Musical Mondays Week 37 Blue Hawaii

[Cameron H. 23786]

Okay, I know we all want to talk about it so let's just get it out of the way..."Ito Eats" is probably the best Elvis song ever recorded.

 

We watched...

 

 

(Why does she look like she's trying to shoot down enemy aircraft with a ukulele in that photo?)

[SaraK 1980]

My main complaint with this movie is they kept referring to Elvis' job as 'tourist guide'.

[Cameron H. 23786]

My main complaint with this movie is they kept referring to Elvis' job as 'tourist guide'.

 

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

[PollyDarton 1807]

To start- He greets his girlfriend by making out with a flight attendant - in the hopes of making her (who he hasn’t seen in edit: 2 years) jealous. WTF? He’s such a Chad.

[tomspanks 9039]

To start- He greets his girlfriend by making out with a flight attendant - in the hopes of making her (who he hasn’t seen in 2 months) jealous. WTF? He’s such a Chad.

 

And then, the first thing he wants to do with his girlfriend (actually the movie said he had been away for 2 years, not months), is to go for a swim?

[SaraK 1980]

To start- He greets his girlfriend by making out with a flight attendant - in the hopes of making her (who he hasn’t seen in 2 months) jealous. WTF? He’s such a Chad.

 

And he follows that up with telling her that he's mostly been 'true' to her. Meaning he was cheating on her all over Europe. She could do so much better.

[PollyDarton 1807]

 

And he follows that up with telling her that he's mostly been 'true' to her. Meaning he was cheating on her all over Europe. She could do so much better.

She didn't even seem to care. What a quaint time... where men can cheat and women are like "oh well... whaddayagannado?"

[PollyDarton 1807]

Sooo... 2 things:

 

1. I am obsessed with this thing I read a few years ago that Natalie Wood, who dated Elvis, claimed he was really terrible in bed. I think about this a lot.

 

 

2. What the F is the plot of this movie?

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

2. What the F is the plot of this movie?

Plot? Where we're going we don't need...plot.

[SaraK 1980]

 

2. What the F is the plot of this movie?

 

Plot A: Elvis is a self centered prick that trips into being a tour guide.

Plot B: A terrible educator takes a group of girls on a never ending Hawaiian vacation in order to find a husband. Seriously, did they not have flights? They changed the length of the trip like three times in the course of this movie.

[tomspanks 9039]

She didn't even seem to care. What a quaint time... where men can cheat and women are like "oh well... whaddayagannado?"

 

Boys will be boys!

 

And also, Maile "catches" Elvis and Ms. Prentice kissing in his hotel room, but she's ok with it because she sees Ms. Prentice with Jack later. Like, ok Ms. Prentice isn't into Elvis in that way, but I feel like that should've raised at least half a red flag, given his history? And I'm still confused why Ms. Prentice kissed Elvis if she found her holiday romance with Jack.

[Cameron H. 23786]

2. What the F is the plot of this movie?

 

..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!

[PollyDarton 1807]

 

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!

 

Thanks for that info - I was actually wondering which movie is his most "legit" last night... similar to Marilyn Monroe who made a ton of movies, but only like 3 or so that are good movies.

[Cameron H. 23786]

 

Boys will be boys!

 

And also, Maile "catches" Elvis and Ms. Prentice kissing in his hotel room, but she's ok with it because she sees Ms. Prentice with Jack later. Like, ok Ms. Prentice isn't into Elvis in that way, but I feel like that should've raised at least half a red flag, given his history? And I'm still confused why Ms. Prentice kissed Elvis if she found her holiday romance with Jack.

 

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.

[tomspanks 9039]

..and who is this movie for? The music (mostly) sucks, it's not funny, and Elvis comes off looking like a raging asshole.

 

The ladies! Hellooooooo, short shorts.

 

I was watching it on Amazon and during the scene where Elvis disembarks the plane, the trivia said to turn up the volume to hear the screaming women in the background. He was mobbed wherever he went. Apparently there were over 8000 fans waiting for him outside his hotel when he first arrived.

 

And yes, Chad comes off as an asshole most of the time, but I will say that I was a little charmed by goofball Elvis. Like the scene in the car where he sings Itsy Bitsy Spider Almost Always True, I thought his dumb faces he makes were kind of endearing. It was almost enough to make me forget about the terrible lyrics.

[Cameron H. 23786]

 

Thanks for that info - I was actually wondering which movie is his most "legit" last night... similar to Marilyn Monroe who made a ton of movies, but only like 3 or so that are good movies.

 

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.

[PollyDarton 1807]

And yes, Chad comes off as an asshole most of the time, but I will say that I was a little charmed by goofball Elvis. Like the scene in the car where he sings Itsy Bitsy Spider Almost Always True, I thought his dumb faces he makes were kind of endearing. It was almost enough to make me forget about the terrible lyrics.

 

me too

[Cam Bert 8145]

 

..and who is this movie for? The music (mostly) sucks, it's not funny, and Elvis comes off looking like a raging asshole.

 

As I was watching the movie it hit me. This is just that era's rom-com but instead of a pre-Mcconaissance Matthew Mcconaughey it was Elvis. I'm sure 50 years from now people will look at Failure to Launch and think similar thoughts.

[tomspanks 9039]

 

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.

 

He's definitely pulling off that Stanley Kowalski look well.

 

Hold up. You could get door-to-door crawfish service? This is what I'm missing from life.

[Cameron H. 23786]

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.

[grudlian. 4725]

 

As I was watching the movie it hit me. This is just that era's rom-com but instead of a pre-Mcconaissance Matthew Mcconaughey it was Elvis. I'm sure 50 years from now people will look at Failure to Launch and think similar thoughts.

I haven't watched Blue Hawaii yet. So, I can't comment. But didn't people think Failure To Launch sucked when it came out?

[Cameron H. 23786]

 

He's definitely pulling off that Stanley Kowalski look well.

 

Hold up. You could get door-to-door crawfish service? This is what I'm missing from life.

 

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

[Cam Bert 8145]

I haven't watched Blue Hawaii yet. So, I can't comment. But didn't people think Failure To Launch sucked when it came out?

Don't tell my sister that. Probably, it was just the first rom-com of his that popped in my head.

[SaraK 1980]

 

As I was watching the movie it hit me. This is just that era's rom-com but instead of a pre-Mcconaissance Matthew Mcconaughey it was Elvis. I'm sure 50 years from now people will look at Failure to Launch and think similar thoughts.

 

First of all, I love that movie. Yes its terrible, but it has a lot of charming actors in it.

 

But I agree with you. While I didn't love a couple side things going on in the movie - mainly anything to do with the surly 17 year old - and I did start fast forwarding through songs at one point (just because I was super tired and wanted to finish before bed), I thought it was a quick moving, fluff film. It was fun to see Hawaii, the songs were fun and I loved all of Maile's outfits.

[Cam Bert 8145]

Was anybody else upset by the way "Chad" picked up the dog? Also, where you upset that that dog never came back?