Not so wild in flaming star country: Elvisarama #6/#7, Flaming Star & Go wild in the country

So my first post for a week or two brings you a twofer on two strange films in the Elvis cannon. Yup, he goes on to make a few more westerns but 'Go wild in the country' is a strange pile of hokum akin to 'Serious charge' starring Cliff Richard. No vids to link this time and this one if for completist only...check my quick- fire follow up post of Plan B 10/6/11 for some choonage. You know the drill...

The songs (slim pickings folks!)


'Flaming star'- Not bad...
'A cane and a high starched collar'- hideous country dancing nightmare!

An 'actual' film from Elvis (directed by Don Siegel): Elvis plays a mixed- race dude, there's a scene where someone gets an axe in the head (I'm sure that never happens again); Elvis' mum almost get raped by hicks in the scene where he unleashes his vengence with the axe and to round it off he shivs a native- American. Despite all this I can remember next to nothing about this film which falls flat and lands somewhere in the column with 'Love me tender'. Brace yourself folks: were gonna go down hill fast from now on!

Elvis= Pacer Burton

Score= 6/10

Elvis Score= 2/3

Leading lady= N0ne

Songs= 2

Viewed= 14/12/07

I barely remember this one and I have since discovered that Elv was dating the greatly-monkired (wild gild, single- mother lush) Tuesday Weld. We have Elv killing his brother; he's on parole; strange relationship with his probation officer..This one is pretty dull, overlong but with surprisingly few songs. Elv goes good and gets to college in the end but the MILF parole officer attempts suicide and admits she has a heart defect?! It's like Murder she wrote!


Songs-


'Wild in the country'- forgettable ballad
'I tripped, I stumbled, I fell'- Pretty good serenade in his truck?!
'?'- Slow forgettable song to the 'lush' (Tuesday)


Good dialogue!

'He's got a cup full of anger ready to spill over'!

Elvis= Glen Tyler

Score= 5/10

Elvis Score= 2/3

Leading lady= Hope Lange

Songs= 3

Viewed= 18/12/07

Do not let Elvis babysit: Elvisarama #5, G.I. Blues, 1960

And so Elvis goes into the army after 'King Creole' and comes out and makes G.I. Blues which is set in Germany. Life imitating art? Well there's no scene of Elv heading into East Germany by accident in his tank; wrestling with Priscilla in her white daks and I hope to hell he never sang 'Wooden heart' to the boys in the platoon. Onwards and downwards here we go...

The platters that (don't really) matter...

'G.I. Blues'- Not bad but the barbershop grates a little...
'Doin' the best I can'- Nice ballad that is initiated by 'Blue suede shoes' playing on the juke
'Frankfurt special'-  Great tune in a train carriage...'Go special go!'
'Shoppin' around'- Pretty good...
'Tonight is so right for love'- OKayish...
'Wooden heart'- HITS ROCK BOTTOM! Singing in a Punch & Judy tent. Elvis loses his dignity for the first time on screen...The chorus is in German and the kids join in bleurgh!
'Pocketful of rainbows'- Duet sang in a bizarre cable car sequence
'Big boots'- Horrid lullaby sang to a kid (watch out for more of these turds in later flicks)
'Didja ever'- Patriotic tune with all the audience joining in!

Stuff...

*Lots of redheads!
*Bizarre puppet show
*'Blue suede shoes' on the jukebox...
*Elvis's crap babysitting!
*Elvis proposes..
*'Didja ever' sang to the camera
*First duet on screen
*First 'ROCK BOTTOM' moment!

Elvis= Tulsa McClean

Score= 6/10

Elvis Score= 2/3

Leading lady= 

Songs= 10 in total

Viewed= 8/12/07

Get your gumbo: Elvisarama #4 King Creole, 1958

So it's film 3 of the 3 Elvis greats and the finest of the bunch of the 31 (27 to go!). This is the first one to feature someone other than Elvis that you probably will know- Walter Matthau. Lap up the tunes folks this one is worth buying the soundtrack for!

'Crawfish'

-Weird opening tune. Non- naturalistic musical moment! (Only the second to date!)

