Flick Friday: Love Me Tender 1956
I usually do movie posts in five year increments but, this one kinda fell in my lap. Sixty-three years ago, today, Elvis Presley made his acting debut in the film Love Me Tender. Directed by Robert D. Webb, it was originally titled The Reno Brothers and was based on a story written by Maurice Geraghty. When Presley’s single Love Me Tender passed one million copies, a first for a single, the title to the film was changed. This was the only movie in which Presley played an historical figure and the only movie in which he did not receive top billing.
With Robert Buckner as screenwriter and produced by David Wiesbart, it starred Richard Egan, Debra Paget, Elvis, Robert Middleton, William Campbell, Neville Brand and Mildred Dunnock.
Elvis plays Clint Reno, one of the Reno Brothers who stayed home while his brother went to fight in the Civil War for the Confederate army. When his brother Vance comes back from the war, he finds that his old girlfriend Cathy has married Clint. The family has to struggle to reach stability with this issue. Vance is involved in a train robbery, while a Confederate soldier, of Federal Government money. There is a conflict of interest, when Vance tries to return the money, against the wishes of some of his fellow Confederates.
[Source]
Trivia Bits:
♦ Originally, this movie had no singing in it. Songs were added to cash in on Elvis Presley’s stardom.
♦ Priscilla Presley reportedly copied Debra Paget’s unique hairstyle from this film to attract Elvis in 1959.
♦ According to Penny Stallings‘ “Flesh and Fantasy”, Presley developed a crush on co-star Debra Paget, which went unreciprocated because she was seeing Howard Hughes at the time.
♦ When the film played in theaters, Elvis Presley’s fans were screaming so loud that audiences couldn’t hear any of his lines.
Trailer
The Actual Movie
November 16, 2019 at 4:43 AM
Mum really liked him. Mainly it was his voice and his singing. Often she would just listen to hisstuffbonntbe TV
November 17, 2019 at 12:47 AM
He did have a great voice.
November 16, 2019 at 7:31 PM
One of his good movies. This is my favorite of his. It was not a formula movie like many of the rest.
November 17, 2019 at 2:24 AM
His ‘Girls’ movies were fun. Charro, I liked. He had some serious acting chops. Judging by what I read, he had an interest in acting before he became a music star. The Colonel was his downfall.
November 17, 2019 at 2:31 AM
Yea the Colonel was about a formula. Elvis could have had such better scripts.
He was offered A Star Is Born in the mid seventies…but the Colonel nixed that because of money. It would have been a great comeback for him.
November 17, 2019 at 3:02 AM
I was reading where movie studios were coming after him but, that asshole demanded 50% of his earnings in the contracts. Elvis would let him get away with it out of some misguided appreciation or adoration. The studios were like “I don’t think so.”