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.
Some of his films, well a vast majority of the films before 'Girls! Girls! Girls!', are actually pretty good and a few of them close to great. Particularly good are 'King Creole', 'Jailhouse Rock', 'Flaming Star' and 'Loving You'. 'Girls! Girls! Girls!' really isn't one of Elvis' best. He's certainly done worse, but in a way this was the start of his film career's decline.
There are good things here. The locations are colourfully exotic and beautifully shot. There are three great songs, "Because of Love", "I Don't Wanna Get Tied" (the film's most electrifying rendition) and especially the superb "Return to Sender". Some of the energy is good, the chemistry between the actors charms and it was easy too to like the tango dancing to "The Walls Have Ears".
Regarding Elvis himself, he is good natured and charismatic, with a gritty side too, and he is very well matched by charming Stella Stevens.
However, Norman Taurog's (a hit and miss director to me) direction is pretty all over the place, while the dialogue is pure toe-curling corn again (the dialogue was rarely a strong suit in Elvis' films) with some glutinous sentimentality and the story is contrived to the point of unintentional silliness and sometimes dull.
Laurel Goodwin's character is rather bland and while she does try to give some appeal her acting came over as pretty limited. Apart from three great songs, there are two other decent songs with "We're Coming In Loaded" and "Thanks to the Rolling Sea" but the rest are forgettable with a few disposable ones like "Song of the Shrimp" and "Earth Boy" ("The Walls Have Ears" was made slightly more tolerable by the tango dancing).
In conclusion, average fare and not something to get dreamy about. 5/10 Bethany Cox
Some of his films, well a vast majority of the films before 'Girls! Girls! Girls!', are actually pretty good and a few of them close to great. Particularly good are 'King Creole', 'Jailhouse Rock', 'Flaming Star' and 'Loving You'. 'Girls! Girls! Girls!' really isn't one of Elvis' best. He's certainly done worse, but in a way this was the start of his film career's decline.
There are good things here. The locations are colourfully exotic and beautifully shot. There are three great songs, "Because of Love", "I Don't Wanna Get Tied" (the film's most electrifying rendition) and especially the superb "Return to Sender". Some of the energy is good, the chemistry between the actors charms and it was easy too to like the tango dancing to "The Walls Have Ears".
Regarding Elvis himself, he is good natured and charismatic, with a gritty side too, and he is very well matched by charming Stella Stevens.
However, Norman Taurog's (a hit and miss director to me) direction is pretty all over the place, while the dialogue is pure toe-curling corn again (the dialogue was rarely a strong suit in Elvis' films) with some glutinous sentimentality and the story is contrived to the point of unintentional silliness and sometimes dull.
Laurel Goodwin's character is rather bland and while she does try to give some appeal her acting came over as pretty limited. Apart from three great songs, there are two other decent songs with "We're Coming In Loaded" and "Thanks to the Rolling Sea" but the rest are forgettable with a few disposable ones like "Song of the Shrimp" and "Earth Boy" ("The Walls Have Ears" was made slightly more tolerable by the tango dancing).
In conclusion, average fare and not something to get dreamy about. 5/10 Bethany Cox