Easy Come, Easy Go (1967) User Reviews

Benign Elvis fare

[blanche-2 · 5/10 · 1 March 2006]

Well, I'll give Easy Come, Easy Go this - it's not as unwatchable as Harum Scarum.

Watching Elvis films is a bittersweet experience. I love seeing him - he had such an incredible voice, presence, and energy, but what a waste as far as his films. Had he not been tied to Colonel Parker, film-wise, he could have done some interesting roles.

I'd say let's not dwell on the past, but unfortunately, with Elvis, it's all we've got. "Easy Come, Easy Go" was one of his last films, and it was made during the hippie movement, so Elvis has to deal with a lot of free spirits. He's after some underwater salvage, and he has competition. There's the story right there.

There is a yoga class headed by Elsa Lanchester who sings a little song - I guess at this point, they threw everything but the kitchen sink into these films to make them bearable. Frank McHugh turns in the best performance of the film. He's wonderful and very funny in what would be his last film. Elvis is charming, of course, although by 1967, doing these films was a painful and angry-making experience for him. The songs are terrible - my understanding is that Colonel Parker figured out by the mid-60s that the lower the budget, the more money he made, so apparently, there were no songs written expressly for the movie.

Elvis could have been in "Midnight Cowboy" or the Streisand remake of "A Star is Born" but the Colonel was afraid of losing control of him, and Elvis was afraid to leave. Colonel Parker was his lucky charm. Colonel Parker had given him all his success. Colonel Parker was taking 50% of everything Elvis made. Colonel Parker made Elvis a slave to the Hilton Hotel because he kept telling the management to take his gambling debts out of Elvis' deal. Colonel Parker wouldn't look at Elvis' dead body, but took Vernon aside and made him sign a document that the court later negated since it was detrimental to Lisa Marie's inheritance. Yes, Colonel Parker was a prince. This movie is just one example of everything he did for Elvis.

This Captain Hates the Sea

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 20 December 2005]

Elvis Presley was coming to the end of his cycle as a big name movie box office star when Easy Come, Easy Go was made for Paramount. We were deep in the flower power era by 1967 and Elvis was ceding his top spot to the lads from Liverpool and their imitators.

The one thing about Elvis films were was that the whole film was sold on the personality of its star. If it was a good script with an intelligent story line that was gravy. Easy Come, Easy Go was a steak tartar of a film.

No hit songs came out of this movie, but Colonel Tom Parker as he always did made sure the King was always given a good supporting cast of veteran Hollywood players. In this case we have two of the best. Elsa Lanchester has a brief bit as a yoga instructor who literally ties the King in knots. And she even sings a line or two with Elvis. Not a duet combination anyone would ever have dreamed.

Also Frank McHugh plays Captain Jack who owns a marine supply store who's never been to sea. Mr. McHugh graced just about every other Warner Brothers film during the hay day of the studio system and was always a welcome whimsical presence. He's no less welcome here in what turned out to be his feature film swan song. McHugh's problem is that he gets seasick in a row boat.

Elvis is a Navy Seal who on his last day in the service discovers some buried treasure at the same time some other folks have. He enlists the help of his former partner Pat Harrington, Jr. and McHugh in trying to get to the treasure. Of course Elvis has a couple of girls after him, Dodie Marshall and Pat Priest.

It's pleasant and entertaining enough, but not up to the standards of stuff like Blue Hawaii or Jailhouse Rock for Elvis.

It completely depends on your expectations?

[hitchcockthelegend · 6/10 · 27 June 2012]

By 1967 Elvis Presley had long since had enough of the formula of his movies, where he would triumph over the bad guys, kiss the girls and sing songs to all and sundry. Even when a good Presley movie surfaced, and there are a few bona fide good ones, casual film fans are required to be in a light and unforgiving mood to enjoy the malarkey on offer. Easy Come, Easy Go is pretty average stuff, both in quality of narrative and performances and that of the tunes within. Dialogue is unleashed in scattergun fashion without due care and attention for dramatic worth, there's no strong female lead for Presley to bounce back and forth from, and the humour is tired and weary.

