3 gars, 2 filles et... 1 trésor

By 1967 Elvis Presley had long since had enough of the formula of his movies, where he would triumph over the bad guys, kiss the girls and sing songs to all and sundry. Even when a good Presley movie surfaced, and there are a few bona fide good ones, casual film fans are required to be in a light and unforgiving mood to enjoy the malarkey on offer. Easy Come, Easy Go is pretty average stuff, both in quality of narrative and performances and that of the tunes within. Dialogue is unleashed in scattergun fashion without due care and attention for dramatic worth, there's no strong female lead for Presley to bounce back and forth from, and the humour is tired and weary.

Yet for all of the evident problems, it's a safe enough recommendation to those after a time filler who are armed with the knowledge this isn't going to tickle the cranium! It's all very colourful with nice exterior work at Long Beach Naval Station, Presley looks just terrific in uniform and the cast is spruced up by the presence of Elsa Lanchester and Jack McHugh; the former of which sings a bit and gets the giggles as a hippie type yoga teacher who ties "The Pelvis" in knots. Stand out tune is I'll Take Love, while the race for buried treasure plot remains airy enough to let the adventure yarn breathe.

Foot tapping assured and unintentional giggles, too, set the dial for family friendly fodder and wallow in the froth. 6/10

A frogman (Elvis) working for the Navy discovers treasure in a sunken ship and once he becomes an ordinary citizen he sets out to retrieve it; but he's got competition for it.

One of Elvis's later entries; quite shallow and cheesy but fairly enjoyable. The slapstick humor works OK in parts and there's an underlying comic jab at the hippie lifestyle that's well played out. There are also some impressive underwater sequences here; "Easy Come, Easy Go" is a little more visually compelling than other Presley flicks around this time.

The songs are few but pretty good (6 in total) and many have commented on "Yoga is as Yoga Does" as Elvis's most embarrassing moment on film. Personally I think nothing can top his singing to the dogs in "Paradise, Hawaiian Style" but I also think the Yoga moment here is pretty funny and the song OK; in a cheesy sort of way. You gotta admire how the King was a professional through and through and pulled this off and manages to be funny as well in his bungled Yoga attempts.

Easy Come, Easy Go (1967)

** (out of 4)

Elvis plays a former Navy frogman who discovers a buried treasure and must try and reach it before anyone else can. This is a pretty bad and stupid film but it thankfully enters into the camp territory and gets a few laughs along the way. The story is pretty bland and something we haven't seen in countless other films and lets not forget the subplot of Elvis and his women, which we've also seen in countless other films of his. As for Elvis, he isn't horrible here but there's not too much to the performance. He seems a bit livelier here than in the previous picture I watched but he's still a long way off from an actual good performance. The title track and "The Love Machine" are pretty good tunes but "Yoga Is As Yoga Does" is pretty embarrassing. "I'll Take You", written by Ed Wood's former lover Dolores Fuller, isn't too bad and Ray Charles' "Leave My Woman Alone" comes off fairly good.

In this movie Elvis plays a Navy Seal. This is not one of my favorite Elvis movies. It's not the worst movie that he did, but it is the best of the worst. There were some good scenes, and having Pat Priest in the movie made it worthwhile. There were some funny scenes but nothing great.

Anything that was associated with Elvis Presley was one of those Hollywood pictures where Elvis just did naturally....pop up in some strange town,sing his heart out,have the kids dancing to the music,or in other cases, gets the girl and saves the day.

This was one of his films had that authenticity. Even though it would be the last association with producer Hal Wallis(who would take over production at Universal) and the last film he would do for Paramount Pictures before he would go into his next feature film.

The basic formula was simple: Any feature that starred the King of Rock and Roll would bring box-office success,and that was what "Easy Come,Easy Go" was just that. I had the chance to see this film on Encore just the other day,and I thought it was well enjoyable by all aspects. You have an action-packed adventure yarn that is filled with the music of the sixties that is swinging and grooving.

Check out the co-star of Pat Harrington(who was Schinder on TV's "One Day at a Time"),as his mate in search of buried treasure and a beau of lovely dames in distress.