1h 42min | Comedy, Musical, Romance | 8 March 1968 | Color, ws
Director: Peter Tewksbury
Stars: Elvis Presley, Burgess Meredith, Joan Blondell, Katy Jurado, Thomas Gomez.
Watched online: part 1, part 2; mediocre print.
5 songs in the Soundtracks. One has the melody of Greensleeves, and I heard another familiar tune with unfamiliar lyrics elsewhere.
My usual rating for EP films is 6. I had a really hard time getting through this one, almost stopping it multiple times.
This has too few songs, and too much brawling. Almost non-stop brawling. And the portrayal of these Native Americans is unbelievably offensive. The house is made of rotted wood and cardboard, with a large hole in the main room's floor. The final brawl of the film actually caused the collapse of the house.
EP is the title character, and that's his name, not a sentence. Contrary to that name, everyone we see welcomes him, usually with violence. But since pounding on each other is fun, it really is a "welcome."
JB welcomes him with a shotgun or a handgun after she sees him kissing her daughter, because she assumes the worst, and wants him to marry the 19 yo.
Causes of other fights: EP kissing (or more) the gf's of "friends" (hence the nickname), or accusing others of doing the same.
The "plot" consists of EP bringing a small herd (20 cows) home to his father BM and stepmother KJ. But at the welcome home party, someone butchers the lone bull for supper. So EP borrows a bull from a friend. But this isn't a mating bull, he's a rodeo bull, who bucks like crazy when ridden (with that extra strap to make them buck). Before EP learns of the bull's specialty, KJ has sold off most of the herd to pay for cosmetic upgrades to the house to impress EP's sister's potential mother-in-law. While she's visiting, JB arrives to take potshots at EP until he stands before the preacher to marry. The potential m-i-l goes catatonic while the shots are fired, instead of sensibly ducking and covering.
When EP learns of the bull's specialty he sets up a contest, offering to let anyone to ride. Since the bull only sleeps without strap and rider, lots of guys bet they can ride and lose. So EP earns enough cash to buy back the sold cattle and then some, so that when the congressman who gave him the cattle arrive to inspect the situation, everything is "fine."
This is really awful, and I hope never to see it again, not even clips.
MGM, dir. Tewksbury; 4