Yet for all of the evident problems, it's a safe enough recommendation to those after a time filler who are armed with the knowledge this isn't going to tickle the cranium! It's all very colourful with nice exterior work at Long Beach Naval Station, Presley looks just terrific in uniform and the cast is spruced up by the presence of Elsa Lanchester and Jack McHugh; the former of which sings a bit and gets the giggles as a hippie type yoga teacher who ties "The Pelvis" in knots. Stand out tune is I'll Take Love, while the race for buried treasure plot remains airy enough to let the adventure yarn breathe.

Foot tapping assured and unintentional giggles, too, set the dial for family friendly fodder and wallow in the froth. 6/10

Its Elvis on the high seas!!!

[raysond · 17 August 2000]

Anything that was associated with Elvis Presley was one of those Hollywood pictures where Elvis just did naturally....pop up in some strange town,sing his heart out,have the kids dancing to the music,or in other cases, gets the girl and saves the day.

This was one of his films had that authenticity. Even though it would be the last association with producer Hal Wallis(who would take over production at Universal) and the last film he would do for Paramount Pictures before he would go into his next feature film.

The basic formula was simple: Any feature that starred the King of Rock and Roll would bring box-office success,and that was what "Easy Come,Easy Go" was just that. I had the chance to see this film on Encore just the other day,and I thought it was well enjoyable by all aspects. You have an action-packed adventure yarn that is filled with the music of the sixties that is swinging and grooving.

Check out the co-star of Pat Harrington(who was Schinder on TV's "One Day at a Time"),as his mate in search of buried treasure and a beau of lovely dames in distress.

Mediocre and tedious film.

[geoffm60295 · 3/10 · 10 January 2020]

By 1967, the world of pop music had passed Elvis by, as had the movie world. The younger generation had moved onto different styles of music as well as watching more demanding films. Elvis appeared stuck in a time warp! 'Easy Come, Easy Go" could have starred Dean Martin or even Jack Lemmon, who were far more comfortable with nuances of light comedy. Frankly, this was a cheesy film with a threadbare storyline. Elvis's acting was at best ok but at worst, wooden. Apart from die hard Elvis fans, filmgoers were not going to spend their hard earned money to see an ageing crooner flirting with an endless bevy of beautiful girls, where the acting was lack lustre and the dialogue was corny.. These films were a waste of Elvis's talent!

Elvis hates this, and you can tell

[sean4554 · 2/10 · 26 April 2009]

This was Presley's final film for producer Hal Wallis, who was not being at all kind to his star at the time, and his second film for director John Rich, who never liked Elvis and vice-versa. Wallis' indifference was largely due to the fact that Elvis movies were no longer big box-office. Rich, who knows what his problem was, but he kept Elvis in the frogman suit in unbearable heat for a ridiculous amount of time. Besides these problems, "Easy Come Easy Go" was just another of the horrible plot less teenybopper musicals that Elvis had already long grown to despise; and there's really nothing else to distinguish this from the others. Well, one thing: during the final song, 'I'll Take Love' (which can be described as somewhat listenable), for a flash of a second a look of disgust and anger passes over Presley's face. This in itself raises the rating from less than one star to two.

Someone should have sunk this premise...

[moonspinner55 · 4/10 · 2 May 2008]

Elvis Presley, playing a mine-detonator for the U.S. Navy (!), comes across sunken treasures of the deep; will the professional frogman keep the underwater riches a secret or will one of the pretty lasses in his circle kiss the dish out of him? Rather unpolished star-vehicle with musical interludes isn't all wet, though it does appear as though Elvis and the cast are winging it (there were two screenwriters credited, and frankly if I were either Allan Weiss or Anthony Lawrence, I would've adopted a pseudonym). Cinematographer William Margulies does amateurish work, with thick, gloppy colors making even the ocean look like a fish tank. A handful of not-bad songs ultimately keeps the picture from sinking. *1/2 from ****

Elvis does Yoga and dives for buried treasure

[ODDBear · 6/10 · 23 February 2015]

A frogman (Elvis) working for the Navy discovers treasure in a sunken ship and once he becomes an ordinary citizen he sets out to retrieve it; but he's got competition for it.

