User Reviews

Live a Little, Love a Little was a departure from the normal Elvis Presley travelogues, and this off-the-beaten-track trend continued for the rest of his film career (four films). It's sexy with a more adult theme than usual. Even more unusual, it only has a few songs, including "A Little Less Conversation." I say, if you're going to sing four, sing a few more. It's a movie, it's Elvis, it's not a drama.

Elvis plays a photographer who meets a strange young woman of uncertain name on the beach. His life then takes a series of bizarre turns. Michele Carey is the woman, and she's not only beautiful but very funny as well.

The film is mildly entertaining. Elvis' real life pooch Brutus has a supporting role. He was a superb actor!

I am a huge Elvis fan, but even I admit most of his movies were dreadful, and that's being kind. This one is a pleasant exception. Not only is it quite funny at times, but the songs in the film are well above average for a Presley movie, and Elvis himself looks and acts better than in the seven or so films that preceded it. He has a natural flair for comedy, as anyone will know who has seen his earlier film from 1962 "Follow That Dream," which was another under-appreciated Elvis film. He acts more grown up and the situations he's thrust into have a much more adult theme than in his previous efforts. By the time this film was released, these points were lost to most critics, who dismissed it as just another infantile Elvis musical. That's a shame, because it deserved a wider audience than it received.

And the truth is that this is a good film. It's a very atypical film, as were all of Elvis' last few scripted movies in one way or another. Actually, it's a somewhat weird film, and probably the most unusual that Elvis did in terms of being 'out there' a way. It wasn't even released in the UK -- if so, it's a pity, because people who'd finally grown tired of the '60s musicals might have found redeeming value in this one.

Here we have Elvis playing an adult for one of the few times in his career, complete with more coarse language than he'd been given before, a lot more innuendo, and even a bed-sharing with his female co-star. It's an interesting piece and one that was largely missed by many as Elvis' '60s film formula began to lose its successful appeal around the time of "Easy Come, Easy Go," "Clambake," and "Speedway." Elvis himself was probably more interested by this point in projects more dear to him -- the legendary 1968 television special , announced a couple of months before shooting began on this movie, was shot three months after this film. He'd also recently returned to the studio with new vigor to produce some excellent non-soundtrack songs . Still, he does a great job in his role as a news and fashion photographer and manages to squeeze in a great knock-down, drag-out fight with a couple of men (played by bodyguards Red and Sonny West, two-thirds of the 'insiders' who contributed to a 1977 tell-all book that broke the dying king's heart...nice to see them belted around, actually). He even decks Dick Sargent, the 'second Darrin' from "Bewitched." It was probably a toss up whether Elvis enjoyed the fight scene or his wild driving more.

The movie's pacing leaves something to be desired, especially during the second half, and it could definitely have been much better -- kind of a recurring refrain for almost all of Elvis' post-1967 movies. It's not the most exciting story, but Elvis is great -- he looks supercool, he runs through a fair few emotions quite convincingly, and he's generally one groovy cat. Michele Carey is supremely sexy but her character is tremendously annoying. I don't know what kind of mental problems she's supposed to have -- she's portrayed as functionally, if not actually, a multiple-personality type -- but I suppose that some of her ephemeral nature and far-outness reflects the pop culture of the times. As Elvis said, "Nuts. Absolutely nuts." She even feeds Elvis a pill that keeps him asleep for days. Speaking of drug references, whoever designed the "Edge Of Reality" dream sequence must have been on some interesting substances at the time. Far out, man. Anyway, Ms Carey's bodacious Bernice (or whatever she wants to call herself) gets on my nerves, as it does on Elvis' Greg Nolan, and as I suspect it would on just about anybody. The problem is that it's to an extent that's detrimental to the film. Maybe they could have toned her back a bit -- she is good at the role, though, and also provides some comic relief (albeit sometimes exasperating). The chemistry between her and Elvis is spot-on, too.

