They also realized that it was important to get Elvis on screen fast, so this time he comes hauling ass on a tractor that it really looked like he didn’t know how to drive.

Anyway, this time Elvis is Vince Everett, a hunky young construction worker with an attitude. He gets in trouble when the husband of the lady hitting on him at a bar starts beating her up and Vince has to manslaughter him.

 

Vince gets 1-10 for his crime, which is the best thing that ever happened to him, cuz in the joint he meets Hunk, who is basically Vince’s Red to his Andy Dufresne. Hunk is also a country singing sensation from back in the day. Vince picks up Hunk’s guitar, plays an old song his uncle taught him, and Boom! Hunk sees dollar signs and takes the kid under his wing to show him the ropes of the music biz.

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Hunk manages to get Vince on the "Coast to Coast TV Special" that is being shot at the prison. I guess they did that kind of thing back in the 50s, right? He also makes sure Vince doesn’t see all of the fan mail he got so that he can talk him into a 50-50 contract for when they get out.

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Sure enough, Vince gets out, goes to a bar, meets a Hot Nice Woman, Peggy, who, wait for it… Works in the music biz. They hit it off, by which I mean Vince is a total dick to her and she puts up with it. They get screwed by one label, so they start their own company and put out a song. Boom! Vince is a star. 

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In no time, Vince is making movies in Hollywood, going out with a Hot Mean Woman, and in full party mode. Hunk turns up to hit up Vince about that 50-50 contract, but then just takes Vince’s word that it’s no good and becomes his lackey.

 

Peggy comes back just in time to find out that Vince is going to sell off the record label they started together to the company that had originally screwed him. Hunk can’t stand seeing Vince treat Peggy that way, so he gets in a fight with Vince which ends with Hunk punching Vince in the throat. In. The. Throat. 

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Vince dies.

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No, of course he doesn’t die. Colonel Tom isn’t going to let that happen again.

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I’d seen this one before, and it has a lot fewer songs than I remembered. There’s really only a few, most notably the great Leiber and Stoller penned Jailhouse Rock, and (You’re So Square) Baby I Don’t Care. For some reason, a lot more time is spent on the rather bland Young and Beautiful. There are at least three versions of it throughout the movie.

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Addendum: I asked/ forced the whole family watch this, because it was a "good Elvis movie." Ethan decided to write up his own review:

 

Ethan’s Input: Apparently if Andy Dufresne had asked Red for a guitar instead of a rock hammer in Shawshank Redemption, he could have saved himself a lot of time and trouble. Vince and Peggy’s relationship and business is one to rival the likes of Beyonce and JAY-Z (if their relationship only consisted of the couple reflective JAY-Z songs about liking other girls).

 

I especially liked how this movie centered around the common motif of contracts, as if they were rubbing it in Elvis’s nose that he signed a deal forcing him to be in dozens of these things. If you ever wondered what would happen if the Shawshank Redemption, La La Land, Hail Caesar, behind the scenes tapes of the creation of an independent record label, and the energy and emotional investment of a 1960’s Batman cartoon with Adam West combined into one insane hour and a half, you’ve got yourself a movie.

 

And remember, if you’re a hunky white guy in the 50s, you can punch a cop in jail and only have your sentence extended a couple weeks.

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Acting: 6 Elvises

Musical Performances: 7 Elvises - It would be lower but the fantastic Jailhouse Rock production number and the poolside scene with Elvis singing (You’re So Square) Baby I Don’t Care add a few stars.

Best song: (You’re So Square) Baby I Don’t Care

Stunts: Runaway tractor, bar fight with manslaughter, movie set fight with couch flip and throat punch, prison food fight

Cringe factor: Several scenes where Vince forces himself on women

Kissin’: Quite a bit, both forced and unforced