One of Elvis's later entries; quite shallow and cheesy but fairly enjoyable. The slapstick humor works OK in parts and there's an underlying comic jab at the hippie lifestyle that's well played out. There are also some impressive underwater sequences here; "Easy Come, Easy Go" is a little more visually compelling than other Presley flicks around this time.

The songs are few but pretty good (6 in total) and many have commented on "Yoga is as Yoga Does" as Elvis's most embarrassing moment on film. Personally I think nothing can top his singing to the dogs in "Paradise, Hawaiian Style" but I also think the Yoga moment here is pretty funny and the song OK; in a cheesy sort of way. You gotta admire how the King was a professional through and through and pulled this off and manages to be funny as well in his bungled Yoga attempts.

Blah!

[deadwhy324 · 4/10 · 11 May 2020]

Never liked Elvis or his movies, just his female co-stars. The. 4 stars are for Pat (Marilyn Munster) Priest in a bikini!

One of the better late 60s Elvis films

[funkyfry · 7/10 · 4 January 2007]

Most Elvis fans might approach this with some amount of fear, as I did, because so many of his late 60s films are awful. But I really did enjoy this one. It's zany, it's fast paced, it's colorful. Unlike some of the other late 60s films Elvis and the other co-stars don't seem to be embarrassed by the film.

I was surprised at the amount of integration in the score. A lot of the songs relate directly to the film's story. There are a number of very amusing novelty songs. For example Elvis' friend has a "love machine" that is basically a big wheel of fortune with different girls' names and pictures on it. Elvis sings a song about the wheel, it's very amusing. Then later on of course the girls turn out to be hags. The best novelty song is "Yoga Is as Yoga Does" which Elvis sings with Elsa Lancaster.

Very nearly sinks but a few things keep it afloat

[TheLittleSongbird · 4/10 · 26 March 2017]

Elvis Presley was a hugely influential performer with one of the most distinctive singing voices of anybody. He embarked on a film career consisting of 33 films from 1956 to 1969, films that did well at the box-office but mostly panned critically (especially his later films) and while he was a highly charismatic performer he was never considered a great actor.

As far as Elvis films go, 'Easy Come, Easy Go' really isn't one of Elvis' best. It is nowhere near on the same level as 'King Creole', 'Flaming Star', 'Jailhouse Rock', 'Viva Las Vegas' and 'Loving You'. In fact, am of the opinion that most of his late 50s-early 60s films were decent, some better than that, with 'Kissin' Cousins' being his first mediocre at beat effort. At the same time, 'Easy Come, Easy Go', while in the weaker end in his films ranking, is more watchable (if only just) than 'Harum Scarum', 'Paradise Hawaiian Style' and his later films.

There are things that keep 'Easy Come, Easy Go' afloat. The supporting do quite well with what they have. Frank McHugh comes off best in a sincere and playful performance, while Pat Harrington has some amusement and Dodie Marshall some charm.

Didn't think hugely of the songs this time around, but "I'll Take Love" and the title song are lovely and fun. The underwater sequences are quite nicely shot and hold more attention than other areas of the story.

However, John Rich directs strangely unsteadily and like he was merely fulfilling some kind of contract. Got the same feeling too with Elvis, his earlier performances were much more charismatic and enthusiastic with a grittiness and emotion too but from mid-60s onwards he clearly started looking bored and uninterested and like he didn't trust or even like his material. While not as badly as his previous four films or so or later, that is the sense one gets here watching Elvis in 'Easy Come, Easy Go'. Elsa Lanchester is pretty much wasted in a scene that is as far from worthy of her talent as one can get.

Not that one can blame them entirely for lack of interest, when the material is barely passable at best and sometimes risible, catering solely seemingly to hard-core Elvis completests. While the songs generally serve a point instead of being thrown in, they are not particularly well recorded and with rather poor lyrics. "Yoga is as Yoga Does" has often been considered one of the worst scenes in an Elvis film, and one can definitely see why, very poorly written, garishly shot and Elvis clearly looks demeaned.