'Steadfast, loyal and true'

- Crappy title for an accapella school anthem

'Loverdoll'

-Cheesy guitar tune when Elv is the decoy at the five and dime. 

'Trouble'

-Stone cold classic alert! On stage in the club in his bus boy outfit!

'Dixieland rock'

-Decent tune with dixieland jazz twist. 'All pooped out when the clock hit four'

'Young dreams'

-Mid tempo tune drowned in barbershop backing

'New Orleans'

-Vocal jousting with barbershop is much better than the last one

'Hard headed woman'

-Very short snippit but v.v.v.good!

'King creole'

-More horrid backing vox but great title track. Elv gets a guitar solo!

'Don't ask me why'

-'One night' retread!

'As long as I have you'

-OK ballad

Weird Stuff-

'Get your gumbo'
'Crawfish'! 

Good Stuff

-New Orleans set
-Walter Matthau
-Walter's girl with the bob and the pointy bra!
-Good 'noirish' direction
-Femma fatale dies/ mute saves Elv

Best flick to date (and Elvis' fave). 'Trouble' and 'Crawfish' are fab. Great film that stands on it's own...fear downhill trajectory now!

Elvis= Danny Fisher

Score= 8/10

Elvis Score= 3/3

Leading lady= Delores Hart (much better than in 'Loving you') 8/10

Songs= 11 in total

Viewed= 27/11/07

I wouldn't feed this garbage to a razor back hog: Elvisarama #3, Jailhouse Rock, 1957

So it's film 2 of the 3 Elvis greats and the one you probably know best of all of 'em: Jailhouse Rock! I'll keep a lid on the booshwash jibber- jabba and focus on the platters that matter.

'Young and Beautiful'

-Slow tune sang in his prison cell

'I want to be free'

-Okayish tune at the prison talent show

'Don't leave me now'

-In the studio. Take 1= country version, take 2= with added backing vox (see the clip link). Nice sports coat Elvorino!

'Treat me nice'

-In the studio. Frickin' great (see the clip link). Nice sports coat Elvorino!

'Jailhouse rock'

-Classic alert! Elvis is going the full on MGM style big musical staging number in a clip you all know, and if you don't you will be severely spanked with a wet plimsoll.

'(You're so square) Baby I don't care'

-Weird film within a film moment

Weird Stuff-

Elvis commits manslaughter in a bar?!

Narration to the camera by the lawyer

Best bits

'You'll never make a guitar player: you got no rhythm in your bones'

'I wouldn't feed this garbage to a razor back hog'

'I'm gonna buy a guitar and sing love songs to you' Elvis to his landlady!

Elvis is a bad-ass, money- obsessed, bitter ex- con; a naive dude who defends an old trollops honour at the start. Again, the romance is underplayed (she's his manager/ producer) and Scotty Moore et al get on screen as well. As good, if not better, film than 'Loving you', albeit with a weaker soundtrack.

-He's just a 'kid from the neighbourhood'

- Hot groupie in his dressing room- "That's kissin', cousin''

-"Jumpin' beans in his jeans"

-"Hey Sideburns"

For the songs we have a solid selection of rock 'n' roll tunes on one of the few LP soundtracks worth buying in the Elvo (another moniker at the Den house) cannon. First up the rather tame title track that gets an orchestral treatment over the opening titles; 'Got a lot o' lovin' to do' is a stone cold classic where Elvis tones down the moves onstage at a political rally where he gets up to 'boogie woogie'!; (Let's have a) Party which is heard twice is decent but not a patch on the Wanda Jackson version- this is another song sung on a truck!; 'Lonesome cowboy' features a foxy gal in shorts in the audience!; 'Hot dog' is another live track featuring screaming bobby soxxer types. Nice black striped shirt on Elv; 'Mean woman blues' is great and is his foray into singing in a barroom; 'Teddy bear' is another tune that you'll all know that I'm no fan of. This one is delivered onstage with a mean cowboy shirt and necktie.

Plenty of high points and I fear that this may be the template that gets watered down as we progress through the next 29. Elvis is Deke: a singer who makes it...his manager shocks the media with his wild image etc...After a hectic first half hour or so we move to a kinda love triangle. This has great songs (best yet!) with a relatively formulaic script. No songs are delivered in the 'musical style. A winner!

