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TCM Schedule for Thursday, July 8, 2021 -- Primetime Theme: Star of the Month - Elvis!
Today's daylight theme is Famous Redheads, and we've got a bunch of them, Rita Hayworth, Greer Garson, Susan Hayward, Rhonda Fleming and much more. Then in primetime, TCM returns to Star of the Month Elvis Presley. Tell us more, Roger!Star of the Month: Elvis Presley
By Roger Fristoe
June 22, 2021
Thursdays in July / 22 Movies
Elvis Presley, TCM Star of the Month for July, is a cultural icon. During his reign, he was one of the hottest live acts in the history of show business and the most successful recording artist of all time. Elvis was an original – the first mainstream performer to blend gospel music, rockabilly, rhythm-and-blues and rock’n’roll. He wrapped it all up in an onstage persona so overtly sexual that it created a storm of controversy in the modest 1950s and beyond.
Presley was also a film star with an imposing lineup of popular movies. It is this aspect of his career that leads to our tribute, which marks the first time he has been named Star of the Month. “Elvis dreamed of being an actor from his teen years of ushering at the Loew’s Theatre in Memphis,” offers my journalist friend Alanna Nash, a Presley enthusiast and biographer who is the author of four books about him, including The Colonel: The Extraordinary Story of Colonel Tom Parker and Elvis Presley. “He especially studied Tony Curtis and later James Dean. When he made his first screen test, for The Rainmaker (1956), everyone was stunned at his emotional directness and ability to be himself in front of the camera. Then they added music and electricity bounced off the walls of the sound stage.”
Elvis Aaron Presley was born in a two-room shotgun house in East Tupelo, MS, on January 8, 1935. He was the son of the former Gladys Love Smith, to whom he would remain close for the remainder of his life, and Vernon Elvis Presley, a worker at odd jobs. Elvis had a twin brother who was stillborn. When Elvis was 13, the family moved to Memphis, TN, where he attended Humes High School and attracted attention by singing in talent shows. His delivery was influenced by country music and the gospel singing he heard at local churches. He was already developing his trademark look of slicked-back hair, sideburns and flashy clothes.
After graduation from high school Elvis worked as a truck driver as well as movie-theater usher. Meanwhile, although he had no formal musical training and could not read music, he landed some gigs where he was billed as “The Hillbilly Cat” and sang country and blues numbers. In 1953, Presley began recording songs at Sun Records, a Memphis studio that specialized in Black performers. Sam Phillips, the head of the company, had said he was searching for “a white man who had the “Negro sound,” convinced that it would create a sensation.
Phillips found that performer in Presley, who had his first successful single with Sun in 1954, “That’s All Right,” backed by “Blue Moon of Kentucky.” Presley signed his first contract with legendary manager-promoter Colonel Tom Parker in August 1955. Later that year, Parker arranged for the transfer of Presley’s recording contract from Sun Records to RCA Victor. Parker would become Presley’s solo professional representative for the rest of the singer’s life, managing every aspect of his career and, some said, his personal life as well. (After Presley’s death, Parker also managed his estate for a time.)
Presley’s first single for RCA, “Heartbreak Hotel” in 1956, was a No. 1 hit. He released his first album for the company later that year. Meanwhile, his onstage charisma, complete with gyrating hips and shaking legs, was driving young female audiences wild. His string of best-selling records, along with personal appearances and network TV shows, would establish Presley as the “King of Rock’n’Roll.”
Hollywood came calling and distinguished producer Hal B. Wallis (Casablanca, 1942) worked through Parker to sign Presley to a film contract. In all, Wallis would produce nine Elvis movies. The screen test for Wallis’ The Rainmaker, though striking, did not lead to a role in that film. Instead, Presley made his film debut on loan-out to 20th Century-Fox for Love Me Tender (1956). In this Western, Elvis was third-billed after Richard Egan and Debra Paget and sang four songs. (Presley would be top-billed in all his other films.)
All told, Presley appeared in 31 narrative movies. TCM’s roundup includes 21 of these, along with a concert film released in 1981.
Jailhouse Rock (1957), Presley’s first film for MGM, is a lively black-and-white, wide-screen musical directed by Richard Thorpe. The highlight of this one is a strikingly performed production number built around Presley’s delivery of the title song, with a chorus of male prisoners and choreography derived from Elvis’s spontaneous movements. Loving You (1957) and King Creole (1958), both produced by Wallis at Paramount, offered Presley opportunities to test himself as an actor. But audiences – and, reportedly, Wallis himself – seemed to prefer him in escapist fare, rocking out to hit songs.
