With all this talk about Clambake...

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Topic author
r&b

With all this talk about Clambake...

#1377721

Post by r&b »

With the current thread about Clambake, I thought it would be interesting for members to name their picks as Elvis' best 3 acting performances and also his worst 3. Here are mine:

Best:
King Creole - no contest. Far & away the best. Brilliant through the whole movie. (he had been progressing since Love Me Tender)
Flaming Star - almost as good
Wild In The Country - Not bad, but you can see their is no progression from King Creole anymore. It seems the growth stopped here and some scenes are a bit forced, but the hotel scene with Hope Lange may be his finest on film.

Worst:
Clambake - for me the worst. He looks totally disinterested and like he'd rather be anywhere else. A walk through.
Harum Scarum - the first of the truly rotten performances where there is nothing really good to say.
PHS, Double Trouble, F&J, ECEG - these films & performances are so interchangeable they are all tied for third!



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Re: With all this talk about Clambake...

#1377729

Post by xmascarrol »

Best for me are

KING CREOLE : deff the best without a shadow of doubt. should of won an award for this one
Follow that dream: Ok Elvis play a not so bright kid but the court room and the way he takes the gun of the bad guy is sincere and funny.
Change of Habit. It's Elvis as it should of been. Yes there is singing in the film but the songs are better and the dialogue is soo much better, just a shame after 60 the films didnt stay like KIng Creole and change of habit.

Worse for me are as follow

Easy come Easy go: Enough said about this film the better
Paradise Hawaiian Style: Elvis totally out of shape
Blue Hawaii: I just don't like this film too wishy washy for my liking and Angela Lansbury bless her heart but omg.


he maybe gone but never forgotten.

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Re: With all this talk about Clambake...

#1377731

Post by Steve Morse »

I agree with the OP's 'Best' listing but you need to make room for Follow That Dream as potentially the best of all.

Worst films for me are Clambake, PHS and Kissin' Cousins, with an honourable mention for ECEG. I treat Harum Scarum as a Christmas pantomime and, as such, a curiosity. I see Frankie & Johnny as a stage musical and consequently just bearable, especially with (relatively speaking) the good quality cast.
Last edited by Steve Morse on Thu Apr 02, 2015 12:58 am, edited 1 time in total.


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Re: With all this talk about Clambake...

#1377732

Post by drjohncarpenter »

It's all a matter of taste!


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Re: With all this talk about Clambake...

#1377733

Post by Steve Morse »

drjohncarpenter wrote:It's all a matter of taste!
Isn't that the whole point of this topic ?


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Re: With all this talk about Clambake...

#1377742

Post by drjohncarpenter »

Steve Morse wrote:
drjohncarpenter wrote:It's all a matter of taste!
Isn't that the whole point of this topic ?
Nope.


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Topic author
skatterbrane

Re: With all this talk about Clambake...

#1377758

Post by skatterbrane »

Best acting:
Follow That Dream
best movie:
King Creole.




Topic author
King Volcano

Re: With all this talk about Clambake...

#1377760

Post by King Volcano »

King Creole is best at everything for me, the acting, the film, the music. I think Kid Galahad is almost excellent & EP is very good in it, but the songs ruin the drama for me (even though they're good songs I hasten to add! I really like the Kid Galahad music, it just interferes with the film).




Topic author
skatterbrane

Re: With all this talk about Clambake...

#1377761

Post by skatterbrane »

I like Kid Galahad too. I like the vibe of the two Mirisch Co films Too bad he did not make two more that was a possible option at the time.




Topic author
skatterbrane

Re: With all this talk about Clambake...

#1377766

Post by skatterbrane »

Best

Follow That Dream
King Creole
Jailhouse Rock

Worst
Harum Scarum
Frankie And Johnny




Topic author
poormadpeter

Re: With all this talk about Clambake...

#1377771

Post by poormadpeter »

Best:
King Creole
Trouble with Girls
Flaming Star

Worst:
Paradise Hawaiian Style
Harum Scarum
Love Me Tender

Love Me Tender might surprise some people, but if we're talking about acting performances and not the quality of the film, then Love Me Tender has to be right up there with Elvis's worst. He is appallingly wooden, with one reviewer stating his acting performance was only slightly better than that of the horses. In the other two films I mention as worst, he's saddled with poor scripts, poor direction, bland co-stars, poor songs and low production values, so it's hardly surprising his performance isn't good.




Topic author
r&b

Re: With all this talk about Clambake...

#1377772

Post by r&b »

King Volcano wrote:King Creole is best at everything for me, the acting, the film, the music. I think Kid Galahad is almost excellent & EP is very good in it, but the songs ruin the drama for me (even though they're good songs I hasten to add! I really like the Kid Galahad music, it just interferes with the film).
Yes it would have been a better film, sans music, just drama. Great cast, arguably the best ever for an Elvis film.




Topic author
r&b

Re: With all this talk about Clambake...

#1377773

Post by r&b »

poormadpeter wrote:Best:
King Creole
Trouble with Girls
Flaming Star

Worst:
Paradise Hawaiian Style
Harum Scarum
Love Me Tender

Love Me Tender might surprise some people, but if we're talking about acting performances and not the quality of the film, then Love Me Tender has to be right up there with Elvis's worst. He is appallingly wooden, with one reviewer stating his acting performance was only slightly better than that of the horses. In the other two films I mention as worst, he's saddled with poor scripts, poor direction, bland co-stars, poor songs and low production values, so it's hardly surprising his performance isn't good.
Yes I am asking to judge strictly on the acting and not the film, so your choice makes sense. He was new to the art and appears to be somewhat green to it, but still more natural in delivering lines in some ways than Clambake and the two you list. Interesting choice with The Trouble With Girls.