It's fun to see familiar Los Angeles landmarks, even though I first came to that city almost 20 years after this film was shot. Elvis spent a lot of time in L A and there's just something fundamentally weird, for me, about seeing him driving around the city that a couple of decades or so later I'd be tooling around. Maybe coming to the US from another country helps emphasize that weirdness. By the way, Elvis' father is seen sitting at a table at the LA Music Center. Speaking of family, Albert, the Great Dane, is played by Elvis' dog, Brutus (Elvis had two Great Danes at the time -- the other was Snoopy). I must say that I find this amateur dog's acting very impressive.

Among the human supporting cast are Don Porter, as a Hugh Hefner type, and Rudy Vallee. Both are perfect in their roles and it's cool to see Elvis with Rudy Vallee, the singing idol of an earlier generation. Also of note is the girl who played the mermaid model, Susan Henning, who also showed up on the 1968 TV Special as an 'intimate' of Elvis' "Guitar Man" and who had a torrid real-life romance with him. I think that one or two of the other models in this film showed up on Elvis' TV special, too.

All of Elvis' last few movies, after "Speedway" (filmed during the summer of 1967) featured fewer songs than most of those that had come before. This film has only four songs: the happy "Wonderful World" (somewhat ironic for the time, just after the Tet Offensive and just before Martin Luther King's assassination), the dramatic (and overlooked) "Edge Of Reality," the funky "A Little Less Conversation," and the lounge-singerish "Almost In Love." The impetus for me revisiting this film was that a remixed version of "A Little Less Conversation" has just -- yesterday -- topped the US pop charts, 25 years after Elvis' death. As I write, Elvis has been #1 in the UK for a phenomenal three consecutive weeks (maybe four, by the time this is posted), has spent three weeks on top of the Irish charts, and spent at least a week or two (so far) at #1 in each of Japan, Hong Kong, Denmark, Norway, The Netherlands, Australia, Canada, and Mexico. He's currently Top-5, Top-10, Top-20, and Top-40 in a bunch of other countries around the world. With the success of this single, Elvis broke the tie that had him and the Beatles matched for British #1 hits -- now he has 18 to his credit to their 17. Pretty amazing, and particularly ironic that a fairly obscure '60s movie song was the one that did the trick.

After recklessly driving his clean dune buggy through Southern California streets and sand, singing photographer Elvis Presley (as Greg Nolan) meets pleasantly-proportioned Michele Carey (as Bernice) on the shore. The two seem ready to "make love," but Mr. Presley must contend with Ms. Carey's constant companion - a growling Great Dane named "Albert". The dog chases Presley, fully clothed, into the ocean for the remainder of the day and he is taken back to Carey's place with a fever. After several days of nursing from Carey, Presley awakens to discover he has lost his apartment and job...

Using the line, "Nolan is here with the truth," Presley finds work taking photographs for Playboy-type Don Porter (as Mike Lansdown) and his straight-laced opposite Rudy Vallee (as Penlow). Since his new employers have offices in the same building, Presley tries to work both jobs at the same time. Hijinks ensue when he continues seeing the eccentric Carey and her friends, including pre-"Bewitched" Dick Sargent (as Harry). The film's highlight is a surreal video made for Presley's lost classic slice of 1960s paranoia "Edge of Reality", and "A Little Less Conversation" / "Almost in Love" is a strong single.

**** Live a Little, Love a Little (10/23/68) Norman Taurog ~ Elvis Presley, Michele Carey, Dick Sargent, Rudy Vallee

Elvis gets into lot of trouble when a girl named Bernice catches him in her eyes on a beach of southern California.

Greg (Elvis) is a free spirited photographer. He's enjoying his life until he meets a girl named Bernice (Michele Carley). Elvis finds that he has a handful of trouble when she starts to show up everywhere in his life.

When I watch some movies from the '50s, and '60s, I really feel that we're sliding backwards in culture. Life was much posher then than it is now. Clothing are beautiful, houses are beautiful, and people had more open outlook about life.

I also have to mention about the women of that era. They really look like women, and I guess so do the men. They're stunningly (and I mean stunning) gorgeous, and much more beautiful than the celebrities of today.

The movie is shot beautifully around Los Angeles. When I watch this movie, I get envious of the people who lived there at that time.