Presley was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1958 and served two years active duty, much of it in Friedberg, Germany. Upon his return to Hollywood, Wallis exploited the idea of a military Elvis by producing G.I. Blues (1960) at Paramount. Playing a soldier stationed in West Germany, he romances Juliet Prowse and sings “Blue Suede Shoes.” Blue Hawaii (1961), also at Paramount, again casts Elvis as a soldier – this time one who leaves the Army to work with a tourist agency in the islands. Angela Lansbury, although only a few years older than Presley, plays his overbearing mother. Among the songs are “Can’t Help Falling in Love.”
From 1962-63 Presley appeared in three films released by United Artists that were well-reviewed by Elvis-movie standards. Kid Galahad (1962) has him as a boxer in a remake of the 1930s Warner Bros. film in which Wayne Morris had the Presley part. Follow That Dream (1962) casts Elvis as the son of a down-home family that tries to homestead on a Florida beach. It Happened at the World’s Fair (1963), set in Seattle during the Century 21 Exposition, costars Joan O’Brien and provides Elvis with 10 songs.
Next came a quartet of MGM musicals. Viva Las Vegas (1964), a highlight among Presley movies, was given first-rate production values and directed by a master of the medium, George Sidney. Above all, it provided a costar in Ann-Margret who had as much performance energy and sensual allure as Elvis himself. Kissin’ Cousins (1964) casts Elvis in double roles: one an Air Force lieutenant who wants his hillbilly relatives to allow a missile site on their land and the other a blond country boy who’s part of the family. Gene Nelson directs.
In Girl Happy (1965), nightclub singer Presley is hired by a mobster to chaperone his daughter (Shelley Fabares) during spring break in Fort Lauderdale. Boris Sagal directs, and songs include the hit “Puppet on a String.” Harum Scarum (1965) has Elvis as a movie star who visits the Middle East, becomes embroiled in a plot to assassinate a king and falls in love with the king’s daughter (Mary Ann Mobley). Gene Nelson again directs.
Presley made Tickle Me (1965) for Allied Artists, a musical comedy with an emphasis on comedy (the slapstick variety). He plays a down-on-his-luck rodeo star who goes to work at an all-female health ranch. Norman Taurog directs, and Jocelyn Lane provides the romantic interest. Back at MGM Presley appeared in Spinout (1966), playing a singer/race-car driver pursued by three different women (Shelley Fabares, Deborah Walley and Diane McBain). Taurog again directed, and the title tune made the Top 40.
Next came a pair of films for United Artists. Frankie and Johnny (1966), based on the traditional song, has Presley as Mississippi riverboat gambler Johnny with Donna Douglas as his girlfriend Frankie. Clambake (1967) casts Elvis as a millionaire’s son who trades places with water-ski instructor Will Hutchins to find a girl who loves him and not his money.
Presley starred in four more MGM vehicles from 1967-68: Double Trouble (1967) with Annette Day; Speedway with Nancy Sinatra; Live a Little, Love a Little with Michele Cary; and Stay Away, Joe with a lineup of character actors, including Burgess Meredith, Joan Blondell and Katy Jurado.
In Charro! (1969), a serious Western from National General Pictures, Presley made a final effort to prove himself as an actor. Playing a reformed outlaw attempting to save a Mexican town from his former gang, he performs the title song but does not otherwise sing. Despite expert direction by Western expert Charles Marquis Warren, the film was only mildly successful. Presley returned to MGM for the comedy-drama The Trouble with Girls (1969), in which he is the manager of a troupe of entertainers in the 1920s. A strong supporting cast includes Vincent Price, John Carradine, Sheree North and Dabney Coleman, with Peter Tewksbury directing.
Change of Habit (1970), a musical comedy-drama produced by NBC-TV and distributed by Universal Pictures, was Presley’s final narrative film. He plays a doctor in an inner-city New York City neighborhood who unwittingly falls in love with a young nun (Mary Tyler Moore). Ironically, the Change of Habit deal with NBC included a Presley TV special in 1960, a tour de force entitled simply Elvis that signaled the end of his movie career and marked his comeback as a “live” entertainer.