Topic author
poormadpeter

Re: With all this talk about Clambake...

#1377775

Post by poormadpeter »

r&b wrote:
poormadpeter wrote:Best:
King Creole
Trouble with Girls
Flaming Star

Worst:
Paradise Hawaiian Style
Harum Scarum
Love Me Tender

Love Me Tender might surprise some people, but if we're talking about acting performances and not the quality of the film, then Love Me Tender has to be right up there with Elvis's worst. He is appallingly wooden, with one reviewer stating his acting performance was only slightly better than that of the horses. In the other two films I mention as worst, he's saddled with poor scripts, poor direction, bland co-stars, poor songs and low production values, so it's hardly surprising his performance isn't good.
Yes I am asking to judge strictly on the acting and not the film, so your choice makes sense. He was new to the art and appears to be somewhat green to it, but still more natural in delivering lines in some ways than Clambake and the two you list. Interesting choice with The Trouble With Girls.
I was also tempted to put Wild in the Country in the worst section. It's an interesting misfire, but Elvis seems completely lost throughout it.

I'm not saying Trouble with Girls is a great film, but his acting is really very good and natural, I think, and gets overlooked. He also acquits himself well in Follow That Dream, G I Blues, Blue Hawaii, Fun in Acapulco and Roustabout as well. Jailhouse Rock might be an iconic film with classic sequences, but watching it without looking at it for its historical importance, and its all rather clunky and Elvis's acting seems to blow hot and cold.



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Re: With all this talk about Clambake...

#1377779

Post by drjohncarpenter »

He was just as good in "Clambake" as in "King Creole."


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Re: With all this talk about Clambake...

#1377799

Post by jurasic1968 »

Best:
1. King Creole
2. Jailhouse Rock
3. Follow That Dream
Worst (hard to make a separation between these):
1. PHS
2. Harum Scarum
3. Clambake



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Re: With all this talk about Clambake...

#1377801

Post by TINML »

drjohncarpenter wrote:He was just as good in "Clambake" as in "King Creole."
The power of Presley!

Best:
Roustabout
Speedway
Loving You

Worst:
Paradise Hawaiian Style
Harum Scarum
Double Trouble


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Re: With all this talk about Clambake...

#1377809

Post by promiseland »

Clambake
Harem Scarem
Frankie And Johnnie

:D



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Re: With all this talk about Clambake...

#1377810

Post by promiseland »

drjohncarpenter wrote:He was just as good in "Clambake" as in "King Creole."
Ohhh YEAHH!!

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Re: With all this talk about Clambake...

#1377811

Post by Steve Morse »

poormadpeter wrote: I was also tempted to put Wild in the Country in the worst section. It's an interesting misfire, but Elvis seems completely lost throughout it.
I completely disagree !

I think that the Glen Tyler role was more difficult than the Danny Fisher one ; and the following statement may be naive on my part, but I imagine it's easier to act tough (King Creole) than to convey the mixed emotions that came with the Wild In The Country role. I think that Elvis's performance in WITC is excellent and it's certainly (along with Flaming Star) one of his most thought-provoking films, both films being enhanced by quality supporting casts.


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Re: With all this talk about Clambake...

#1377813

Post by sitdown revamped »

skatterbrane wrote:I like Kid Galahad too. I like the vibe of the two Mirisch Co films Too bad he did not make two more that was a possible option at the time.
Intresting. What was the possible option?
Another thought: I read sometime, that the huge success of Blue Hawaii kinda determined the course of the rest of the movies for the 60s. Wish it had never happened this way...In every movie, after "quick buck Joe" joined the crew, one can taste the deterioration in quality....what a waste of talent. So 68 Comeback becomes "King Creole" musicwise, and then we get too much of the same stuff again...Vegas...



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Re: With all this talk about Clambake...

#1377835

Post by charro1971 »

3 Best

King Creole
Wild In The Country
Jailhouse Rock
(Trouble With Girls is an interesting choice. Elvis certainly plays his character really well in that one but then again it's not the most challenging role he ever faced)

Worst
Paradise Hawaiian Style
Clambake
(In about 15 other films he acts exactly the same so I can't pick a third)


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Re: With all this talk about Clambake...

#1377837

Post by CONFEDERATELVIS »

LIVE A LITTLE
STAY AWAY JOE - funny film
KING CREOLE


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Topic author
r&b

Re: With all this talk about Clambake...

#1377838

Post by r&b »

sitdown revamped wrote:
skatterbrane wrote:I like Kid Galahad too. I like the vibe of the two Mirisch Co films Too bad he did not make two more that was a possible option at the time.
Intresting. What was the possible option?
Another thought: I read sometime, that the huge success of Blue Hawaii kinda determined the course of the rest of the movies for the 60s. Wish it had never happened this way...In every movie, after "quick buck Joe" joined the crew, one can taste the deterioration in quality....what a waste of talent. So 68 Comeback becomes "King Creole" musicwise, and then we get too much of the same stuff again...Vegas...
Tremendous analogy. Best Ive read in a long time. And how ironic he kicks off the TV special with a song from King Creole!!




Topic author
r&b

Re: With all this talk about Clambake...

#1377839

Post by r&b »

drjohncarpenter wrote:He was just as good in "Clambake" as in "King Creole."
Yes and Will Hutchins was his Vic Morrow lol


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