Hangin' Out In 100b

Elvis’ movie career is considered a big joke by most people – after all, there are an awful lot of them and they do seem a little plotless and silly. But think about it this way – Elvis starred in 31 movies in 13 years (over half of his career), from 1956 to 1969. That’s an average of 2.5 films cranked out every year. And if you watch them objectively, they’re no worse or cheesier than any other ’60s teen movie (or the ones now, come to think of it).

Each of those 31 movies had at least 6 new songs that had to be recorded for it. That makes somewhere around 186 movie soundtrack songs, 15 per year. (I’ll take this opportunity to point out that there’s barely anyone around today who will record 15 songs every three years, let alone 186 songs in their entire lifetime.) Add to that the fact that Elvis’ movie career quickly became something he himself hated. He wanted to be in real movies, to be given the chance to try something challenging. It started off that way but it didn’t take long for Colonel Parker to see the money-making potential and convince Elvis that he couldn’t afford not to make as many of them as humanly possible. Which meant that there was no time for decent plots and interesting roles – it was a lot faster (and cheaper, of course) to just stick Elvis with a few hot chicks and some slapped together songs. Also take into account that Elvis’ musical passion lay in Rhythm & Blues, Rock & Roll, and Gospel – not throwaway pop songs with no soul at all. Imagine how mind-numbingly boring it all must’ve been for him.

Under the circumstances, it’s pretty incredible that Elvis managed to record anything good during that time period at all. Some of them are even classics: “Love Me Tender” (from Love Me Tender, 1956) “Jailhouse Rock” (Jailhouse Rock, 1957), “(Let Me Be Your) Teddybear” (Loving You, 1957), “Can’t Help Falling In Love” (Blue Hawaii, 1961), “Return To Sender” (Girls! Girls! Girls!, 1962), “Viva Las Vegas” (Viva Las Vegas, 1968), and these three:

   Elvis Presley – Hard Headed Woman (King Creole, 1958)
   Elvis Presley – What’d I Say (Viva Las Vegas, 1964)
   Elvis Presley – Rubberneckin’ (Change Of Habit, 1969)