Elvis began touring again and through much of the next 10 years was one of the country’s top attractions, with a faithful following who often bordered on the cultish. He continued his recording career and enjoyed Top Ten hits with “Suspicious Minds” and “Burning Love.” Unfortunately, when Presley was not performing during this period, he led a reclusive and indulgent lifestyle at his Memphis home, Graceland. Overweight and unhealthy, he was only 42 when he died of a 1977 heart attack that was widely (if unofficially) attributed to drug use.
Elvis Presley was buried alongside his mother in Forest Hill Cemetery in Memphis. The remains of both were later relocated to the Meditation Garden at Graceland. Elvis was married to Priscilla Beaulieu from 1967 to 1973. They had one daughter, singer-songwriter Lisa Marie Presley. This is Elvis (1981) is a documentary directed by Malcolm Leo and Andrew Solt about Presley’s life and career. The film features dramatizations with actors portraying Elvis at various stages of his life, along with interviews of Presley and others, home movies and performance footage.
“More than 60 years after his first film, Elvis continues to fascinate and resonate, in movies and throughout popular culture,” says Nash. “He was probably the most important and enduring star ever, in part because he never separated himself from his following and loved to mingle among them, signing autographs and offering kisses from the stage.
“As Kay Wheeler, the president of his first national fan club puts it, ‘His most successful love affair was obviously between Elvis and his fans. And it has not died.’”
By Roger Fristoe
June 22, 2021
Thursdays in July / 22 Movies
Elvis Presley, TCM Star of the Month for July, is a cultural icon. During his reign, he was one of the hottest live acts in the history of show business and the most successful recording artist of all time. Elvis was an original – the first mainstream performer to blend gospel music, rockabilly, rhythm-and-blues and rock’n’roll. He wrapped it all up in an onstage persona so overtly sexual that it created a storm of controversy in the modest 1950s and beyond.
Presley was also a film star with an imposing lineup of popular movies. It is this aspect of his career that leads to our tribute, which marks the first time he has been named Star of the Month. “Elvis dreamed of being an actor from his teen years of ushering at the Loew’s Theatre in Memphis,” offers my journalist friend Alanna Nash, a Presley enthusiast and biographer who is the author of four books about him, including The Colonel: The Extraordinary Story of Colonel Tom Parker and Elvis Presley. “He especially studied Tony Curtis and later James Dean. When he made his first screen test, for The Rainmaker (1956), everyone was stunned at his emotional directness and ability to be himself in front of the camera. Then they added music and electricity bounced off the walls of the sound stage.”
Elvis Aaron Presley was born in a two-room shotgun house in East Tupelo, MS, on January 8, 1935. He was the son of the former Gladys Love Smith, to whom he would remain close for the remainder of his life, and Vernon Elvis Presley, a worker at odd jobs. Elvis had a twin brother who was stillborn. When Elvis was 13, the family moved to Memphis, TN, where he attended Humes High School and attracted attention by singing in talent shows. His delivery was influenced by country music and the gospel singing he heard at local churches. He was already developing his trademark look of slicked-back hair, sideburns and flashy clothes.
After graduation from high school Elvis worked as a truck driver as well as movie-theater usher. Meanwhile, although he had no formal musical training and could not read music, he landed some gigs where he was billed as “The Hillbilly Cat” and sang country and blues numbers. In 1953, Presley began recording songs at Sun Records, a Memphis studio that specialized in Black performers. Sam Phillips, the head of the company, had said he was searching for “a white man who had the “Negro sound,” convinced that it would create a sensation.
Phillips found that performer in Presley, who had his first successful single with Sun in 1954, “That’s All Right,” backed by “Blue Moon of Kentucky.” Presley signed his first contract with legendary manager-promoter Colonel Tom Parker in August 1955. Later that year, Parker arranged for the transfer of Presley’s recording contract from Sun Records to RCA Victor. Parker would become Presley’s solo professional representative for the rest of the singer’s life, managing every aspect of his career and, some said, his personal life as well. (After Presley’s death, Parker also managed his estate for a time.)
Presley’s first single for RCA, “Heartbreak Hotel” in 1956, was a No. 1 hit. He released his first album for the company later that year. Meanwhile, his onstage charisma, complete with gyrating hips and shaking legs, was driving young female audiences wild. His string of best-selling records, along with personal appearances and network TV shows, would establish Presley as the “King of Rock’n’Roll.”
Hollywood came calling and distinguished producer Hal B. Wallis (Casablanca, 1942) worked through Parker to sign Presley to a film contract. In all, Wallis would produce nine Elvis movies. The screen test for Wallis’ The Rainmaker, though striking, did not lead to a role in that film. Instead, Presley made his film debut on loan-out to 20th Century-Fox for Love Me Tender (1956). In this Western, Elvis was third-billed after Richard Egan and Debra Paget and sang four songs. (Presley would be top-billed in all his other films.)
