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."

Elvis Presley plays a "half-breed" Native American ("Indian") who has to defend his reservation from nasty business tycoons. Everyone likes to get drunk, fight, and make children. Fighting, wrestling, and "punching out" each other replace the stereotypical hand-raised expression "How"?

Although he does have make-up on, it's obvious Elvis is healthier than he appeared in prior films; possibly, he was getting ready for his famous "comeback". It couldn't have been because this movie's script was anything to get excited about. Joan Blondell trying to seduce Elvis, and Burgess Meredith in "war paint", should be ashamed.

The best song is "Stay Away" (actually, "Green Sleeves" with different lyrics). The most embarrassing song is Elvis' love song to the bull "Dominic". There are some surreal scenes, but it never becomes trippy enough to succeed in that genre; though, "Stay Away, Joe" might provide some laughs if you're in the right "mood".

Otherwise, stay away.

** Stay Away, Joe (3/8/68) Peter Tewksbury ~ Elvis Presley, Burgess Meredith, Joan Blondell

It's been a looooonnnggg time since I saw this comedy, and I'd forgotten just how idiotic it is. I'd place this easily in the lower two or three of Elvis Presley's very worst movies. Presley plays Joe Whitecloud, a half-breed Indian bull rider who returns home to Arizona and the broken-down shack where his family lives, and where his friends love to party all night long. His parents are played by Burgess Meredith and Katy Jurado, and his old Indian grandpa is Thomas Gomez. None of the three offer anything of substance , comically or otherwise. The government has invested in the family's cattle, but they're lacking a bull. Elvis gets to sing just a few utterly worthless songs, and is pursued by a young boy-crazy gal and her gun-toting mother. This is just a real slapdash of a mess, and the dilapidated surroundings practically stink of manure and don't make this much easier. The one thing that puzzles me, however, is that Elvis actually seems to be having a good time in the film. Hard to believe, considering he got so upset about being stuck making so many mediocre movies. *1/2 out of ****

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.