I really loved this movie, because it's a beautiful movie. I don't care if we don't have all the high tech equipments, just move me back to that era !

A half-hearted attempt to bring Elvis Presley into the modern day, but despite a sexy little shower scene and a pseudo-Playboy magazine subplot, Presley is surrounded by the same old coy, winking clichés. A woman picks E.P. up on the beach and then proceeds to take over his life--and he doesn't seem to care! Dick Sargent is grueling in another sidebar, but Don Porter and Rudy Vallee (!) try hard as Elvis' two bosses (he's moonlighting, you see). Some of the songs are quite good, especially "Almost in Love", but if you want to see a looser, hipper, updated Elvis sex-comedy--look elsewhere. When Elvis and his Fatal Attraction get into bed together, there's actually a wooden board in between them! Get real. ** from ****

After the Doris Day/Rock Hudson era, America was moving into the era of the psychedelic sixties. Relationships in movies were less about playing the games of the fifties and more about being direct. So, you are more likely to see a woman be the aggressor in the later sixties. The female lead in this movie chases Elvis until he catches her. The dream sequence is less like a Dali painting than those in the fifties and more psychedelic in lighting. Some seem to equate "kooky" with the sixties, perhaps due to the influence of drugs, and that carries through in this plot and the characterization of the female lead. One might call this film a sex farce set midst the California lifestyle.

I enjoyed this film. Though the story was silly, the energy of the film was upbeat and fun. The women were beautiful, the music was consequential and Elvis actually seemed to be enjoying himself at times (did you ever notice how he seldom smiles in some of his films?). Yes, there are plenty of cinema clichés and some throwaway scenes, but I enjoyed the kooky chemistry between Elvis and Bernice. Injecting the obligatory Elvis fistfight does not help the story or the pacing, but Elvis manages to move the story along with his personality. See Viva Las Vegas for a film with real magnetism between the stars.

When I was seventeen I genuinely believed Elvis to be the king of rock and roll, and not only did I wish to see all 31 of his "character" movies, but it was my ambition to own them, too. What an exceptionally poor excuse for a seventeen-year-old I must have been. Thankfully sense prevailed and Live A Little, Love A Little is the only Elvis film I own.

The spotlight has fallen on this one recently since a remixed version of top song A Little Less Conversation has been released as a single. (His first to reach the UK top ten in 22 years – his first UK No.1 in 25) Even when I was seventeen and in serious need of psychiatric help I realised that the songs for this movie weren't exactly first rate. However, A Little Less Conversation - rollnecks and 60s grooving aside - is a real standout. Finding a lesser-known song that only a relatively small few are aware of promoted into the mainstream produces a mixture of emotions. It's nice to finally see faith in a song vindicated, but it's also saddening to see the disintegration of your own private cult. (And what chauvinistic lyrics, too. Though what other Elvis song contains the word "procrastinate"?)

But what really bothers me about this film is not A Little Less Conversation but the 84 minutes that surround it. Actually based on a novel (Kiss My Firm But Pliant Lips - what kind of lame novel would that be?) this one sees a bored Elvis holed up with a "comedy" dog and a nympho. Within 90 seconds of meeting him, Michele Carey asks "would you like to make love to me?" Quite a fast mover by any standards I'm sure you'll agree.

I do seem to recall that some of Elvis's early movies - most notably Jailhouse Rock and King Creole - weren't too bad, but this is just identikit hillbilly cobblers. Being fired from a newspaper job can lead to a five minute karate fight with a couple of gingernuts, causing a motorway pile up is good for a laugh, and models dress as pink mermaids. There's even a dream sequence for God's sake. Maybe the only dumb stereotype it doesn't conform to is in not having all that many songs. With just four to choose from, including the credits number, you're waiting an average of 22 minutes between tracks. Some movies would become vapid by having too many tunes, but here they might have helped to have numbed the pain. Of the remaining three tracks, then The Edge of Reality isn't actually that bad, though Elvis's dance to it must surely have been called "The Bear Trap".

