In 1964 Elvis agent, Coronel Tom Parker, made a deal with B movie producer Sam Katzman, known as “king of the quickies”. Parker’s goal was to maximize profits of the Presley movies by cutting down on production costs.
Unfortunately this new policy turned Elvis into a B movie star in a string of comedy musicals. Formulaic and uninspired films like Girl Happy, Spinout, Speedway or Clambake, aimed exclusively to the singer’s hard core fans.
Inspired by the teenage movies produced by American International Pictures featuring Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello, the Presley pictures, although sometimes presenting higher production values were usually as irrelevant as those exploitative efforts made by AIP.
Harum Scarum, Frankie and Johnnie and Double Trouble
However if we carefully analyze some of those much denigrated B movies, like for instance Harum Scarum, Frankie and Johnnie and Double Trouble, it’s possible to read them as examples of post modern cinema because they frequently opted for a conscious parody approach that turned them into relevant examples of Camp cinema, commenting on genre clichés and the declining Hollywood production system, and by doing so they actually reflected the cultural changes of this period.
Elvis-That's The Way It Is and Elvis On Tour
As the sixties came to an end Presley’s box office appeal diminished but the singer made a triumphal comeback with the 1968 TV Special and the recording of some of his best songs with producer Chips Moman in Memphis.
The radical changes in American society during this period forced Hollywood to face a radical transformation in the audiences taste, and by the late sixties the film careers of post-classic movie stars like Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Doris Day, Jerry Lewis and Elvis Presley were virtually over.
Although Live a Little, Love a Little (68) The Trouble with Girls (69) and Change of Habit (69) constituted relevant efforts to rescue Presley from B movie territory and return him to more adult oriented movies, the singer would soon abandon Hollywood to star in a new and hugely successful career as live performer in Las Vegas and all across the USA.
In fact Presley’s last major contribution to the musical genre was precisely the two documentaries produced in the early 70’s to capitalize on the extraordinary popularity of the singer’s live concerts.
Elvis That’s the Way it Is (1970) directed by Denis Sanders and Elvis on Tour (72) directed by Pierre Adidge and Robert Abel documented Presley’s carer as a stage performer.
The cultural and sociological relevance of these films is undeniable for they constitute a precious document of Presley's ability to perform live and captivate audiences with his talent and charisma.
Even if from an aesthetic point of view most of Elvis films are neglectible from an historical and sociological perspective movies like Jailhouse Rock, King Creole, Flaming Star, Blue Hawaii, Follow That Dream, Fun in Acapulco, Viva Las Vegas, Roustabout, Double Trouble, Change of Habit and Elvis on Tour, constitute interesting examples of popular entertaiment and reflect the social and cultural changes of the 1950's and 1960's american society and the impact these changes had on the Hollywood studio system.
Unfortunately this new policy turned Elvis into a B movie star in a string of comedy musicals. Formulaic and uninspired films like Girl Happy, Spinout, Speedway or Clambake, aimed exclusively to the singer’s hard core fans.
Inspired by the teenage movies produced by American International Pictures featuring Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello, the Presley pictures, although sometimes presenting higher production values were usually as irrelevant as those exploitative efforts made by AIP.
Harum Scarum, Frankie and Johnnie and Double Trouble
However if we carefully analyze some of those much denigrated B movies, like for instance Harum Scarum, Frankie and Johnnie and Double Trouble, it’s possible to read them as examples of post modern cinema because they frequently opted for a conscious parody approach that turned them into relevant examples of Camp cinema, commenting on genre clichés and the declining Hollywood production system, and by doing so they actually reflected the cultural changes of this period.
Elvis-That's The Way It Is and Elvis On Tour
As the sixties came to an end Presley’s box office appeal diminished but the singer made a triumphal comeback with the 1968 TV Special and the recording of some of his best songs with producer Chips Moman in Memphis.
The radical changes in American society during this period forced Hollywood to face a radical transformation in the audiences taste, and by the late sixties the film careers of post-classic movie stars like Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Doris Day, Jerry Lewis and Elvis Presley were virtually over.
Although Live a Little, Love a Little (68) The Trouble with Girls (69) and Change of Habit (69) constituted relevant efforts to rescue Presley from B movie territory and return him to more adult oriented movies, the singer would soon abandon Hollywood to star in a new and hugely successful career as live performer in Las Vegas and all across the USA.
In fact Presley’s last major contribution to the musical genre was precisely the two documentaries produced in the early 70’s to capitalize on the extraordinary popularity of the singer’s live concerts.
Elvis That’s the Way it Is (1970) directed by Denis Sanders and Elvis on Tour (72) directed by Pierre Adidge and Robert Abel documented Presley’s carer as a stage performer.
The cultural and sociological relevance of these films is undeniable for they constitute a precious document of Presley's ability to perform live and captivate audiences with his talent and charisma.
Even if from an aesthetic point of view most of Elvis films are neglectible from an historical and sociological perspective movies like Jailhouse Rock, King Creole, Flaming Star, Blue Hawaii, Follow That Dream, Fun in Acapulco, Viva Las Vegas, Roustabout, Double Trouble, Change of Habit and Elvis on Tour, constitute interesting examples of popular entertaiment and reflect the social and cultural changes of the 1950's and 1960's american society and the impact these changes had on the Hollywood studio system.
Comments