Micmac au Montana

This movie is not very good.In fact, it is the worst Elvis movie I have seen.It has very little plot,mostly partying,beer drinking and fighting. Burgess Meredith and Thomas Gomez are wasted. I don't know why they did this movie.You could say Elvis was wasted as well,he is much,much better in "Follow That Dream."

A squashy slapstick mess posing as a comedy. Elvis Presley plays an Indian bull-riding champ who leaves the rodeo for a stay at home on his folks' desert-spread in Arizona, where government suits have just invested in the family's herd of cattle (which is in dire need of a stud). What director Peter Tewksbury is in dire need of is some narrative skills, though what he lacks in assessment he makes up for in sloppy comedic montages (his social commentary isn't exactly pointed, but Tewksbury does have a satiric bend to his outlandishness and there are some funny scenes). Despite colorful supporting turns by Katy Jurado and Joan Blondell, the general wackiness gets way out of hand, and there's too much hoopin' and hollerin' to sustain much interest. As for Elvis, he's loose and frisky throughout--and while it's nice to see him having fun on-screen, one has to wonder if he had just given up on movies at this point. This shambles of a picture has a distinct what-the-hell feel to it, and though spirits are high, the returns are mostly low. *1/2 from ****

Any film with Katy Jurado is worth seeing and she's on screen for about twenty minutes here. This is better than Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid where she's on-screen for two minutes and even makes that film worth seeing.

This is a silly comedy, with a few effective gags and lots of slapstick. I think the movie is hated because 1)many of the Native American characters are played in brown make-up by Euro-American actors and they seem to childishly enjoy getting drunk and getting into fights. 2)Presley has a bed scene with Quentin Dean (who won a Golden Globe the year before for "In the Heat of the Night"). Dean is supposed to be a Lolita type nymphet. Her age isn't mentioned, but she appears to be about 16 years old, at most.

If you can get over these two offensive points, the movie is fun in a three stooges type of way. Presley seems to be enjoying himself and his performance is pretty smooth and easy going. This was one of his last films and he seems totally comfortable playing rodeo rider Joe Lightcloud.

It is always nice to see Joan Blondell. She had become a big star again in 1968 with her role on the hit television show,"Here Comes the Brides." Still, her role is pretty pedestrian as the bootlegger mother of Quentin Dean, who first tries to keep Elvis away from her, but then decides to use a gun to make him marry her.

Still, its Katy Jurado's delightful small performance that made the film worth watching for me. We even get to see her taking a bath. That is worth two of the six stars I gave the film.

Stay Away, Joe (1968)

* (out of 4)

Incredibly bad film has Elvis playing an Indian who also just happens to be a rodeo champion. He decides to return to the reservation so that he can help his father (Burgess Meredith) raise cows but soon he gets into trouble with various women and some government men. I'm really curious if Marlon Brando watched this movie and that's what set him off about how Indians were being treated in film because this movie is so outrageous that even D.W. Griffith and John Ford would blush. For starters, all of the white cast members are wearing tan paint to make them look like Indians and the first time we see Meredith he's an ignorant drunk. In fact, all of the Indians do nothing more than get drunk, fall down and start fights. The stereotypes here are outrageous but the film is so poorly done that you can't even get any politically incorrect laughs at of it. I'm really not sure what in the hell was going on with the story but it was incredibly stupid and full of large plot holes. The songs were equally as bad including one scene where Elvis sings to a bull. The supporting cast are all pretty bad but Meredith comes off the worse with the most embarrassing performance and part I've ever seen him do. He was such a great character actor that it was rather sad seeing him in something like this. Elvis, on the other hand, actually manages to be the only decent thing here but that's still not saying too much.

After such smellaroos like "Clambake", "Kissin' Cousins" and "Paradise Hawaiian Style" this movie is a breath of fresh air. At this juncture of his movie career, his films didn't engender much confidence. With the exception of "Speeedway" which was actually filmed before this one, his films were at least decent again. Elvis plays a half breed named Joe Lightclould who is always getting himself in trouble. Strong supporting cast, with the late Burgess Merideth who was one of many. And the music was a big improvement over what he had been doing lately. Perhaps being married gave him back his drive, perhaps being a father gave him back his drive. And perhaps he just got fed up with the crap the he had been given and demanded better rolls. I give this movie three and a half stars.