In one sense, for a PG certificate film from 1968 then this is shockingly high on sexual content. Sadly, however, with talking dogs, Middle America sitcom values and the stiffest dancing you'll ever see, Elvis's dignity is obliterated by this movie.

A talented young photographer (Elvis Presley) lands two jobs in the same building and slinks his way back and forth. One job is for a high tone advertising agency and the other is for a slick girlie magazine. Michelle Carey plays the sex starved landlady. Better than average Elvis flick featuring four good tunes. "Edge of Reality" song and scene are very memorable. So is scene of Presley and Carey in bed. This comedy also stars Don Porter, Dick Sargent and Rudy Vallee. Elvis' movie career on an up swing. Norman Taurog directs.

This is easily the worst Presley vehicle ever, which would bring us pretty close to the worst film ever made. It is measurably worse than even the revolting "Happy Ending" song at the end of "It Happened At The World's Fair", and here I thought that moment when Elvis buys all of the vendor's balloons for his girl, and then the balloon vendor gets jiggy to the marching band was the epitome of bad cinema and could not be topped. I usually enjoy the random Elvis flick if for no other reason but the memories of a time when we were innocent enough to sit through it. This one, however, ought to be called "Live a Little, Wish You Were Dead a Little", and makes "Stay Away Joe" look like Olivier playing Othello.

Here, Elvis plays Greg, who is essentially a hippie free-lance photographer except for the Establishment haircut. After a fun morning of reckless driving, he ends up at the beach where he is abducted by a woman who's name changes depending on the scene and who is speaking to her. Clearly Michele Carey was selected for her resemblance to and ability to mimic Elizabeth Taylor (if I watched this without my glasses, I would have thought it was late 1960's Liz playing the female lead). She sics her dog on Elvis until he runs into the water and catches convenient movie pneumonia, then she keeps him doped up out of consciousness in her beach pad so long he loses his job and his apartment so she moves his stuff into her house before he awakens without even telling him (the audience does not know about it either, until Elvis tries to go back to work and his boss has him beaten up for no reason except he deserved it for making this movie, and tries to go home and finds some hateful woman in a slip living in his house).

Rather than having her arrested for kidnapping, larceny and assault, he goes out and gets two jobs to repay the back rent Miss Crazy Pants had to spring for when stealing all of his belongings. Job one is working for Don Porter at a Playboy type magazine, job two is upstairs working for Rudy Vallee at a snobby fashion magazine. I think the two-job shuffling is supposed to be the comedy, too bad it isn't the least bit funny, unless you'd laugh the 100th time you saw someone run up and down stairs in fast-motion to silly music. The predominate obstacle that keeps Greg from falling for his abductor is her other love interest, the dreadfully miscast Dick Sargent (let's face it, either Porter or Vallee, even given their advanced ages in 1968, would have made far more believable competitors for Miss Crazy's affections).

There are a variety of uninteresting and unfunny twists and turns, I kept waiting for something, anything to happen that would make all of this make sense. It never did. Entertainment totals approximately three minutes and is comprised of Elvis' rendition of "A Little Less Talk" (which I can listen to on CD without this painful movie inflicted upon me) and a funny five second bit where Elvis flops on the couch and Crazy Pants has apparently disassembled it so it flies all to pieces when he lands on it. That's it, folks, busted furniture, the only laugh in this entire film. No amount of mod sixties clothing, music, or décor can salvage this high-heaven stinker and it should be avoided at all costs. Viewing this can create an unnatural desire on the part of the audience toward the self-infliction of grave bodily harm.

I recently viewed this underrated gem for the first time in many years and almost forgot what an entertaining ride it is - especially in that 'speed buggy' at the start of the opening sequence.

I very much prefer the movies Elvis was churning out towards the end of his movie career as opposed to the likes of "Harum Scarum", "Clambake" and "Easy Come, Easy Go".

"Live A Little..." gave us a more mature Elvis in his first adult-type comedy film role, and even though the script engages a series of weird scenarios that border on the insane, it's great to see EP make his mark in this type of movie. Elvis looks great physically and his wardrobe too has got to be admired - check out the scene were he is wearing those shades...so cool! The film boasts only four songs but they appear to be of a higher standard than most of his mid-60's vehicles. The two stand-out numbers are the No. 1 smash hit "A Little Less Conversation" and the dramatic dream sequence of "Edge of Reality".