All told, Presley appeared in 31 narrative movies. TCM’s roundup includes 21 of these, along with a concert film released in 1981.
Jailhouse Rock (1957), Presley’s first film for MGM, is a lively black-and-white, wide-screen musical directed by Richard Thorpe. The highlight of this one is a strikingly performed production number built around Presley’s delivery of the title song, with a chorus of male prisoners and choreography derived from Elvis’s spontaneous movements. Loving You (1957) and King Creole (1958), both produced by Wallis at Paramount, offered Presley opportunities to test himself as an actor. But audiences – and, reportedly, Wallis himself – seemed to prefer him in escapist fare, rocking out to hit songs.
Presley was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1958 and served two years active duty, much of it in Friedberg, Germany. Upon his return to Hollywood, Wallis exploited the idea of a military Elvis by producing G.I. Blues (1960) at Paramount. Playing a soldier stationed in West Germany, he romances Juliet Prowse and sings “Blue Suede Shoes.” Blue Hawaii (1961), also at Paramount, again casts Elvis as a soldier – this time one who leaves the Army to work with a tourist agency in the islands. Angela Lansbury, although only a few years older than Presley, plays his overbearing mother. Among the songs are “Can’t Help Falling in Love.”
From 1962-63 Presley appeared in three films released by United Artists that were well-reviewed by Elvis-movie standards. Kid Galahad (1962) has him as a boxer in a remake of the 1930s Warner Bros. film in which Wayne Morris had the Presley part. Follow That Dream (1962) casts Elvis as the son of a down-home family that tries to homestead on a Florida beach. It Happened at the World’s Fair (1963), set in Seattle during the Century 21 Exposition, costars Joan O’Brien and provides Elvis with 10 songs.
Next came a quartet of MGM musicals. Viva Las Vegas (1964), a highlight among Presley movies, was given first-rate production values and directed by a master of the medium, George Sidney. Above all, it provided a costar in Ann-Margret who had as much performance energy and sensual allure as Elvis himself. Kissin’ Cousins (1964) casts Elvis in double roles: one an Air Force lieutenant who wants his hillbilly relatives to allow a missile site on their land and the other a blond country boy who’s part of the family. Gene Nelson directs.
In Girl Happy (1965), nightclub singer Presley is hired by a mobster to chaperone his daughter (Shelley Fabares) during spring break in Fort Lauderdale. Boris Sagal directs, and songs include the hit “Puppet on a String.” Harum Scarum (1965) has Elvis as a movie star who visits the Middle East, becomes embroiled in a plot to assassinate a king and falls in love with the king’s daughter (Mary Ann Mobley). Gene Nelson again directs.
Presley made Tickle Me (1965) for Allied Artists, a musical comedy with an emphasis on comedy (the slapstick variety). He plays a down-on-his-luck rodeo star who goes to work at an all-female health ranch. Norman Taurog directs, and Jocelyn Lane provides the romantic interest. Back at MGM Presley appeared in Spinout (1966), playing a singer/race-car driver pursued by three different women (Shelley Fabares, Deborah Walley and Diane McBain). Taurog again directed, and the title tune made the Top 40.
Next came a pair of films for United Artists. Frankie and Johnny (1966), based on the traditional song, has Presley as Mississippi riverboat gambler Johnny with Donna Douglas as his girlfriend Frankie. Clambake (1967) casts Elvis as a millionaire’s son who trades places with water-ski instructor Will Hutchins to find a girl who loves him and not his money.
Presley starred in four more MGM vehicles from 1967-68: Double Trouble (1967) with Annette Day; Speedway with Nancy Sinatra; Live a Little, Love a Little with Michele Cary; and Stay Away, Joe with a lineup of character actors, including Burgess Meredith, Joan Blondell and Katy Jurado.
In Charro! (1969), a serious Western from National General Pictures, Presley made a final effort to prove himself as an actor. Playing a reformed outlaw attempting to save a Mexican town from his former gang, he performs the title song but does not otherwise sing. Despite expert direction by Western expert Charles Marquis Warren, the film was only mildly successful. Presley returned to MGM for the comedy-drama The Trouble with Girls (1969), in which he is the manager of a troupe of entertainers in the 1920s. A strong supporting cast includes Vincent Price, John Carradine, Sheree North and Dabney Coleman, with Peter Tewksbury directing.
