Tickle Me (1965)

Songs: "Long, Lonely Highway", and "Night Rider", both by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman; "I Feel That I've Known You Forever" by Doc Pomus and Alan Jeffreys; "Slowly But Surely" by Sid Wayne and Benjamin Weisman; "It Feels So Right" by Benjamin Weisman and Sid Wise; "Dirty, Dirty Feeling" (English version of Si Seulement!) by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller; "Easy Question" by Otis Blackwell and Winfield Scott; "Put the Blame On Me" by Norman Blagman, Kathleen G. Twomey and Fred Wise; "I'm Yours" by Don Robertson and Hal Blair. All rendered by Elvis Presley. Oddly, none of the songs were especially written for the film. All were taken from RCA record albums previously issued by Presley. No doubt because of a feeling that the market was already over- saturated, RCA did not issue an LP of songs from the film, but only a tie-in EP featuring five of the nine songs, namely "Dirty Dirty", "Night Rider", "Known You Forever", "Put the Blame" and "Slowly But Surely". Copyright 11 April 1965 by Allied Artists. U.S. release through Columbia Pictures: 28 May 1965. New York opening at the Palace: 23 June 1965. U.K. release through Warner-Pathe: 5 July 1965. Australian release through Columbia Pictures: 10 December 1965. 90 minutes.SYNOPSIS: A singing rodeo star is hired by the lady boss of a dude ranch beauty spa.COMMENT: Although it was panned by contemporary critics. "Tickle Me" is a very likable film, showcasing Elvis at his best. The script, of course, is strictly hoke, but it serves as a reasonably suspenseful and intriguing springboard for a host of songs, a surprisingly large amount of action, thrills, humor and other novelties — plus the usual bevy of beautiful girls. Norman Taurog's direction is nothing if not pacy, the color widescreen photography rates as most attractively glossy, whilst production values romp over the line as tip-top.OTHER VIEWS: A very funny film... Jocelyn Lane was the prettiest co- star Elvis ever had. The movie was fun for the entire family. In fact "Tickle Me" remains one of the best children's pictures ever made. — Paul Lichter in his definitive book, "Elvis in Hollywood".

Elvis Presley was a hugely influential performer with one of the most distinctive singing voices of anybody. He embarked on a film career consisting of 33 films from 1956 to 1969, films that did well at the box-office but mostly panned critically (especially his later films) and while he was a highly charismatic performer he was never considered a great actor.While in the weaker half of Elvis' films, 'Tickle Me' is not one of his very worst, worse followed and 'Kissin' Cousins' was another lesser effort. It is watchable enough, mostly for Elvis and Jocelyn Lane but doesn't offer much else beyond them. Certainly not one of his best like 'King Creole', 'Flaming Star', 'Jailhouse Rock', 'Viva Las Vegas' and 'Loving You'.As said, Elvis is jovial and charismatic enough and sings beautifully. Lane is one of his best and sexiest leading ladies, full of fun and endearment, and their chemistry sparkles. Julie Adams makes much of her nothing part, bringing much more verve than deserved.There are some amusing and charming moments, and while not one of his greatest soundtracks (some songs fit better than others) the music fares well in the quality and memorability factors, no classic songs but no disposable ones either. "Dirty Dirty Feeling", "Night Rider" and "It Feels So Right" fare particularly well, and Elvis sings them very well indeed.On the other hand, Norman Taurog's direction in 'Tickle Me' is muddled and all over the place as are the script and story. The story doesn't feel as overlong or over-stretched as some Elvis films, but still feels structurally flimsy and obvious. Even worse though is that even for an Elvis film it is ridiculously improbable and suffers from a protracted climax that, despite its uniqueness as far as Elvis films go, jars badly with the tone of the rest of the film.Regarding the writing, the sillier and more improbable the story gets the more tired and lame-brained the gags get. This is especially true in the second half, where even calling the gags something that belongs in bad Scooby Doo or past prime-3 Stooges is insulting. It also hurts the performance of Jack Mullaney, who has very tired material and ends up being out of place and irritating.In conclusion, okay and watchable but not much great here. 5/10 Bethany Cox

I approach this as a guy who's long in the tooth and hasn't SEEN this film since '65. At the time (I was only 12) I was unaware that all the songs were from an album Elvis cut FIVE YEARS EARLIER. Some years later, upon obtaining said album, I discovered this fact. Today, after reading other comments in this strain, I've discovered WHY.But even back then, I knew SOMETHING was askew. The songs sounded SO out of date (which may explain why, when Elvis movies constantly appear on MGM and TCM, "Tickle Me" is NEVER among them).But that fact didn't dim my utter ENJOYMENT of this classic. Despite its miserable budget, its stage-bound production - and no new songs - "Tickle Me" was a TRIUMPH. "Viva Las Vegas" has pizazz - and "Follow That Dream" came from a good book and stands as Elvis' best drama - but "Tickle Me" certainly tickled ME.Although he had a good "funny side-kick", Elvis showed what great comic timing he himself had. If ONLY he'd had other opportunities to display them.And I even recall that - under-produced though they were - the ghost-town sequences had genuine creepiness.So altogether, I have to say that if I were sent to that Desert Island with a choice of just one Elvis movie - after considering "Viva Las Vegas" and "Follow That Dream" - "Tickle Me" would be the one!

A very funny film. The soundtrack was composed of old songs from earlier Elvis LPs (to keep the film's budget at a minimum). Elvis looks great and Jocelyn Lane looks incredible. In my opinion (along with many others), Jocelyn was the prettiest costar Elvis ever had. Julie Adams is very attractive as the "older" woman. Practically all of the women in the film are hot (and there are loads of groovy gals). In fact--although not intending to be--"Tickle Me" remains one of the best children's pictures ever. I certainly couldn't get enough of it when it played at the local theater when I was in grade school. I went back to see it again five times! What can I say? Puberty calling!