The tag line of the movie is "Watch Elvis click with these chicks!" and that he most certainly does especially in the form of leading lady Michelle Carey and Co-Star, Celeste Yarnall ('Miss Little Less Conversation'). Elvis' pet Great Dane, 'Brutus' also gets a co-starring role and almost steals the show - his character is called 'Albert'! A fine male cast helps the proceedings too in the form of Dick Sargent, Don Porter and veteran singing 'heartthrob', Rudy Vallee. So, "Live A Little, Love A Little" is entertainingly weird and wonderful and along with "Charro", "The Trouble With Girls" and "Change of Habit" was the slight departure from his typical sixties musical that Elvis needed at this point in his career.

Finally, if you're only viewing this as just a curiosity piece then be curious enough to check out that amazing fight scene in the Newspaper printing warehouse - this has got to be the best fight scene in an Elvis movie ever staged!

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.

'Live a Little, Love a Little' is not one of Elvis' overall best, 'King Creole' and 'Flaming Star' in particular are two of few exceptions to have good stories and scripts, elements that tended to be the weak links. It is a long way from being one of Elvis' worst, with a couple of exceptions like another one of his best 'Viva Las Vegas' Elvis' film career declined a lot between 'Kissin' Cousins' and this, 'Harum Scarum' and 'Stay Away, Joe' being especially poor.

If anything, 'Live a Little, Love a Little' is one of Elvis' better later films and his best since 'Viva Las Vegas'. By all means it's far from flawless. The second half lacks the energy of the first half, instead it drags and gets on the wrong side of weird. The dream sequence is rather bizarre and feels out of place. The script is not a strong suit, being a little clunky and forced.

However, after some cheap-looking films mid-late career, 'Live a Little, Love a Little' is a welcome return to the very nicely filmed and mounted films seen earlier pre-'Kissin' Cousins'. As far as the soundtrack goes, it's the most tuneful and consistent one since 'Viva Las Vegas'. After some pretty bad soundtracks, tending to have few memorable songs, some disposable ones and ones that one really wants to forget as long as they live, all the songs are good, especially "A Little Less Conversation".

Story-wise, the first half is full of energy and very compelling, so much so that it is such a shame that the second half doesn't live up. Elvis gives one of his most confident and enthusiastic performances of his mid 60s-late 60s films, having phoned it in due to clearly knowing how bad a lot of his material had gotten. Michelle Carey is charming enough with good chemistry, while the dog is a sheer scene-stealing delight.

Overall, surprisingly good later effort. 7/10 Bethany Cox

By this time in Elvis's film career he had given up all hope of creating a credible acting career for himself and it shows. It's obvious he can't believe he wasted the time memorizing his lines – his delivery is unfelt and almost careless. The ridiculous storyline is made even worse by the horrid cinematography. The camera jumps around for no reason and the editing is very chopping, causing the film to have an amateur feeling.

The musical numbers (and thank god there's only four!) are awkward and seem out of place with the rest of the film. The transitions to and from them are often choppy and generally poorly done. Evidently no one from wardrobe was on duty on this film. In one short sequence, leading up to a musical number Elvis starts out with just a bath robe on, then has pajamas on, then back to the bath robe and then a combination of the two.

The best thing to come out of this film is the recently re-released and remixed song `A Little Less Conversation.' The new version of the song gave Elvis a #1 song in the UK 25 years after his death, finally breaking the tie between him and the Beatles for the most #1 songs in the UK. If you are interested in this movie because of the song, don't bother. I suggest if you're interested in seeing Elvis on the silver screen you try one of his earlier films, such as Jailhouse Rock or King Creole.

Also, watch for Dick Sargent as Harry Baby, who the following year would become the new Darrin on `Bewitched.'

I've seen all of Elvis's movies and this is one of his least memorable. As a life-long Elvis fan it pains me to say this, but this film is only tolerable to diehard fans who can look past the flaws and simply enjoy the privilege of seeing the King on the big screen.