Story here is virtually unfathomable and like it was made up as it went along. Very rarely is there any punch, with so much of the action being tentative. Worse is the writing, especially in the humour with the embarrassing hippie scenes and jokes that would have been out of date and tasteless even in 1967 let alone now (did they really need to plumb to lower depths to integrate anti-beatnik jokes?). Apart from the underwater sequences, while there are cheaper-looking Elvis films out there the production values do have a low-budget made for TV-look to them and cheapened further by the nauseating garishness.

Overall, not awful but not particularly good, if it weren't for the few things that kept things afloat 'Easy Come, Easy Go' would have sunk without much of a trace. 4/10 Bethany Cox

Hot chicks, Cool treasure.

[somic · 8/10 · 5 September 2007]

Easy come, Easy Go was released in 1967, two years before Elvis' last feature film, "Change Of Habit." Elvis plays a frogman who is about to complete his time with the U.S. Navy. He stumbles onto a sunken treasure on his final dive. One big problem..... someone else has made the same discovery. This makes for a fairly compelling story line.

Of course there are plenty of pretty girls. The cast was wonderful. Dodie Marshall, the beautiful Pat Priest, and the wonderful Frank McHugh who played the (frightened of water) Captain Jack. The whole cast was great.

The photography was stunning. Hats off to William Margulies for his incredible Cinematography. The scenery and settings were wonderful. The underwater scenes were very well done. This was a tough shoot. The credit goes to underwater photographer Michael J. Dugan.

The drawback in this film was the Yoga scene. This has to be one worst scenes ever shot in film history. What was John Rich thinking? For that matter what was film editor Archie Marshek thinking. This was a no brainer. That scene should have been cut. I really believe that if it wasn't for that one scene, This would be one of Elvis' best. It was really that good. Well acted and Elvis looked like he really cared. If you can overlook the (Yoga) scene, this film is well worth watching.

not as awful as they say...well pieced together

[beauzee · 7/10 · 8 January 2015]

we must presume Elvis wanted to make this movie about as much as he wanted to...listen to Robert Goulet. (look it up!).

a lot of complaints about a real B-movie look, and no hit songs > but to me, it flows nice 'n easy > with just six tunes, as weak as they all are, but just enough...12 songs was pretty ridiculous even when Elvis movies were smashes. the storyline is pleasant enough, and...big point...we get excellent support from Pat Harrington, Jr., (his good buddy who plays trumpet, which is predominant on the tracks!), oldf-timers Elsa Lanchester, and FRank McHugh; and for fans of THE MUNSTERS, a beautiful, bikini-clad Pat Priest, playing the evil "distraction" to Elvis' team finding lost treasure, in the deep blue sea. Finally, a chance in 1966, to see *more* of this sitcom babe (always dressed like a Librarian in that weird sicom!) So...not too many laughs, with many wonderful opportunities thrown overboard > very embarrassing to watch Elvis "lampoon", with one of the worst songs we've ever heard, Yoga ("Yoga is as Yoga Does") when we know he was very interested in such disciplines >>>> but the veterans and newcomers mix in well to the crazy California scenario.

in the end, not good, not bad...better than many Presleys................. and many more to EASY come! yikes!

Real Nonsense

[LeonardKniffel · 3/10 · 29 April 2020]

Hardly any Hollywood films of the time captured the spirit of social change that was sweeping America in the 1960s, this one least of all. The movie stands as a mind-boggling example of how the motion picture industry could not figure out what to do with the talented Elvis Presley or what to make of the sexual revolution. With that in mind, listen for "Yoga Is as Yoga Does," performed by Elvis and the venerable Elsa Lanchester, in which his perplexed pelvis is twisted into a pretzel shape as he sings, "Tell me just how I can take this yoga serious when all it ever gives me is a pain in my posterious."

