knopf. ISBN
0679755640.
 Victor, Adam (2008). The Elvis Encyclopedia. Overlook Duckworth. ISBN 1585675989.

[hide]
v • d • e

Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley · Elvis · Elvis' Christmas Album · Elvis Is

Back! · His Hand in Mine · Something for Everybody · Pot
Luck  · How Great Thou Art  · From Elvis in Memphis · From
Memphis to Vegas/From Vegas to Memphis · Elvis Country
Studio albums (I'm 10,000 Years Old) · Love Letters from Elvis · Elvis Sings
the Wonderful World of Christmas · Elvis Now  · He Touched
Me  · Elvis (1973) · Raised on Rock/For Ol' Times Sake ·
Good Times · Promised Land  · Today · From Elvis Presley
Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee · Moody Blue
On Stage  · Elvis: As Recorded at Madison Square Garden ·
Live albums Aloha from Hawaii: Via Satellite  · Elvis: As Recorded Live
on Stage in Memphis · Having Fun with Elvis on Stage  ·
Elvis in Concert
Soundtrack albums Loving You · King Creole  · G.I. Blues  · Blue Hawaii  · Girls!
 Girls! Girls! · It Happened at the World's Fair · Fun in
Acapulco · Kissin' Cousins · Roustabout Soundtrack  · Girl
Happy · Harum Scarum · Frankie and Johnny · Paradise
Hawaiian Style  · Spinout · Double Trouble · Clambake ·
Speedway · Elvis  · That's the Way It Is
Elvis' Golden Records · For LP Fans Only · A Date with
Elvis · 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong · Elvis'
Golden Records Volume 3 · Elvis for Everyone · Elvis' Gold
Records Volume 4 · Elvis Sings Flaming Star · Let's Be
Compilation Friends  · Almost in Love · C'mon Everybody · I Got Lucky ·
albums Elvis: A Legendary Performer Volume 1 · Elvis: A
Legendary Performer Volume 2 · The Sun Sessions ·
Welcome to My World  · Elvis' Gold Records Volume 5 ·
Amazing Grace: His Greatest Sacred Performances ·
Command Performances: The Essential 60s Masters II ·
ELV1S  · 2nd to None  · Hitstory  · The Essential Elvis Presley
The King of Rock 'n' Roll: The Complete 50s Masters · From
Nashville to Memphis: The Essential 60s Masters · Walk A
Box sets Mile in My Shoes: The Essential 70s Masters · Live in Las
Vegas  · Today, Tomorrow, and Forever · Elvis: Close Up ·
Elvis75: Good Rockin' Tonight · Elvis: The Complete
Masters Collection
Love Me Tender  · Loving You · Jailhouse Rock · King
Creole · G.I. Blues  · Flaming Star · Wild in the Country ·
Blue Hawaii · Follow That Dream: Elvis Rocks the Beach! ·
Kid Galahad · Girls! Girls! Girls! · It Happened at the
Filmography World's Fair · Fun in Acapulco · Kissin' Cousins · Viva Las
Vegas  · Roustabout  · Girl Happy · Tickle Me · Harum
Scarum · Frankie and Johnny · Paradise, Hawaiian Style ·
Spinout · Easy Come, Easy Go · Double Trouble ·
Clambake  · Stay Away, Joe · Speedway · Live a Little, Love a
Little  · Charro! · The Trouble with Girls · Change of Habit
Documentaries The Pied Piper of Cleveland  · Elvis: That's the Way It Is ·
Elvis on Tour · This Is Elvis · The New Gladiators
The Frank Sinatra Timex Show: Welcome Home Elvis · Elvis
TV specials Presley's '68 Comeback Special · Aloha from Hawaii · Elvis
In Concert
Stage shows
Cooking with Elvis · All Shook Up · Jailhouse Rock · Elvis.
based on Elvis The Musical  · Are You Lonesome Tonight?
"Heartbreak Hotel" · "I Want You, I Need You, I Love
You" · "Don't Be Cruel" · "Hound Dog" · "Love Me
Tender" · "Love Me" · "Too Much" · "All Shook Up" · "(Let
Top 10
Me Be Your) Teddy Bear" · "Jailhouse Rock" · "Don't" ·
singles "Wear My Ring Around Your Neck" · "Hard Headed
Woman" · "One Night" · "I Got Stung" · "(Now and Then
There's) A Fool Such as I" · "I Need Your Love Tonight" ·
"A Big Hunk o' Love" · "Stuck on You" · "It's Now or
 Never" · "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" · "Surrender" · "I
Feel so Bad" · "(Marie's the Name) His Latest Flame" ·
"Little Sister" · "Can't Help Falling in Love" · "Good Luck
Charm" · "She's Not You" · "Return to Sender" · "(You're
The) Devil in Disguise" · "Bossa Nova Baby" · "Crying in
the Chapel" · "In the Ghetto" · "Suspicious Minds" · "Don't
Cry Daddy" · "The Wonder of You" · "Burning Love"
Sam Phillips · Stephen H. Sholes · June Juanico · Memphis
Related people Mafia · Colonel Tom Parker · Lisa Marie Presley · Priscilla
Presley · Judy Spreckels · Linda Thompson
Discography · Graceland · Cultural depictions · Cultural
impact · Phenomenon · Personal relationships ·
Impersonators · Elvis and Gladys  · Elvis and Me · Sightings ·
Related articles Elvis-A-Rama Museum · Hit singles · Sun recordings ·
Million Dollar Quartet · List of Elvis Presley songs · Songs
about Elvis · Elvis Presley Enterprises · Elvis has left the
building · Elvis Radio · FBI Files on Elvis Presley

