Em Cada Sonho um Amor

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.

While not one of the top three Elvis films, those being 'King Creole', 'Flaming Star' and 'Jailhouse Rock', 'Follow That Dream' is one of his better overall films. It's proof that his early films were actually pretty good, but unfortunately it was one of his last good ones when the formula started here wore increasingly thin and further suffered from looking less appealing and even the quality of the soundtracks and Elvis' acting wavering significantly.

'Follow That Dream' is not perfect. The dialogue is idiotic at times, then again the script was not a strength in a vast majority of Elvis' films, even in some of his better ones. The songs are terrific (especially the hauntingly beautiful title song), but there were too few of them in the film and Gordon Douglas judging from the indifferent at best way they were staged didn't seem to know what to do with them. Despite Elvis singing it beautifully, the title song is cheapened somewhat by the sloppy lip-synching, which showed the one time in the film Elvis was not comfortable or enthusiastic.

However, 'Follow That Dream' benefits from colourful locations and beautiful photography. While one wishes there were more, the songs are terrific, while there are several very funny and movingly romantic moments. The story is formulaic, but still very easy to like and energetic.

Douglas generally does an assured job directing, faltering only in the musical numbers, while the cast are a high point. Elvis' gently good-natured and laid-back performance is one of his better ones, and he is very well supported by a coolly graceful Arthur O'Connell, charming Joanna Moore and adorable Ann Helm. The chemistry is similarly great.

In summary, good Elvis film and one of the last ones properly worth watching. 7/10 Bethany Cox

This is actually a very good Elvis movie. The plot concerns a bunch of hillbillies, the Kwimpers - a dad, his son, and three orphans, who take over some beach property under the Homestead act after they run out of gas there.

Elvis portrays a dummy of sorts - he plays it very naturally and he's quite funny! It's not so much that he's dumb, but he's so guileless, literal, and helpful, he seems that way.

With these attributes, he continually gets the best of the bad guys, including a mobster, Simon Oakland, Joanna Moore, from child welfare, and assorted others.

The conceit makes for some hilarious scenes. In one, the mobster, after Elvis beats up his thugs, decides to blow up Elvis' family home. They prepare a bomb and put it in a box. When Elvis sees it, he thinks the mobsters have forgotten their package and dutifully returns it. BAM.

One poster mentioned that Elvis doesn't try to look as if he's singing. Apparently, he was notorious for not bothering much with lipsynching, though I'm not sure why. For my money, the only really good song in this film is the title one. And lipsynching or not, Presley looks great.

I guess we can spend time lamenting the fact that Elvis didn't make better films or get the acting opportunities he deserved, or we can enjoy what we have. And Follow That Dream is better than most.

Highly entertaining comedy of the "Egg and I" type set in the everglades, Florida. Elvis and O'Connell are son and pa, with orphans in tow including a baby, a set of adolescent twins, and a very grown up Anne Helm. They decide to homstead a piece of highway fill land, bringing on the wrath of "social welfare" officials, the cancellation of their coveted benefits, and a group of mobsters attracted to the state of lawlessness in the "territorial land" (led by the competent Simon Oakland). Elvis becomes the sherrif and accidentally scares the hardened mobsters away, in a bit that must have appealed particularly to the Southern drive-in audience this film was clearly aimed at. Lots of laughs for a packing audience at the Parkway Theater, Oakland California 2002.

Elvis made quite a number of movies. Most of them of the cookie-cutter, formula variety designed to showcase his wonderful voice, a fact that should surprise absolutely NO ONE. Lets face it guys, Elvis achieved his fame by way of his singing, not his acting. His selection of movie vehicles (especially later in his career) is ample proof of this.

Having said this however, The King was not without some native ability as an actor, both dramatic and comedic.

As proof of this I give you his two best movies: King Creole, in which he gave a very credible dramatic performance (and right along side the likes of Carolyn Jones, Walter Mathau and Dean Jagger no less); and this movie - Follow That Dream.

Follow that Dream is a wonderful piece that has several things going for it: To begin with, it was a straight comedy, his first and best. Very different from his earlier films where he played characters (like Danny Fischer in Creole) that were somber and even dark).In contrast, his portrayal of Toby Kwimper was innocent and fun. The chemistry between Toby and his father (Arthur O'Connell) was terrific. Second, the theme of the movie is a crowd pleaser. Its story line is pure "David and Goliath" with the State playing the role of the pushy and overbearing villain. And finally, there are the songs. What can I say folks the musical score is the King at his best. The score includes a perfectly lovely ballad - "Angel" together with two positively jubilant toe-tappers "What a Wonderful Life" and the title song "Follow that Dream".

One last comment: This movie lifts my spirit, and makes me happy. Now I know those are two perfectly ridiculous reasons to like a movie but, fact is, there are far too few movies that do that for me now-a-days and this movie is one of them. It may not be academy award material (I gave it 7 out of 10) but if you need something to put a smile on your kisser, this one is worth your while.

This is one of Elvis's best films in my opinion. And one where he extended his range a bit. Usually he plays he troubled youths, or confident smart people who are trying to prove themselves. Here's he's an innocent in the world and it's a tribute to his acting skills that he was acquiring that he didn't descend into being Gomer Pyle.

Of course the film is greatly helped by the title tune which in my opinion is one of his best movie songs. Follow That Dream rightly belonged among Elvis's golden hits.

With an innocence here that rivals even Stan Laurel or Harry Langdon, Elvis manages to defeat some pretty sharp characters. The film itself has a charming innocence about it that makes it thorough going fun.