Cameron H.

Okay, I'm not saying anyone needs to watch it, but...Starz just added Clambake. I just watched it. Apparently, it was Elvis' least favorite film - and. it. shows. It's basically the same story as Blue Hawaii except that it makes less sense, stars a bloated, uninterested Elvis, and features waaaaaaaaay worse songs. Oh! And Elvis plays a scientist - although you don't find this out until ridiculously late in the game. So, again, no pressure, but if you want to thrill at the sight of a young Corbin Bersen playing Cowboys and Indians with Elvis and a very suspicious Ice Cream Man. ...and marvel at the beauty of Miami, Florida's majestic mountains ...you should really check it out!

Much like the Crawfish thing a couple pages back, I would love to drive by a pineapple farm and get some at their - far off the main drag - fruit stand. (Point if interest: I tried to write "fruit stand" as one word and my Kindle autocorrected it to "Christian." I tested it a couple more times and it did it each time. What's up with that Kindle?)

Furthermore, regarding "playing around," there's a line in there that he hoped being in the Army would make him the son they wanted him to be (i.e. not with Maile), but it didn't take. I took this line to partially absolve him of any potential inappropriate behavior he might of engaged in overseas. He was "Almost Always True," not because he didn't want to be completely true, but because of family pressure. In a way, that was enough for me. Sure he was an asshole for trying to make her jealous, but I never got the sense that he ever really wanted to be with anyone other than Maile.

What if you've been having nightly dreams about each other - long before meeting - and are mystically fated to be together?

Maybe Elvis is physically incapable of not looking like he wants to fuck you? I just think it’s strange. It’s the one - without a doubt - legitimately good song. It’s highly romantic, and it’s about being in a “forbidden” relationship - which makes it plot relevant. It would be so much more meaningful being sung directly to Maile. Although...maybe that’s the point? Maybe it would have been too romantic? I assume Maile is the audience surrogate. She’s the character Elvis’ fans can project themselves onto, so maybe if the romance seemed “too real” it might put his groupies off? I don’t know.

The only song I was really familiar with prior to watching this was “Can’t Help Falling in Love.” Did anyone else think it was fuuuuck-ing weird he sang it to Maile’s grandmother? Even the actress looks at Maile like, “Get a load of this. What the fuck is going on here?” ETA: Okay, I just watched that scene again and I didn’t notice that he and Maile are in fact taking each other’s hands. So, I guess, he’s singing it to her but directing it at her grandmother? It still feels weird.

This brings up a good (separate) point, too. For me, one of the major flaws of the movie was that "Chad" was constantly treated like he was Elvis. I guess I just didn't get it. For instance, before Elvis was "Elvis," he looked the same and possessed the same talent, but he wasn't, like, mobbed when he tried to walk down the street or anything. That didn't come until after he became a superstar. So why is everyone swooning all over him? It's just weird to me that all these people respond to "Chad" like he's a rock star and not a shiftless, "tourist guide."

Honestly, when the teenage girls came into the picture, I was pretty concerned. So, imagine my (pleasant) surprise, when Elvis is not only adamant about them being too young, but actually gets in a fight with an older man for trying to take advantage. He even refers to it as "robbing the cradle." That being said... What's REALLY weird is that when Elvis met Priscilla Presley in 1959, he was 24...and she was 14! Which means, that in 1961 when this was filmed and released, she would have only been 16 - a year younger than Jenny Maxwell's character was supposed to be! Like, did the script writer add this in as a jab at Elvis? How did Elvis feel about having to deliver those lines?

Of course! I stand corrected.

Now is fine. So, like, when he said "You need a spanking" I thought it was just an expression. Like, "You're being a brat you dumb little kid." What I wasn't expecting was for the movie to go full on Mclintock/True Grit. And that fucking does it! He "fixes" her! That plot line is done! Problem resolved. I just loved this exchange too: "I hope you didn't get a head cold..." (laughs) "No, ma'am. Just the opposite." I don't know. I was shocked. For an adult man to take a 17-year-old girl over his knee like that to "teach her a lesson"...It was no bueno.

I love that the stake in this movie is "become a tour guide."

I think what upset me the most (in the beginning) is when “Chad” and Mailie go for a swim and he gets in the boat with his boys and just straight up ditches her - lol Like, he doesn’t even offer to let her in. They just cruise right on by.

