Change of Habit (1969)

A lot of us who were born in the 50's can remember what we were doing on two events. The day John F. Kennedy was assassinated and the day Elvis Presley died. I had just gotten home from work and my then wife told me that it just came over the TV that Elvis Presley had died. A very heartbreaking day.We have learned so much about what was going on in Elvis Presley's life over the years because he was very private with his personal life which we are all entitled to.We now know that he desperately wanted material better than the beach movies that he had been stuck in and wanted to do drama like with King Creole and Flaming Star. It is so ironic and tragic that what turned out to be his last movie was the dramatic part that he had been begging for over the years. This could have been the breakthrough for a much more rewarding period and his growth as an actor.I like to think that he decided to take a break from acting for a few years to concentrate on his singing and return to acting with this as his launching pad. I have read that he was thinking of cleaning house and finally breaking with Parker since that would have freed him from the straitjacket that he had been in. I read that he also had decided to stop gorging on junk food and start working out again. Maybe if he had not gotten divorced he could have avoided what we now know as severe depression and losing control of his eating and not continuing to work out and take care of himself. Since he had announced that he was getting married again to Ginger Alden, he had not given up on life and was making plan for the future.A Change Of Habit gives us a glimpse of what could have been. Rest in peace Mr. Presley.

It seems a shame that someone with such talent as Elvis Presley consistently got such garbage for scripts. This movie shows what was still there, what had been there all along, if the material had just been a little better.This movie recalls the gutsy performances given in Jailhouse Rock and King Creole.A stronger support cast doesn't hurt either, and all the players seem equally committed to doing the film justice.Perfect, no.But overall, this is a very watchable movie, and testament to the talent that Elvis had.

I did not know what I was getting into when I started watching this one. I will cut it some slack for being a product of the movie model of the 60s. I can't say that I hated it, but I can't say that it is a good movie. It was impactful on me and I am glad I watched. Though it is not a serious movie, it deserves to be studied in sociology and psychiatry courses, though not necessarily taken seriously, more considered the expression of some crazy ideas of the time. as the film does try to put some social messages out there, and how it deals with issues is unique(humorous) to say the least. First, the basics: Elvis was miscast in this one, and it was impossible to take him seriously, and it hurt the movie, and the whole role and whole idea that one would cast Elvis in this role seems very odd. I felt like a much more attractive(sexy) Sister Barbara(Jane Elliot) should have been the love interest. The clothes that Elvis wore and the way he strutted down the street several times was odd. Some of the lines, like "the last two nurses were raped, and one of them against her will.." interesting, amusing, priceless. lol All angles of a Hollywood version of a slum were covered in kooky fashion; black panthers, mafia overlord, corrupt police(only mentioned), drugs(heroin, referred to as "h"), rape, theft, racism, what am I forgetting? lol I thought it was odd that Dr. Carpenter was a bit of a wolf with his new nurse, as it cast him as a bit of a out-of-character villain. I think it would have been much more effective if his affectionate overtones toward her had been more subtle, if not professionally appropriate. lol I couldn't understand why the three nuns were so disgusted with their accommodations. It didn't look so bad to me and it revealed them to be weak. lol Now the more interesting stuff: Every patient has a different problem, and all are solved by our illustrious doctor. Just preposterous! and pushes forward the notion that our medical establishment wields such scientific and indisputable power that it solves all our problems, and we would have to be fools not to avail ourselves of their wisdom. Poppycock! Additionally, all our problems are treatable and understood by them. More poppycock! The Mary Tyler Moore character is going to treat an autistic kid with "patience", as if that will help, and he, a ghetto doctor, is going to unleash the latest experimental methods to treat autism, yikes! And the child, after enduring this ridiculous "restrain-ment torture", and being told endlessly by strangers that they "love her", wow! What a train wreck, I really couldn't turn away, and my wife couldn't look! lol And the implication that the autism is a choice on the little girl's part. Laughable and dangerous! Julio and his stuttering. Too much. And the implication on our Doctor's part that to improve Julio's speech would help improve his confidence, and that would likely unleash the real demons inside(my interpretation), wow! And then the doctor saves Mary from Julios' attempted rape. Good heavens! lol And the only police officer we get to meet(Ed Asner) is some kind of social professor? lol And towards the end, Mary Tyler Moore quotes Sr. Barbara who just made a social and intellectual statement, and Mary asks: "Is she a communist?" What, are smart, socially aware people to be labeled and derided? I guess so when everyone else is a moron. lol And our Doctor sends his new nurse out to make house calls, and has no idea of her capabilities? Seems senseless and wreckless, especially considering that he showed no faith in them. lol Final thought-In the middle of this ghetto and horrid existence, they take a break on the weekend to cast off their woes and play football in the park. It is apparently a special time when the world is magical, all get along, poverty is to be forgotten, until Monday. lol Elvis and Mary take the girl Amanda, cured now, on a carousel, and sing about a "sunshine place", I believe, and she is to smile. It was like a drug induced dream, kinda creepy, and it seemed to me that the girl was the only one still in reality, and it was "they" would who were dragging her into their unrealistic, unsustainable, fantasy world of smiles and horrible creepy song. lol The girl was not broken, they are. No wonder she is shutting the world out! lol

Whoever came up with this lame, contrived story and thought it would be good? Enter Elvis as inner-city free-clinic MD: takin' care of business and getting' All Shook Up over Mary Tyler Moore; coy rent-a-nurse-by-day, a bride of Christ secretly by night. The sexual tension is palpable. You know their 'romance' is doomed. She wants The King, but she's already Promised to Another. And once Elvis finds out Sister Michelle's secret, you know he'll do the right thing. We're also cruelly tantalized by the lovely Barbara McNair as--you guessed it--Mary's foxy-nun nurse-buddy, Sister Irene. None of the Sisters of St. Poochus at MY Catholic school ever looked as fine as these two ladies.There aren't even any likable songs in this Hound Dog of a movie. I don't remember "Rubberneckin'", but I'm sure the Elvis fans do. "Change of Habit", "Have a Happy", "Let Us Pray"----Presley chartbusters one and all.