Producer
Jerry Wald
Directer Phillip Dunne
Screenplay Clifford Odets based on a novel by J.R.
Salamanca
Music by Kenyon Hopkins
Associate Producer Peter Nelson
Assistant Director Joseph El Rickards
Hair styles Helen Turpin
Orchestration Edward B Powell
Color by Deluxe
Cast Overview
Elvis Presley .... Glenn Tyler, Hope
Lange .... Irene Sperry, Tuesday
Weld .... Noreen, Millie Perkins .... Betty Lee
Parsons, Rafer Johnson .... Davis, John Ireland ....
Phil Macy, Gary Lockwood
.... Cliff Macy, William Mims .... Uncle Rolfe,
Raymond Greenleaf.... Dr. Underwood, Christina Crawford....
Monica George, Robin Raymond .... Flossie, Phil Macy's
Secretary, Pat Buttram .... Mr. Longstreet, Ruby Goodwin
.... Sarah, Irene's Maid, Alan Napier .... Professor
Joe B. Larson, Red West .... Hank Tyler
Elvis plays Glenn, who's had more than a couple of run-ins with the law—his mother has died and his father can't handle him, so he's paroled into the custody of his uncle, Rolfe (William Mims), who puts Glenn to work slapping labels on the ratgut he peddles as medicinal. Everybody thinks that Glenn is trouble, but we know he's a good sort because he can quote the Bible, and because, more important, he's Elvis.
As they should be, all the women are after Elvis in this one. There's the standard good girl/bad girl split here—Millie Perkins plays Betty Lee, the virtuous brunette who is Glenn's sweetheart, and Tuesday Weld is Noreen, the tart of a blonde flinging herself at him, who also happens to be family. She's Rolfe's daughter, and Rolfe is really pushing the kissing cousins thing—his scheme is to get Noreen married off to Glenn, in a hopelessly late effort to stanch the rumors. She's got a baby, fathered by a mysterious and missing husband—everybody talks about it with a nod and a wink, too polite to call them on the cover story, too gossipy not to roll their eyes.
In
the occasionally precious Clifford Odets script, this
comes across as James Dean by way of a Thomas Wolfe
novel--and not a bad shot at respectable acting by Elvis.
His monologue about his dead mother, delivered to sympathetic
shrink Hope Lange, is one of the most affecting things
the King ever did in a movie. The songs are kept to
a minimum, and Presley has some good, thrumming energy
with the young Tuesday Weld (bad girl) and Millie Perkins
(good girl), two uncommonly smart actresses. This is
one of many Hollywood melodramas suggesting the angst
brewing beneath the prosperity of the Eisenhower-Kennedy
era, and it holds up decently, if not spectacularly.
For Elvis fans, it's a poignant glimpse at a performer
still in the young-buck stage of exciting possibilities.
"WILD IN THE COUNTRY"
Written by Hugo Peretti, Luigi Creatore & George Weiss
Performed by Elvis Presley
Sung over the credits of the film this is a quiet ballad
sung with the Jordanaires. Released as a single with
I Feel So Bad on the flipside (1961). Later on the LP's
Elvis The Other Sides-Worldwide Gold Award Hits Vol.
2 (1971) and Elvis In Hollywood (1976). Again on the
Elvis Double Features CD Flaming Star/Follow That Dream/Wild
In The Country (1993).
"I SLIPPED, I STUMBLED, I FELL"
Written by Fred Wise and Ben Weisman
Performed by Elvis Presley
Performed while driving a truck, a medium tempo ballad
that swings a bit more on the record (though you miss
Elvis revving the engine to accentuate the beat), belted
out with typical Elvis verve. Released on the LP's Something
For Everybody (1961) and Seperate Ways (1973). Again
on the Elvis Double Features CD Flaming Star/Follow
That Dream/Wild In The Country (1993).
Recorded
at
Radio Recorders Studios, 7000, Santa Monica Boulevard,
Hollywood. November 1960.
Musicians:
Elvis Presley (vocals), Scotty Moore, Tiny Timbrell
(guitars), Myer Rubin (bass), Bernie Mattinson (drums),
Dudley Brookes (piano), the Jordanaires (vocals).
The song "Husky Dusky Day", sung in the movie by Elvis
and Hope Lange, was unreleased for years and appeared
on an official record only in the 1990s.
The songs "Lonely man" and "Forget Me Never" where recorded
by Elvis for the movie, but were not used.
|