I've been an Elvis fan for 10 years now, and I've seen most of his 60's movies. For some reason I didn't rent this one till recently- I think it's because I had it confused with "The Trouble With Girls", which I have no desire to see. Anyway, we rented this because we saw it had "A Little Less Conversation" in it and liked it so much we ended up buying it.

Elvis plays Greg Nolan, a photographer who..ok, there's not much of a plot to describe here. The storyline consists of a girl he meets who keeps changing her name (Bernice/Betty/Suzie/Alice) and personality, spending most of the movie alternately screwing with Elvis' mind and coming on to him. Meanwhile, Elvis gets two jobs for girlie-type magazines in the same building- one of them is called "Classic Cat Magazine" (or maybe it's Classy Cat) being a photographer and pretends at both that he only works for that magazine, while he literally runs back and forth between the two jobs, changing clothes and trying not to have one boss find out about the other. Red West makes his usual cameo as a guy in a fight scene whose ass Elvis ends up kicking (always fun to watch).

This is a pretty fun Elvis movie, and since it was filmed in '68, right around the time Elvis did the comeback special, the King was in great shape, looking pretty sharp with his sideburns and tan. He also looks like he's having fun, and doesn't feel too stupid. "Spinout" is entertaining, but half the time Elvis looks pretty unhappy. One of my Elvis trivia-type books said this movie has the distinction of being the only one he ever has sex in (offscreen, of course) but I think the only way you could tell this is by him waking up in a girl's bed. His co-star, who looks like a cross between Sharon Tate and how Liz Taylor looked in the 60's, was kind of annoying (though not as bad as some of the actresses he's worked with, and at least she has a great wardrobe. It was mainly the fact that she had this kind of whispery voice like Taylor. The clothes and hair are all really cool. There are only 4 songs in the movie, but two of them are especially good. I loved "The Edge of Reality"-Elvis has this trippy dream because Bernice/Betty/Suzie/Alice has been messing with his mind so much. The song is great, and Elvis wears this tailored set of pajamas that look more like a blue sharkskin suit. I think whoever designed and choreographed the dream sequence might have paid a little visit to Dr. Nick's, if you know what I mean, but it's pretty cool. The highlight of the movie for me was definitely "A Little Less Conversation", which Elvis sings to a hot babe at a swinging cocktail party as he's getting her to leave with him. Watch for the male red-haired go-go dancer that they pass who dances so furiously and wildly that his gyrations actually make him upstage Elvis for a few seconds, which is no small feat. As he and the chick are leaving, they pass other go-go dancers, saunter out the door of the cool 60's pad, and hop in Elvis' Cadillac that the valets just happened to have pulled up in front at that second, while Elvis smoothly never misses a beat and manages to make the whole thing look like he does it every night. Now that's how you leave a party!

One of Elvis' better flicks from the 60's, and definitely my favorite movie of his to watch from the late 60's.

By this point Elvis, along with most of his fans, had pretty much lost interest in his movie career, and this entry did nothing to revive it. Indeed, Elvis was looking further ahead to his 1968 TV Comeback Special, filmed three months after this item, and perhaps already hoping it would break him out of the stifling quagmire that was his MGM career. He seemed to be pretty much phoning in his role here.

Elvis plays a swinging photographer - as always, some vaguely glamorous job, the better to woo ladies - who meets a beautiful young woman at the beach. Over the course of the film he meets her again three times, but in every case she claims to be a different person. Could she really be four different people, or is she, as Elvis asserts, simply "Nuts!"? The implications and complications arising from this very question drive the plot, but not particularly well. This movie, as it turns out is no more clever story-wise or comically than his other MGM output, making the main story device a bit of a waste, especially since it takes almost the first half hour of the movie to set it up.

When I first saw the film (I was 12) I was unaware that this movie was supposed to be part of an effort to update Elvis' screen image by having him swear a bit and act a bit more of a Lothario. Honestly, it looked like every other Elvis movie I saw around that time, except the humor seemed a bit trashier and more desperate. When I saw it many years later, knowing more about the movie's context within his career, my initial assessment as an undiscriminating 12 year old Elvis fan was bang on. It really WAS like every other Elvis movie of the late MGM period, but a bit trashier and with fewer songs and the comedy worked no better.

