Live a Little, Love a Little (1968)

Elvis gets into lot of trouble when a girl named Bernice catches him in her eyes on a beach of southern California. Greg (Elvis) is a free spirited photographer. He's enjoying his life until he meets a girl named Bernice (Michele Carley). Elvis finds that he has a handful of trouble when she starts to show up everywhere in his life.When I watch some movies from the '50s, and '60s, I really feel that we're sliding backwards in culture. Life was much posher then than it is now. Clothing are beautiful, houses are beautiful, and people had more open outlook about life.I also have to mention about the women of that era. They really look like women, and I guess so do the men. They're stunningly (and I mean stunning) gorgeous, and much more beautiful than the celebrities of today. The movie is shot beautifully around Los Angeles. When I watch this movie, I get envious of the people who lived there at that time. I really loved this movie, because it's a beautiful movie. I don't care if we don't have all the high tech equipments, just move me back to that era !

I am a huge Elvis fan, but even I admit most of his movies were dreadful, and that's being kind. This one is a pleasant exception. Not only is it quite funny at times, but the songs in the film are well above average for a Presley movie, and Elvis himself looks and acts better than in the seven or so films that preceded it. He has a natural flair for comedy, as anyone will know who has seen his earlier film from 1962 "Follow That Dream," which was another under-appreciated Elvis film. He acts more grown up and the situations he's thrust into have a much more adult theme than in his previous efforts. By the time this film was released, these points were lost to most critics, who dismissed it as just another infantile Elvis musical. That's a shame, because it deserved a wider audience than it received.

A thoroughly bland title hides a surprisingly tolerable and rather effective (if belated) change-of-pace which could well have been advertised as "Elvis goes Screwball". Arguably modeled on the popular series of Rock Hudson-Doris Day romantic comedies, the central situation, in fact, is basically a virtual retread of Howard Hawks' BRINGING UP BABY (1938), with leading lady Michele Carey (from, appropriately enough, Hawks' own EL DORADO [1966]) – playing a ditzy artist/socialite disrupting Elvis' life at every turn; actually, Hawks had recently successfully reworked the formula with Rock Hudson himself in the underrated MAN'S FAVORITE SPORT? (1964) but the best tribute to the 1938 classic would be paid the following decade in Peter Bogdanovich's hilarious, WHAT'S UP, DOC? (1972).Anyway, The King plays a fashion photographer here – not that he's liable to dispel memories of David Hemmings from BLOWUP (1966), you understand! As far as the beachside setting/advertising environment goes, I guess this owes its inspiration to the neglected Tony Curtis/Alexander Mackendrick comedy DON'T MAKE WAVES (1967) but, as I said earlier, for all its derivations, it's not a bad star vehicle at all and Elvis even gets to sing during a lightly surreal dream sequence – with Carey's mastiff assuming human characteristics and acting as his guide! Elvis and the dog have a great rapport, which is just as well since it was his own pet in real life, Brutus! I also liked the fact that the film offers nice supporting parts to two Hollywood veterans – Rudy Vallee (who was a crooner himself and a Preston Sterges regular back in the day) and Don Porter (who is perhaps best-remembered for playing the male lead in the infamous SHE-WOLF OF London [1946]).While this one may be more engaging than most other Elvis vehicles of its time, nowadays the film is perhaps most notable for introducing the unlikeliest of Elvis hits, "A Little Less Conversation", a remixed version of which became a worldwide chart-topper in 2002..after a very disappointing showing in the charts when originally released! Surprisingly enough, Presley only has three songs throughout the film ("Edge of Reality" is another good one) which might disappoint his more hardened fans and indeed have them clamor for "a little less conversation, a little more action please"! For the record, this happened to be the last of 9 Presley films directed by Hollywood veteran Norman Taurog who specialized, appropriately enough, in comedies and musicals having handled in his prime George M. Cohan, Maurice Chevalier, Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, Mario Lanza, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, etc. – not to mention having been the youngest (and probably most forgotten) of Oscar-winning directors!

I first saw this on the old "4:30 Movie" on Channel Seven in New York City. They were having an "Elvis Presley Week" for his January 8 birthday. I think this was as close as Elvis ever came to posting drug induced images on the big screen. The surreal "Edge of Reality" dream number reeks of acid tabs. Michele Carey's character gives the impression that she has dabbled in illegal pills of some kind. The milkman and "Harry Baby" are two stoned men in need of a good talking to. I could go on--but I won't. Rather, I will say there are four songs in the picture. They are all terrific. And who is that knockout Elvis sings and dances with in the party scene? She's gorgeous. Unfortunately, there is a long, vicious fight sequence in a newspaper plant when Elvis gets a pink slip. Elvis' huge dog, "Brutus," receives star treatment. The opening credits has Elvis, sans helmet, tooling around the California surf. Fans of Elvis will admire the cordial way he treats the bizarre Carey whenever she goes on one of her crazy rants. Always the gentleman, he even places a board between the amorous Carey and himself when they are forced to sleep together. Nice fellow, huh? The plot revolves around Elvis' need to find and keep two jobs as a photographer in the magazine world: one is with the conservative Rudy Valee, the other is with the swinging Don Porter, "Gidget's" dad. I like how Elvis' opening line to both of his potential bosses secretaries throws them off stride: "Tell Mister (fill in the blank) that Greg Nolan is here with the truth." Elvis your hired.