He did have a lot of childhood friends that he hung with, but after watching The Searcher (which I do recommend - btw), I’m not sure if that was really something within his control. His manager, Col. Tom Parker, kept a tight reign on Elvis and only allow him to fraternize with specific people. I want to say he really didn’t like Elvis hanging out with Ann-Margret - his co-star in Viva Las Vegas. Parker was afraid if Elvis saw the freedom other celebrities enjoyed, it would convince Elvis to leave him. It’s all really sad. I think the most mind-blowing thing I learned was - aside from his two years in Germany while he was in the Army - Elvis never once left America. It’s not that he didn’t want to do a World Tour, but Parker - who was Dutch born and not a legal American citizen - was afraid to leave the country in the off chance he might not be re-admitted. Since he couldn’t leave the country himself, and therefore unable to exert his influence over Presley, he always made excuses why they couldn’t do an international tour. The televised “Aloha from Hawaii” event was a compromise so Elvis could “perform” in other countries. All the crap movies Elvis did during the Sixties - including Blue Hawaii - were all forced on him by Parker and the studio. They depressed Elvis who wanted to do projects with more depth. This depression would contribute to the drug addiction that ultimately led to his death. Um...that was depressing... Shaka Brah!

They don't deliver unless you participate in the call-and-response. How's your singing?

Oh, "Chad" is definitely not without his charm. You definitely want to watch him. It's just a shame the movie was such garbage. I also wanted to add, that there is apparently two eras of Elvis movies - pre-Army and post-Army. Pre-Army Elvis movies are generally considered to be better. Those include King Creole, Heartbreak Hotel, and Love me Tender. In those he would play more rebellious characters. Post-Army they wanted to market Elvis as more "Family Friendly." This movie was the first he did after spending two years in the Army. It was during this time that he played his last live performance for nearly a decade - a benefit concert for a Pearl Harbor memorial. CORRECTION: G. I. Blues was his first movie out of the military. This was his second.

Yeah, this was one of the clips they showed... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGmRjSTBcx8 I mean, I kind of want to know what's going on here and try some of that crawfish. Also, Elvis looks good here.

As people who follow me on Goodreads know, I just finished the first two Amazing Spider-man Omnibuses so I was a bit more prepared for this type of behavior. It's almost like, at the time, there was no such thing as "going steady." You were either just hanging out or getting married. In Spider-Man, it's practically incestuous. They just sort of pair off at random. It will be Flash with Gwen, Peter with Mary Jane, Peter with Gwen, Harry with Mary Jane. People get moderately jealous, but more in a gamesmanship kind of way. Nothing ever comes to blows. It's all really casual. I'm not trying to suggest that Spider-Man should be taken as a historically document, nor am I trying to forgive "Chad's" terrible behavior, but it seems like dating back then was really loosey-goosey. If there wasn't a ring on it, you were more or less free to do whatever.

..and who is this movie for? The music (mostly) sucks, it's not funny, and Elvis comes off looking like a raging asshole. That being said, it was a HUGE hit. According to Wikipedia, it was 10th highest grossing movie of 1961 and 15th highest grossing for 1962. Also, although it didn't get too into Blue Hawaii, the HBO documentary Elvis Presley: The Searcher said the studio used this movie's success as leverage to prevent him to from doing anymore "serious" movies - which Elvis wasn't too happy about. Apparently, he hated doing these movies and wanted to be taken seriously as an actor. He was really disappointed when the studio's kept insisting that he sing. According the The Searcher, his favorite movie he did was King Creole, and from the clip they showed, it looked pretty good. Apparently it was written as a vehicle for James Dean, but was given to Elvis after Dean died. It was the only movie he considered to be "real." It was even directed by Michael Curtiz who had done The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, White Christmas, and Casablanca!

My main complaint is they expected me to accept him as “Chad.”

Good Morning! Man, this was really tough. I find there's so many movies that I want to do that I have a real issue narrowing the field down to just one. My picks this time included classics, garbage, legitimately good movies, etc and I really couldn't decide which direction I wanted to go. After careful consideration - and a bracketed tournament amongst friends - I had it narrowed down to two picks. I chose the one I went with because I don't feel like we've done something of this ilk before and (I'm hoping) it will give us plenty to talk about. Plus, I really wanted an Angela Lansbury vehicle... So without further ado, my pick is

There seems to be some confusion here, so just to clarify: I don’t have an issue with the library - lol. I have an issue with putting in any kind of effort to re-read a book I already know is shitty. If it had been readily at hand, sure. Why not? Otherwise...

It’s not like Elvis wrote his own songs Anyway, I don’t hate Elvis. He probably has more “hits.” His songs are probably better, but I’d still rather listen to Ringo.

I disagree. I would put "It Don't Come Easy," "Photograph," and "Back off Boogaloo" over anything Elvis did. Hell, I would put "La De Da" over most of Elvis' stuff.

It's weird how often she got cast as a Southern Belle, that's for sure.