Live a Little, Love a Little

Live a Little, Love a Little

This soundtrack "A Little Less Conversation" from the movie is nowdays very popular in 2002 with Elvis' remix with David Holmes. It was one cool song he sang in the movie, the other one I think that's also cool is "Edge Of Reality". Those song sequences from the movie would look great in any music video on MTV, VH-1 or whatever. Just because of "A Little Less Conversation" it's keeping Elvis on the top charts as it has for 4 consecutive weeks. The movie is pretty awesome too. A must see for all Elvis fans and movie lovers.

A talented young photographer (Elvis Presley) lands two jobs in the same building and slinks his way back and forth. One job is for a high tone advertising agency and the other is for a slick girlie magazine. Michelle Carey plays the sex starved landlady. Better than average Elvis flick featuring four good tunes. "Edge of Reality" song and scene are very memorable. So is scene of Presley and Carey in bed. This comedy also stars Don Porter, Dick Sargent and Rudy Vallee. Elvis' movie career on an up swing. Norman Taurog directs.

Rebecca: This is so bad it's almost good. Enid: This is so bad it's gone past good and back to bad again. "Live a Little, Love a Little" (1968) is one of those rare films so bad that it has gone past good and back to bad. To its entertainment value it has a surreal lameness that makes you stop and contemplate things like how a group of highly paid industry professionals could have produced something so staggeringly horrible. Granted it nicely illustrates my Elvis movie theory that the closer Elvis got to an ocean in a film the worse the film. In "Live a Little, Love a Little" Elvis plays a character who is a blend of Tony Curtis in "Don't Make Waves" (1967) and Jerry Lewis in "The Big Mouth (1967). Apparently those two films served as inspiration for this disaster. This is not a pleasant thing but its many mockfest moments can be perversely amusing. Most mockfest worthy is the horribly staged fight scene at the newspaper, which is both inexplicable and unnecessary; something that seems to be scotched-taped into the story because Elvis otherwise looks like a total wimp. At least "Live a Little, Love a Little" has some Elvis songs. Of course those other films have Sharon Tate and Jeannine Riley, effortlessly sizzling actress. "Live a Little, Love a Little" has to rely on Michelle Carey, who manically works to get your attention like a one-trick pony mad for a carrot. But she is so hopelessly sterile that a viewer keeps wishing she would put on more clothes. Carey heads up what is Elvis' worst ever supporting cast, none of them capable of generating a laugh or serving the audience identification function. I suspect that he lived in fear of being upstaged by someone with comedic talent or a trendy image as by 1968 the world had moved on and The King was still stuck in a Patti Page 50's time warp.

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.

A half-hearted attempt to bring Elvis Presley into the modern day, but despite a sexy little shower scene and a pseudo-Playboy magazine subplot, Presley is surrounded by the same old coy, winking clichés. A woman picks E.P. up on the beach and then proceeds to take over his life--and he doesn't seem to care! Dick Sargent is grueling in another sidebar, but Don Porter and Rudy Vallee (!) try hard as Elvis' two bosses (he's moonlighting, you see). Some of the songs are quite good, especially "Almost in Love", but if you want to see a looser, hipper, updated Elvis sex-comedy--look elsewhere. When Elvis and his Fatal Attraction get into bed together, there's actually a wooden board in between them! Get real. ** from ****

This late entry in Elvis's film career is an uneasy combination of the total fluff he had done before and an attempt to be more hip, adult and non-musical. Aside from the tune sung over the opening credits, he only sings three songs. So many capsule reviews of this film describe the plot as Presley juggling two jobs, but that aspect doesn't even come about until far into the film and, though it is a plot point, the real story lies elsewhere. Presley zooms his dune buggy to the beach and begins to take some photos. Immediately, the bizarre Carey tries to seduce him. When it doesn't work, she has her huge dog chase him into the ocean until he is willing to come into her beach house. Then she drugs him and keeps him in her spare room for days! (It should be noted that this is a "comedy"!) Knowing that Presley was a massive pill-popper (who, in fact, died from it!), it is unsettling to watch him in a film that takes this sort of thing so lightly, but the '60's offered a different idea of drug use. Presley soon finds out that Carey is a bit of a head case, adopting different names throughout the day, based on how she feels, and entertaining a variety of men. Carey (looking and sounding like a very poor man's Elizabeth Taylor, though she is undeniably beautiful) could not possibly be more aggravating, grating, infuriating or ludicrous. (She even gets to write on a mirror with lipstick ala Taylor in "Butterfield 8"!) The actress's considerable charms are tested to the breaking point. As for Presley and his two jobs...This is strictly bad TV sitcom level plotting and contrivance. Aside from the chance to see Presley looking well, the film would be completely without value save two things. One is a totally bizarre dream ballet (which no doubt had Agnes de Mille rolling in her grave) complete with a man in a Great Dane outfit, Elvis in shiny "pajamas" and a bunch of balletic (if that's the word to use) stand-in's for the other characters in the film. The song, "Edge of Reality" is actually quite good, but this sequence is a campy, uproariously idiotic mess. It's so bad that it's impossible to look away. The other highlight is the recently remixed "A Little Less Conversation". The credits list a choreographer for this number, but there is almost no dancing which is disappointing. A few lame go-goers, lean from side to side in the background. Instead, it's a long shot of Elvis singing to Yarnall as he sweeps her out of a party and into his car. The song is way too brief (and interrupted at the very beginning by an annoying sound effect), but what there is is wonderful to hear and there is a galaxy of funky, wacky '60's outfits on display. Yarnall is on hand basically to have her coat placed on her shoulders THREE TIMES in her scant screen time. The film serves as a neat time capsule of late '60's clothes and hair and make-up and has a few great sets. The story is awful and told very choppily. Attempts at adult sexuality are pitiful. Apparently, Elvis had an aversion to love scenes. One year before "Midnight Cowboy" and here he is with a board between him and Carey in bed! (Though there are occasional homoerotic moments like Elvis doing dishes with Sargent--who also wields a phallic champagne bottle, steam-rooming with Porter, dropping trou with Vallee and having the dog come to life as a man and taking him to a dream ballet!)

Over the years I have certainly seen quite a few "Elvis Presley" movies. And, now - After watching Elvis here in 1968's "Live A Little, Love A Little" (which was his 28th picture) - I am completely convinced that Hollywood totally wasted him as an actor (just like they did with Marilyn Monroe). Showcasing 4 absolutely forgettable songs - I guess that this Rom/Com was desperately out to prove that (even in the late-1960's) - Elvis (33 at the time) was still going strong as the ultimate badass, hipster, loverboy. But, unfortunately - This film's trite, predictable, little, nothing-of-a-story reeked so badly of "deja vu" overload, that I was already bored to tears with it within its first 15 minutes.

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 !