It ain't that bad

[estabansmythe · 8 May 2005]

"Easy Come, Easy Go" is hardly the King's best - but still, it ain't that bad. I certainly prefer it to "Harum Scarum."

And it does have a few killer songs, including "The Love Machine" & the irresistible "I'll Take Love," performed as the finale (it should have been a hit single).

But having said that, Elvis looks bored at various times. As he put it, by then he was tired of beating up the bad guys and then singing to them.

It's too bad that he never got a role in a truly serious film directed by a truly serious director later in his career because I believe he could have been taught, encouraged and coaxed into some truly terrific serious dramatic performances - and not just the brooding, pouting youth roles a la "Wild In The Country" or "Jailhouse Rock." Perhaps in a smaller serious role.

Imagine him as naive good old boy male prostitute Joe Buck in Jon Voight's shoes in "Midnight Cowboy"? I really think he could have done something special with a serious role like that in a serious film. Roles such as that could have changed his entire career - and how people viewed him.

A former Navy frogman dives for a treasure chest.

[michaelRokeefe · 5/10 · 19 November 1999]

Elvis Presley plays a Navy frogman, who later as a civilian dives for buried treasure. Dodie Marshall plays a disco dancer and yoga student that ends up helping the former frogman. Pat Priest plays a playgirl that ensues the aid of her boyfriend (Skip Ward) to try and foil the recovery of the treasure chest. Pat Harrington plays the owner of a little club where he lets the unsinkable diver to sing. Six badly recorded songs and a horrible yoga class scene brings this flick to bottom feeder rank in Elvis' movie career.

Elvis tries Yoga!

[kz917-1 · 4/10 · 10 August 2020]

Recently former Navy Frogman spies buried treasure on one of his last official Navy dives. Meets local artist hippie & goes for the gold, but others are out to double cross him & get the treasure first!

I agree with benign,

[slapstck2000 · 1/10 · 12 July 2007]

This is just pure @#$%^&$#@ this is just AWFUULLLLLLLLL! This is one time Elvis should have been horse whipped with a live horse! my-god even the songs are horrible! I find my self throwing my hands up and over my face and saying, (oh Elvis! please! please stop just stop please stopppppp1 oh this is just awful, Now this is desperate, this is one of the most embarrassing Elvis movies, And yes I find myself wanting to find Tom Parker and report him as being an illegal immigrant, if just to get him away from Elvis! If Tom Parker likes these types of movies then why don't he star in them? just don't do this to Elvis!and the acting is actually as bad as watching a soap opera.AAAAAAAAAAAA!! slapstck2000

Good Romp

[harrytrue · 7/10 · 9 September 2005]

"Easy Come, Easy Go" is a typical Elvis movie. Elvis is in need of some fast money, and although he won't do anything illegal, lying, and hustling people is not beneath him.

It's a comedy, not a serious movie. It should be viewed that way, and as a comedy, it works. Of course, having Elvis in it didn't hurt.

Elvis is not afraid to look silly in this movie. Him doing yoga. Others look silly in this movie, such as the Captain.

It was shot in Hawaii. Did Hawaii pay Elvis to shoot there. Certainly helps people think of Hawaii.

After viewing my copy of "Easy Come, Easy Go", I donated it to a library, for others to enjoy.

Not the worst choice to waste an afternoon over

[dave13-1 · 5/10 · 23 May 2023]

Easy Come, Easy Go features (famously) maybe the worst selling soundtrack ever for an Elvis vehicle and this simply shows discernment on the part of the record buying public. The songs here range from bland and forgettable to 'what was that, I nodded off...'. As a rock and roll picture (Elvis' own term for most of his output) this one is a loser. Rather surprisingly though, as a comedy-adventure it is passably plotted and paced with good underwater photography. Normally in an Elvis feature, the songs are the attraction and the rest is filler. Here the musical numbers get in the way of an unexpectedly engaging treasure hunt, while Elvis additionally gets to romance beatnik Dodie Marshall. The inclusion of beatniks in a 1967 movie shows just how far behind the producers were when it came to pop culture - this picture came out around the time of the Monterey Pop Festival - but I won't quibble since beatnik Dodie is a very likeable and quirky presence that keeps Elvis and the plot a bit off kilter whenever she is onscreen.