Elvis= Vince Everett

Score= 7/10

Elvis Score= 3/3

Leading lady= Judy Tyler 7/10

Songs= 9/10

Viewed= 26/11/07

Jumpin' beans in his jeans: Elvis filmarama 2: Loving you, 1957

And so on to the second Elvis (or Elvis P as Max Bygraves calls him in 'Fings ain't what they used to be'!) flick which along with the next 2 sets up the best run of films and probably 3 of his best overall...It could be the story of Elv (or Schmelmann as he sometimes called in these parts!) with the rags to riches story of him making it as a rock star (hence the name change!)

Good Stuff-

-He's just a 'kid from the neighbourhood'

- Hot groupie in his dressing room- "That's kissin', cousin''

-"Jumpin' beans in his jeans"

-"Hey Sideburns"

For the songs we have a solid selection of rock 'n' roll tunes on one of the few LP soundtracks worth buying in the Elvo (another moniker at the Den house) cannon. First up the rather tame title track that gets an orchestral treatment over the opening titles; 'Got a lot o' lovin' to do' is a stone cold classic where Elvis tones down the moves onstage at a political rally where he gets up to 'boogie woogie'!; (Let's have a) Party which is heard twice is decent but not a patch on the Wanda Jackson version- this is another song sung on a truck!; 'Lonesome cowboy' features a foxy gal in shorts in the audience!; 'Hot dog' is another live track featuring screaming bobby soxxer types. Nice black striped shirt on Elv; 'Mean woman blues' is great and is his foray into singing in a barroom; 'Teddy bear' is another tune that you'll all know that I'm no fan of. This one is delivered onstage with a mean cowboy shirt and necktie.

Plenty of high points and I fear that this may be the template that gets watered down as we progress through the next 29. Elvis is Deke: a singer who makes it...his manager shocks the media with his wild image etc...After a hectic first half hour or so we move to a kinda love triangle. This has great songs (best yet!) with a relatively formulaic script. No songs are delivered in the 'musical style. A winner!

Elvis= Deke Rivers/ Jimmy Tompkins

Score= 7/10

Elvis Score= 3/3

Leading lady= Dolores Hart 7/10

Songs= 9/10

Viewed= 17/11/07

Debra Paget's nice high waisted jeans (Elvis filmarama no 1: Love me tender, 1956)

In 2007 I braced myself and headed into uncharted waters with the task of watching all 31 of Elvis' films (for those of you interested a list of 'em is here). Over the coming weeks I'm gonna let you folks know what schizz I scribbled about 'em. I promise there will be some good, bad and extremely ugly songs and clips for you to lap up. First up: 'Love me tender'

First off I have to say that I have never been a big fan of the song 'Love me tender' which I find on the schnoozy side of boring (you get multiple versions here), that said I had high hopes for a 'gritty' first Elvis film. The plot is as follows: Elvis's brothers steal some cash under orders during the civil war and don't realise the war is over and decide to keep it. This one is in black and white and Elvis croaks at the end.

For the songs we have the musical theatre styled 'We're gonna move' ('nice song with deep backing vocals'); 'Love me tender'; 'Let me' ('Crazy song sung wearing a boot lace tie on the back of a truck'); 'Poor boy' ('Hillbilly accordian') Over all light on the songs with nothing much to remember/ write home about...

Elvis= Clint Reno

Score= 8/10

Elvis Score= 2/3

Leading lady= Debra Paget 5/10

Songs= 6/10

Viewed= 17/11/07

Elvis fact- Elvis's first word on screen' 'Vance!'

Lost for words

It ain't often that Den is lost for words so he's going to let the stuff do the talking this week...

Elvis Presley- (I'm a) Roustabout

Bill Haley & The Comets- Thirteen women

The Renegades- Thirteen women

Russ Winstanley's getting bigger....Jaime Winstone's getting smaller. See some slightly embaressing moves to some Northern Soul on Paul O' Grady's show...

Wigan Casino booshwash on Paul O' Grady

Anna Fur Laxis