Believe it or not, Elvis Presley actually made some good movies.

Sure, at the height of his film career, throughout the 1960s, he was cranking out three tame, corny,

formulaic musicals a year, movies that robbed him of his rock 'n' roll edge and made him safe for

children. But it's time to reexamine the conventional wisdom that Elvis' movies are a part of his career

that's best forgotten.

On the 75th anniversary of his birth (Jan. 8), his movies are getting a reappraisal, in essays like this one

from the Los Angeles Times and in festivals like the one today over at Turner Classic Movies, where the

film scholars who run the channel have programmed a whole day of arguably classic Elvis movies.

Turns out Elvis really could act, if he had a decent director and script and not too many sugary songs to

sing. Of course, many of Elvis' best on-screen moments came when he was just being himself, in

documentaries and concert films. We've counted down movies showing Elvis' dramatic talents as well

as his natural stage gifts in the list below of the King's 10 best feature films.

10. 'Girl Happy' (1965)

Piffle, but entertaining piffle. Elvis is a bandleader who reluctantly chaperones a mobster's daughter

during spring break in Fort Lauderdale. He has good chemistry, however, with the hot-to-trot coed

(Shelley Fabares, a favorite leading lady of Presley's, who would star opposite him in two more films).
Proof of how much star power and pure entertainment value Elvis could radiate, even in one of his more

perfunctory vehicles.

'Spring Fever,' from 'Girl Happy"

9. 'Live a Little, Love a Little' (1968)

Most Elvis movies, with all their squeaky-clean vaudeville spectacle, seemed an anachronism in the

revolutionary 1960s. Not this one. In this musical, one of his last, Elvis is actually shown in a woman's

bed, and he even has a psychedelic freak-out. Today, this one is best known for introducing the song 'A

Little Less Conversation,' which became a massive worldwide hit in a remixed version 33 years later,

nearly a quarter century after Presley's death.

Trailer for 'Live a Little, Love a Little'

8. 'This Is Elvis' (1981)

Col. Tom Parker, Elvis' lifelong manager, allowed filmmakers Matthew Leo and Andrew Solt access to

Elvis' previously unseen home movies. From those and concert footage, they compiled this warts-and-

all account of the King's career, from its early zenith to its long, painful ebb. The movie also uses actors

for voiceovers and reenactments of pivotal moments in Presley's life; this seems like old hat now, in the

era of 'The E! True Hollywood Story' and 'Behind the Music,' but it was controversial and

groundbreaking at the time.