The result is an odd entry into the Elvis oeuvre. The treasure hunt is well-handled and believable; the romantic pursuit of Elvis' female lead is a more satisfying challenge than in certain other of his pictures; Pat Harrington is his usual very watchable self in a decently written comedy support role; and the musical numbers might provide welcome relief from chronic insomnia. If expectations are kept low, Easy Come , Easy Go will kill 90 minutes at least as well as solitaire on your iPhone.

Easy Come, Easy Go on blu-ray

[jucsetmai · 7/10 · 10 November 2020]

Good movie good strong female lead coming soon on paramount pictures mod blu-ray release December

Conveyor belt of cheese

[glenaobrien · 4/10 · 13 March 2024]

Definitely one of the King's weaker outings. There a few okay songs and a couple of really awful ones ('Yoga is as Yoga Does' is particularly bad.) There's a few laughs in Elvis meeting hippies in an artist colony but Elsa Lanchester (The Bride of Frankenstein) is just embarrassing as the yoga instructor. It's hard to believe this movie was made in the same year The Beatles made Sgt. Peppers. The term 'beatniks' refers to people in the 50s and early 60s surely yet here the alternative types that Elvis looks and feels so awkward around are referred to by that term, a sign of how out of touch the writers were at the time. He 'plays' a couple of nice guitars including a Gibson SG and a Fender Jazz bass but it's clear when he's playing the bass that he actually has no idea how to play the thing. Elvis' creative comeback with the 1968 TV special and the 'From Elvis in Memphis' album were just around the corner but here he's still on the predictable mid-60s conveyor belt of cheese.

This is what I call entertainment!

[lindsay_duke · 10/10 · 9 January 2008]

This is one of Elvis' best films! It is very well cast, the plot was interesting, the acting was good, and the music was good. I especially like the song "The Love Machine". The movie does drag a little at the beginning for first time viewers, but the second time through you don't mind as much. This movie features a hilarious yoga scene which will leave everyone in stitches. And don't miss the modern art work sprinkled throughout the film. One of the funniest characters in the movie is Sultan. Although he's only in maybe 2 minutes of the movie, every line he says is funny. Don't miss this movie. It is good clean fun that an entire family can enjoy.

Elvis meets Bride of Frankenstein and Herman Munster's Niece

[jayroscoe · 7/10 · 26 February 2020]

The other reviewer forgot that Pat Priest also played Marilyn Munster, Herman's niece right before this movie came out

Goofy fun with the vets stealing the film.

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 16 February 2023]

If it wasn't for the presence of Frank McHugh and Elsa Lanchester in this film, I think I would have knocked the rating down one star as they really turn a silly premise into a lot of fun just by being there. Elvis Presley may be the star, and two attractive young leading ladies Dodie Marshall and Pat Priest do their best, along with Pat Harrington Jr. (as a beatnik) and Skip Ward (as Presley's rival), but it's McHugh's familiar laugh from all those great 1930s Warner Brothers films and Lancaster in her lengthy single scene (singing and dancing and insulting the king of rock and roll) who walk away with the film. There's also a Bob Denver like minor character, a rather flamboyant young man, who gets laughs simply by his unique presence.

The silly story has Presley out of the Navy and becoming involved in scuba diving to collect a treasure, utilizing McHugh's boat, getting involved in romantic misunderstandings, and being seen in tight scuba gear, breaking into song every now and then. He has a comical scene with yoga instructor Lancaster who begins to sing out of the blue, resulting in a delightful duet. The presence of these veteran actors reminds me of what made many of Jerry Lewis's lesser vehicles all the better simply by their presence in it. Films like this in Elvis's catalog show that producers were desperate to keep him in the public eye as a movie star, utilizing any type of ridiculous story to get him on the screen just so he could sing and shake his bottom while playing a guitar. Definitely not a classic, but filled with innocent charm that had me smiling as I bobbed my head to some forgettable songs.