Originally reviewed May 23, 2020

I never do research before watching any of these movies. There have been some that I’ve already seen, but other than that, I like to go in blind. That is not to say that if something catches my eye while watching I won’t hit pause and look something up. That happened once with Easy Come Easy Go. I’ll get to that later.

​I’ll also check out things when I’m writing the review if I want to confirm something I noticed. That happened with Easy Come Easy Go when I was adding it to my Best To Worst List.* It’s been to hard to literally place every movie from 1 to (at this point) 23. The list has turned into more of a bunch of smaller groups, with a few Best movies, a few Worst movies, and a good size pile in the middle where it’s pretty hard to tell the movies apart. About the only thing that will differentiate one movie from the next is that I’ll write “Music” next to the name to remind myself why “Roustabout” and “Girls! Girls! Girls!” are higher than, say, “Blue Hawaii” or “Frankie and Johnny.”

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I was having a hard time adding Easy Come Easy Go to the list, because it’s on the bad side of mediocre, but it also has a couple of the best Elvis movie songs, but it also has some of the absolutely worst songs. That got me looking at notes from other movies, and something popped up that I hadn’t noticed yet. “Easy Come Easy Go” was written by Allan Weiss who also wrote “Paradise, Hawaiian Style,” “Roustabout,” “Fun In Acapulco,” "Girls! Girls! Girls!,” and “Blue Hawaii.” Allan Weiss freakin’ OWNS the middle of the Best To Worst list.

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So, like the other Allan Weiss movies, there’s a little bit of plot, some camp, and a mixed bag of songs. Elvis plays Lt. Ted Jackson, a Navy frogman that is leaving the service. On his last day,** he has to disarm a mine*** and finds a shipwreck with a treasure chest. He marks the spot and plans to go back to salvage the booty as a civilian. There is, of course, a boat with a jerky guy and three babes in bikinis nearby, checking out what Ted is up to. Now the race is on for the treasure.

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That seems like a good set up, but really, not much happens. Ted goes to see his old band in a club, meets a Hot Groovy Woman, Jo, meets the Hot Groovy Woman Dina from the other boat, meets the jerky guy, Gil, doesn’t fight with him (yet…) and tries to put together a salvage team with a crazy old coot, Capt. Jack, who’s never been to sea. 

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He is so busy trying to get the loot he doesn’t even really bother with the girls. The old coot just chews the scenery. The jerk is a jerk and gets the ass whoopin’ you know Ted’s going to deliver. Check, check, check…

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The band is kind of interesting because there are, like, eleven guys in it. The only one that matters is Judd, because he is played by Pat Harrington AKA Schneider from One Day At A Time. The music the band plays with Ted is fantastic: “You Gotta Stop,”**** “The Love Machine,”***** and “I’ll Take Love.”****** As is the title track “Easy Come Easy Go.”*******

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The problem is the two songs that aren’t played by the band. “Sing You Children” happens when Ted, Judd and Jo go to a “Happening” and can’t get through the crowd so they play it to make everyone, um, leave in horror, I guess.

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And then there is the scene where Ted goes to find Jo at a yoga class, and he sings a duet with the yoga instructor called “Yoga Is As Yoga Does.” The song (and the scene, actually) is a f-ing atrocity of epic proportions on every level, and I’m sure it’s what made Elvis start taking drugs. And drugs killed Elvis. So, yes, I’m saying “Yoga Is As Yoga Does” killed Elvis.

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Back to the thing that made me stop the movie and do some research. There is a point when Ted and company make it out of the party and can’t find Ted’s car. It turns out that one of the hippy artists, Zoltan(!) took Ted’s car completely apart to make a mobile out of it. Luckily, Zoltan has a car. The car in the picture for this movie. That car made me stop the movie.

See, I have a famous cousin on my mom’s side, George Barris, who made custom cars. Cars like the TV Batmobile, The Munster Koach, The Beverly Hillbillies truck/ car, and later the Family Truckster from Vacation. When I see a car like the Mongrel T******** in Easy Come Easy Go, my first thought is “Did George Barris do that?”

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The answer, “Yes. Yes he did.” 

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And that just moved Easy Come Easy Go up a few notches on the Best to Worst list.

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ACTING: 4 Elvises

MUSICAL PERFORMANCES: 10 Elvises with band, -10 Elvises without band

BEST SONG: “I’ll Take Love"

STUNTS: Simulated diving, boat fight, bad yoga

CRINGE FACTOR: Also bad yoga. Bad hippy portrayals

KISSIN’: Almost none.

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*You knew that was happening, right?

**”Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!”

***Apparently this happens in or near San Francisco Bay. There are a number of references to the area, but they never bother to even show the Golden Gate Bridge or anything to establish location. And the city street scenes are obviously all soundstages.

****I do “You Gotta Stop” in Little Elvis

*****Steve “Lucky” Marshall does “The Love Machine” in Little E

******“I’ll Take Love” is also done by Steve “Lucky” Marshall.

*******“Easy Come Easy Go?” That would be Steve “Lucky” Marshall.

********Mongel T was the official name for the car, although it later became the Jokermobile for two Batman TV episodes. https://www.drivingline.com/.../cars-from-the-vault-1966.../