Concert medley from 'This Is Elvis'

7. 'Viva Las Vegas' (1964)

Elvis found his greatest leading lady in Ann-Margret, the only one in all his musicals who could compete

with him in showmanship, raw sex appeal, and hip-shaking moves. As the two try to one-up each other,

they set the screen on fire.

'Come On, Everybody,' from 'Viva Las Vegas'

6. 'Wild in the Country' (1961)

Elvis' most underrated movie is also his least musical and contains one of his most dramatic

performances. In this film (with a screenplay by Clifford Odets, of all people), the King plays an aspiring

writer who gets into girl trouble (and not fun girl trouble) with three women (Tuesday Weld, Hope Lange,

and Millie Perkins). The movie's failure at the box office crushed Elvis' dreams of becoming a serious

thespian; after this, it was strictly formula musicals for the next eight years.

Opening of 'Wild in the Country'

5. 'Flaming Star' (1960)

In another strong, largely non-musical performance, Elvis stars in this revisionist Western as a biracial

man torn between his white and Kiowa heritages. A still frame of a gun-toting Elvis became an iconic

Andy Warhol print. The great action filmmaker Don Siegel ('Dirty Harry') directed.

Trailer for 'Flaming Star'

4. 'Elvis on Tour' (1972)

This concert film shows Presley at the beginning of the fat-Elvis hunka-hunka-burnin'-love period, but

he's still a riveting stage performer with tremendous vocal chops and charisma to burn. Winner of a

Golden Globe for Best Documentary, the film features montages edited by the then-unknown Martin

Scorsese, who uses the same vivid split-screen technique he employed in 'Woodstock.'

Concert medley from 'Elvis on Tour'

3. 'Elvis: That's the Way It Is' (1970)

Elvis was still at the top of his game during the filming of this backstage doc, made at the start of his Las

Vegas period. The initial cut of this movie featured more fan footage and fewer live songs, an imbalance

that was rectified in a 2001 reissue. It's the best of Elvis' theatrically-released concert films (though the

best overall is the made-for-TV 1968 'Comeback Special').

 Trailer for 'Elvis: That's the Way It Is'

2. 'Jailhouse Rock' (1957)

In Elvis' third film, he truly came into his own as a screen performer. There's more dramatic grit than

usual in this tale of a short-tempered ex-con whose gift for music brings him both fame and heartbreak.

Plus, there's the indelible images of dancing convicts in that thrilling, deftly choreographed title number.

Trailer for 'Jailhouse Rock'

1. 'King Creole' (1958)

Elvis longed to be another James Dean, and in this gritty drama of vice and corruption in New Orleans,
he nearly got there. Directed by Michael Curtiz ('Casablanca'), the film stars Elvis as a nightclub singer
trying to escape the clutches of a Big Easy crime boss. (Walter Matthau is surprisingly terrifying in this
role, and Elvis holds his own on screen opposite him.) Elvis' edgiest screen performance also features
some of his rawest-rocking tunes (notably, 'Trouble' and 'Hard-Headed Woman'). After this movie came
Elvis' two-year stint in the Army and a decade of mostly mediocre musicals, so

LOVE ME TENDER
THE ELVIS PRESLEY COLLECTION
LET ME
WE'RE GONNA MOVE
Love Me Tender [DVD](1956) DVD
Elvis Presley makes his feature film debut in this Civil War-era musical drama. The King plays
Clint Reno, a Texas man too young to fight in the war. Clint marries his older brother Vance's
sweetheart after the family hears reports of his death on the battlefield. When Vance turns out
to be alive, his return is fraught with emotional turmoil and complicated further by a missing
government payroll stolen by Vance's comrades-in-arms. Songs include "Poor Boy," "We're
Gonna Move," and the title tune. Richard Egan, Debra Paget, and Robert Middleton also star.
89 min. Widescreen; Soundtracks: English Dolby Digital stereo, Dolby Digital mono, Spanish
Dolby Digital mono; Subtitles: English, Spanish; audio commentary; featurettes; photo gallery;