Elvis himself looks great - the ravages of his drug abuse and over- eating would not kick in for another five years - and his co-star Michele Carey is gorgeous, a dead ringer for Sharon Tate. Their chemistry is good, but the movie isn't.

Carefree Greg Nolan (Elvis Presley) catches the attention of Bernice (Michele Carey) who introduces herself with different names to different people. At first, he's not interested in the lying flaky dame. He loses his job and his home after she drugs him for days. He gets two photographer jobs. One is for a Playboy type magazine owned by Mike Lansdown (Don Porter). The other is for a conservative advertising firm with Penlow (Rudy Vallee). Both are in the same building.

Bernice is a weird character. I'm both fascinated by her and confused by her. I don't understand why Elvis keeps going back to her. This is a weird movie. That dog costume is plenty weird all by itself. The weirdest part is his continued relationship with Bernice. He should running away as fast as possible. She is the worst MPDG ever. The best song is "A Little Less Conversation". This is a weird Elvis movie.

A thoroughly bland title hides a surprisingly tolerable and rather effective (if belated) change-of-pace which could well have been advertised as "Elvis goes Screwball". Arguably modeled on the popular series of Rock Hudson-Doris Day romantic comedies, the central situation, in fact, is basically a virtual retread of Howard Hawks' BRINGING UP BABY (1938), with leading lady Michele Carey (from, appropriately enough, Hawks' own EL DORADO [1966]) – playing a ditzy artist/socialite disrupting Elvis' life at every turn; actually, Hawks had recently successfully reworked the formula with Rock Hudson himself in the underrated MAN'S FAVORITE SPORT? (1964) but the best tribute to the 1938 classic would be paid the following decade in Peter Bogdanovich's hilarious, WHAT'S UP, DOC? (1972).

Anyway, The King plays a fashion photographer here – not that he's liable to dispel memories of David Hemmings from BLOWUP (1966), you understand! As far as the beachside setting/advertising environment goes, I guess this owes its inspiration to the neglected Tony Curtis/Alexander Mackendrick comedy DON'T MAKE WAVES (1967) but, as I said earlier, for all its derivations, it's not a bad star vehicle at all and Elvis even gets to sing during a lightly surreal dream sequence – with Carey's mastiff assuming human characteristics and acting as his guide! Elvis and the dog have a great rapport, which is just as well since it was his own pet in real life, Brutus! I also liked the fact that the film offers nice supporting parts to two Hollywood veterans – Rudy Vallee (who was a crooner himself and a Preston Sterges regular back in the day) and Don Porter (who is perhaps best-remembered for playing the male lead in the infamous SHE-WOLF OF London [1946]).

While this one may be more engaging than most other Elvis vehicles of its time, nowadays the film is perhaps most notable for introducing the unlikeliest of Elvis hits, "A Little Less Conversation", a remixed version of which became a worldwide chart-topper in 2002..after a very disappointing showing in the charts when originally released! Surprisingly enough, Presley only has three songs throughout the film ("Edge of Reality" is another good one) which might disappoint his more hardened fans and indeed have them clamor for "a little less conversation, a little more action please"! For the record, this happened to be the last of 9 Presley films directed by Hollywood veteran Norman Taurog who specialized, appropriately enough, in comedies and musicals having handled in his prime George M. Cohan, Maurice Chevalier, Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, Mario Lanza, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, etc. – not to mention having been the youngest (and probably most forgotten) of Oscar-winning directors!

Rebecca: This is so bad it's almost good.

Enid: This is so bad it's gone past good and back to bad again.

"Live a Little, Love a Little" (1968) is one of those rare films so bad that it has gone past good and back to bad. To its entertainment value it has a surreal lameness that makes you stop and contemplate things like how a group of highly paid industry professionals could have produced something so staggeringly horrible.

