Julie Adams goes from the black lagoon to becoming the owner of a health club for supposedly well to do matrons who need to lose a few pounds. I don't see any flab on these gals, especially when they start shaking their tushes to Elvis Presley's hip rattling songs. Adams spots Elvis singing at a country dive while waiting for rodeo season to start, and soon he's created tension at the spa, especially with the "strictly business" Jocelyn Lane who obviously has the hots for him, as do the bevy of beauties who pop up to say a line here, bat their eye lashes there, and for the most part, showing that physical beauty doesn't always mean dramatic talent.
While not a great actor, Presley has decent line reading but is basically playing himself. Adams, however, is both beautiful and talented, and makes her "boss lady" commanding, flirtatious, firm (both in temperament and in the physical sense as well), and delightfully funny. Not just a fan of hers for her movies, I found her a great scene stealer on the daytime soap "Capitol" where she took the focus away from the younger actors and made you notice her even when in scenes with the equally commanding Constance Towers, Marj Dusay (who flirted with Elvis in "Clambake"), Ed Nelson and Richard Egan, the star of Elvis's first film, "Love Me Tender". It's too bad she never got to work with Carolyn Jones ("King Creole"), tying Elvis in with 4 of "Capitol's" cast.
The fact that Elvis's character supposedly knows who Jennie Lind was is a far fetched detail, but that leads to a very cartoon like flashback to the past and a ridiculous story involving stolen treasure. The film concludes with a farcial sequence in a haunted house that makes the Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show look like Shakespeare. Elvis's songs, too, are mediocre, and he has absolutely zero chemistry with Lane, so it depends on the charm of the cast (which includes veteran character actress Connie Gilchrist and cult actresses Allison Hayes and Merry Anders) to rise above its preposterous story.
While not a great actor, Presley has decent line reading but is basically playing himself. Adams, however, is both beautiful and talented, and makes her "boss lady" commanding, flirtatious, firm (both in temperament and in the physical sense as well), and delightfully funny. Not just a fan of hers for her movies, I found her a great scene stealer on the daytime soap "Capitol" where she took the focus away from the younger actors and made you notice her even when in scenes with the equally commanding Constance Towers, Marj Dusay (who flirted with Elvis in "Clambake"), Ed Nelson and Richard Egan, the star of Elvis's first film, "Love Me Tender". It's too bad she never got to work with Carolyn Jones ("King Creole"), tying Elvis in with 4 of "Capitol's" cast.
The fact that Elvis's character supposedly knows who Jennie Lind was is a far fetched detail, but that leads to a very cartoon like flashback to the past and a ridiculous story involving stolen treasure. The film concludes with a farcial sequence in a haunted house that makes the Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show look like Shakespeare. Elvis's songs, too, are mediocre, and he has absolutely zero chemistry with Lane, so it depends on the charm of the cast (which includes veteran character actress Connie Gilchrist and cult actresses Allison Hayes and Merry Anders) to rise above its preposterous story.