Change of Habit (1970), a musical comedy-drama produced by NBC-TV and distributed by Universal Pictures, was Presley’s final narrative film. He plays a doctor in an inner-city New York City neighborhood who unwittingly falls in love with a young nun (Mary Tyler Moore). Ironically, the Change of Habit deal with NBC included a Presley TV special in 1960, a tour de force entitled simply Elvis that signaled the end of his movie career and marked his comeback as a “live” entertainer.
Elvis began touring again and through much of the next 10 years was one of the country’s top attractions, with a faithful following who often bordered on the cultish. He continued his recording career and enjoyed Top Ten hits with “Suspicious Minds” and “Burning Love.” Unfortunately, when Presley was not performing during this period, he led a reclusive and indulgent lifestyle at his Memphis home, Graceland. Overweight and unhealthy, he was only 42 when he died of a 1977 heart attack that was widely (if unofficially) attributed to drug use.
Elvis Presley was buried alongside his mother in Forest Hill Cemetery in Memphis. The remains of both were later relocated to the Meditation Garden at Graceland. Elvis was married to Priscilla Beaulieu from 1967 to 1973. They had one daughter, singer-songwriter Lisa Marie Presley. This is Elvis (1981) is a documentary directed by Malcolm Leo and Andrew Solt about Presley’s life and career. The film features dramatizations with actors portraying Elvis at various stages of his life, along with interviews of Presley and others, home movies and performance footage.
“More than 60 years after his first film, Elvis continues to fascinate and resonate, in movies and throughout popular culture,” says Nash. “He was probably the most important and enduring star ever, in part because he never separated himself from his following and loved to mingle among them, signing autographs and offering kisses from the stage.
“As Kay Wheeler, the president of his first national fan club puts it, ‘His most successful love affair was obviously between Elvis and his fans. And it has not died.’”
Enjoy!
6:45 AM -- The Strawberry Blonde (1941)
1h 37m | Comedy | TV-G
A man's infatuation with a gold-digging beauty continues after his marriage.
Director: Raoul Walsh
Cast: James Cagney, Olivia De Havilland, Rita Hayworth
Nominee for an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Heinz Roemheld
Ann Sheridan was originally cast as Virginia Brush, but became involved in an acrimonious salary dispute with Warner Brothers. The studio borrowed Rita Hayworth from Columbia, even though her career was foundering, with clinkers like Blondie on a Budget (1940). "The Strawberry Blonde" became a big boost to her career. Jack L. Warner liked her work so much that he immediately used her again in another romantic comedy, Affectionately Yours (1941).
8:30 AM -- Random Harvest (1942)
2h 4m | Romance | TV-G
A woman's happiness is threatened when she discovers her husband has been suffering from amnesia.
Director: Mervyn Leroy
Cast: Ronald Colman, Greer Garson, Philip Dorn
Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Ronald Colman, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Susan Peters, Best Director -- Mervyn LeRoy, Best Writing, Screenplay -- George Froeschel, Claudine West and Arthur Wimperis, Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White -- Cedric Gibbons, Randall Duell, Edwin B. Willis and Jack D. Moore, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Herbert Stothart, and Best Picture
Greer Garson rehearsed the "She M' Daisy" number with choreographers Ernst Matray and Maria Matray for three weeks before shooting it in front of an audience of 200 extras. She was nervous until the extras started whistling at her legs. That put her at ease, and she performed like a seasoned vaudeville trooper. At the end of the number, the extras burst into a spontaneous chorus of "For She's a Jolly Good Fellow." Studio acting coach Lillian Burns, who witnessed the performance, said that it was the kind of work Garson had always wanted to do. The dramatic star would have been much happier, Burns said, doing musicals. Sidney Franklin sent her a telegram reading, "I was simply delighted with our Scottish number and your performance was beyond what I thought possible. I think it will add great colour to the picture and great warmth will be given to the character of Paula."
10:45 AM -- Nora Prentiss (1947)
1h 51m | Drama | TV-PG
An ambitious singer ruins a doctor's life.
Director: Vincent Sherman
Cast: Ann Sheridan, Kent Smith, Bruce Bennett
Sheilah Graham reported that Ann Sheridan had an infection in one ear during production, and during the final shots of the film, could only be photographed from one side.