Granted it nicely illustrates my Elvis movie theory that the closer Elvis got to an ocean in a film the worse the film. In "Live a Little, Love a Little" Elvis plays a character who is a blend of Tony Curtis in "Don't Make Waves" (1967) and Jerry Lewis in "The Big Mouth (1967). Apparently those two films served as inspiration for this disaster. This is not a pleasant thing but its many mockfest moments can be perversely amusing. Most mockfest worthy is the horribly staged fight scene at the newspaper, which is both inexplicable and unnecessary; something that seems to be scotched-taped into the story because Elvis otherwise looks like a total wimp.

At least "Live a Little, Love a Little" has some Elvis songs. Of course those other films have Sharon Tate and Jeannine Riley, effortlessly sizzling actress. "Live a Little, Love a Little" has to rely on Michelle Carey, who manically works to get your attention like a one-trick pony mad for a carrot. But she is so hopelessly sterile that a viewer keeps wishing she would put on more clothes.

Carey heads up what is Elvis' worst ever supporting cast, none of them capable of generating a laugh or serving the audience identification function. I suspect that he lived in fear of being upstaged by someone with comedic talent or a trendy image as by 1968 the world had moved on and The King was still stuck in a Patti Page 50's time warp.

I am a big Elvis fan, and I have seen this one many times. Hard to tell whether I should recommend this movie to fans or to everyone who likes light hearted old fashioned comedies. This movie is certainly light years away from the crap that Elvis had been made to act in before. Check it out. The music is great, too. Only 4 songs, including Wonderful world.

This must be Elvis' strangest film. It starts off in high gear, throws in a lot of mysterious twists, features a beautiful and funny co-star (Michele Carey--where are you? We need you back!), and has an intriguing soundtrack which doesn't sound remotely like anything else Elvis ever recorded--it even has a freak-out sequence, with the King singing a psychedelic song! I'm guessing that the creators of this film wanted to make a "swinging sixties" version of a screwball comedy, and they almost succeeded. For the first half, I thought I'd discovered a lost classic...or at least a lost camp classic! However, about mid-way through, the breakneck pace slows down, the weirdness goes away, and the rest of the film stumbles along like a mediocre sitcom. Still, no one could accuse this oddity of being a "formula" film, at least the first half. And this Elvis fan would much rather watch this or the equally quirky THE TROUBLE WITH GIRLS than watch GI BLUES or BLUE HAWAII. TCM showed this letterboxed, the way it should be seen, so you might want to wait a year or two until a DVD comes out...or at least until TCM has another Elvis festival and shows the letterboxed version at 3 a.m...rather than watch it panned and scanned. I think that anyone with the least interest in Elvis would enjoy watching this film, if only for the freakout sequence with the song "Edge of Reality."

One of my personal favorite Elvis films that I'm partial to. For beginners, Elvis physically looks to be in good form, and was probably in better spirits due to his recent highly acclaimed "1968 Comeback" TV show, which may have given him the shot in the arm he needed after making 30 or so of these pictures throughout the sixties. In some ways this film follows the screwball pattern of his other comedies, but at the same time it's more adult and not completely typical. Presley plays a fashion photographer whose life is turned into complete disarray by a woman with half her screws loose (Michele Carey). She succeeds in making Elvis lose his job and his apartment, yet arranges for him to get another house where she and her scene-stealing dog Albert can always crash in to keep an eye on him. To try and get back on his feet, Elvis takes on two new photography jobs at the same time in the same building (one of his bosses is former crooner Rudy Vallee, minus his megaphone).

Carey is a very attractive lead lady, and her free-spirited but erratic character is well realized. Elvis gets into one of the best fist-fights of his screen career, but only manages to perform three songs within the movie itself (he also sings "Wonderful World" over the credits, which makes for a pleasant opener). Two of the others are very good: "A Little Less Conversation", which interestingly became a hit in recent years via a re-mixed version, and my favorite -- "Edge of Reality", a diversion of sorts for Presley in the latter part of the decade, which is nicely showcased during a bizarre and trippy dream sequence. **1/2 out of ****

The psychedelic dream sequence was too much. That whole song with the talking dog...