Friday, November 25, 2022

Loving You (1957)

 Lizabeth Scott had retired from film acting just the previous year, but came out of her early retirement as a favor to Hal Wallis, the producer most responsable for her career and a sometimes lover. 'Loving You' was only the second film to star Elvis Presley and is sandwiched between the better remembered 'Love Me Tender' and 'Jailhouse Rock'. 'Loving You' is a sort of surragate Elvis origin story, Mr. Presley playing Deke Rivers, an orphaned Texas roustabout with a beautiful voice and sex appeal, and Ms. Scott as a statuesque, blond, female version of Tom Parker, only with superior ethics.

Featuring a very loose plot, even by the standards of Elvis flicks, it is a bland mediocrity of a movie. Lizabeth was 14 years older then Elvis so she is given a love interest in the form of Wendell Corey, who plays a cowboy singer who Ms. Scott manages, and also happens to be her ex husband (they never got over each other). Elvis's love interest is a cowgirl singer played by the more age appropriate Dolores Hart in her film debut. Ms. Hart, a real girl next store type, would have a modest film career of about 5 years, including a second apperance with Elvis in 'King Creole' the following year, before famously giving up acting to become a Benedictain Nun. She is still with us at 84.

Other then some associated trivium 'Loving  You' is a very forgettable movie. Unless your a commited Elvis complitest it's probably not worth seeing. Even my Elvis fanatic sister is luke warm on this one. *1/2

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