12:45 PM -- They Won't Believe Me (1947)
1h 35m | Drama | TV-PG
A philandering playboy with a wealthy wife and two girlfriends ends up on trial for murder.
Director: Irving Pichel
Cast: Susan Hayward, Robert Young, Jane Greer
When RKO re-released this in 1957, they cut it down from 95 minutes to 80 minutes, for more convenient double-billing, a typical practice at that time, especially for RKO. For years, Turner Classic Movies showed the 80 minute version. On May 8, 2021, TCM premiered the restored and remastered version that added the missing 15 minutes. This uncut and 4K remastered version was released on BluRay on May 11, 2021.
2:15 PM -- The Bride Goes Wild (1948)
1h 38m | Comedy | TV-G
A womanizing author of children's books borrows a son to woo his illustrator.
Director: Norman Taurog
Cast: Van Johnson, June Allyson, Butch Jenkins
Third of five feature films June Allyson and Van Johnson made together and released by MGM from 1944 to 1953.
4:00 PM -- The Crowded Sky (1960)
1h 45m | Adventure | TV-PG
A passenger jet and a private plane head for a collision.
Director: Joseph Pevney
Cast: Dana Andrews, Rhonda Fleming, Efrem Zimbalist Jr.
Dana Andrews had starred in the airline disaster cult classic Zero Hour! (1957) which was remade into Airplane! (1980). Airplane was also a parody of the Airport films, especially Airport 1975 (1974), which also featured Andrews. And although this movie isn't regarded as having also influenced Airplane, much of that film is also made up of the passengers having flashbacks of their lives.
6:00 PM -- Once a Thief (1965)
1h 47m | Drama | TV-PG
A young ex-con trying to go straight gets caught up in another criminal scheme.
Director: Ralph Nelson
Cast: Alain Delon, Van Heflin, Jack Palance
Production was delayed several days while the crew waited for cloudy daytime weather to add atmosphere to the big finale. This was just fine with star Ann-Margret. She had been introduced for the second time to future-husband Roger Smith, who was performing in a Frisco nightclub, and she wasn't looking forward to leaving him.
WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: PRIMETIME THEME -- ELVIS!
8:00 PM -- Viva Las Vegas (1964)
1h 26m | Musical | TV-14
A race-car driver falls for a pretty swimming instructor who wants him to slow down his career.
Director: George Sidney
Cast: Elvis Presley, Cesare Danova, William Demarest
In the wake of this film's success, both Elvis and Ann-Margaret would regularly appear as headliners in various Las Vegas venues, and were always among the biggest draws whenever they performed there.
10:00 PM -- Speedway (1968)
1h 35m | Musical | TV-PG
A race car driver tries to outrun the beautiful tax auditor out to settle his account.
Director: Norman Taurog
Cast: Elvis Presley, Nancy Sinatra, Bill Bixby
Script originally offered to Sonny Bono and Cher, but after their first movie bombed, it was given to Elvis Presley and Nancy Sinatra.
12:00 AM -- Spinout (1966)
1h 35m | Musical | TV-PG
A singing race-car driver has to choose among three amorous females.
Director: Norman Taurog
Cast: Elvis Presley, Shelley Fabares, Diane Mcbain
Riffing on the similarity of every Elvis movie to every other Elvis movie, a studio executive once quipped: "Why do we bother to give his movies titles - couldn't they just be numbered?"
2:00 AM -- Harum Scarum (1965)
1h 35m | Musical | TV-PG
An American film star is kidnapped in the Middle East.
Director: Gene Nelson
Cast: Elvis Presley, Mary Ann Mobley, Fran Jeffries
Upon hearing about the movie for the first time, Elvis loved the idea of his character as being somewhat of a sheik. He liked the character because he thought he resembled Rudolph Valentino. During filming in Los Angeles, he would wear the headpiece on his way home and even to the dinner table at his house in Bel-Air. Eventually, he grew tired of the film because his character was made to look like a fool.
4:00 AM -- Stay Away, Joe (1968)
1h 41m | Musical | TV-PG
A young Indian tries to save his failing reservation by selling grazing rights to a corrupt tycoon.
Director: Peter Tewksbury
Cast: Elvis Presley, Burgess Meredith, Joan Blondell
During the fight scene at the party, Elvis Presley goes outside to tell the band to play something slow. He and his friend Charlie Hodge, who has a bit role in the film as a guitar player in the band, start cracking up during Elvis' line. Charlie later said the reason for the laughter was that it was cold outside and Elvis' nose was running.