Love Me Tender (1956)

Director:

Robert D. Webb

Writers:

Maurice Geraghty (story)
Robert Buckner (writer)

Release Date:

15 November 1956 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Musical | Romance | Western

Tagline:

HEAR ELVIS SING . . . "Love Me Tender" "We're Gonna Move" "Poor Boy" "Let Me"

Plot:

Elvis plays Clint Reno, one of the Reno brothers who stayed home while he brother went to fight in the Civil War for the Confederate army...

Plot Keywords:

Brother | Robbery | Civil War | Brother Brother Relationship | Presumed Dead

Cast

Richard Egan	...	Vance Reno
Debra Paget	...	Cathy Reno
Elvis Presley	...	Clint Reno
Robert Middleton	...	Mr. Siringo
William Campbell	...	Brett Reno
Neville Brand	...	Mike Gavin
Mildred Dunnock	...	Martha Reno
Bruce Bennett	...	Maj. Kincaid
James Drury	...	Ray Reno
Russ Conway	...	Ed Galt
Ken Clark	...	Mr. Kelso
Barry Coe	...	Mr. Davis
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Dorothy Hack

Also Known As:

The Reno Brothers (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Westrex Recording System) (magnetic prints) | Mono (optical prints)

Certification:

Australia:PG | New Zealand:PG | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:15 | UK:U | West Germany:12 (nf)

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Ranch, Malibu Creek State Park - 1925 Las Virgenes Road, Calabasas, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Of all the movies starring Elvis Presley, this is the only one in which he didn't get top billing. He was billed third, after Richard Egan and Debra Paget.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: In the scene where Cathy Reno is at the window crying, a car can be seen in the background.

Quotes:

Vance Reno: Listen, Brett, we didn't steal this money. We took it in battle, fair and square. It's what they call "spoils of war", like capturing a horse or anything else. We didn't know the war was over, and neither did the Federals. So it's still prize money.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "20 to 1: World's Best Love Songs (#3.9)" (2006)

Soundtrack:

POOR BOY

Excellent Elvis!

I didn't expect this movie to rise above a campy Western with lots of Elvis thrown in, but I was WRONG! The story is SOLID: Confederate raiders rob Union payroll by overpowering and posing as the Yankee guard. Unbeknownst to them, the Civil War ended the day before and when they come to deliver the cash to a beleaguered Reb HQ, they find out the truth. They keep the cash (natch!), divided squarely, and head for their homes. What follows is alternately surprising, rousing, touching, and even heroic. The love angles and heartbreaks are true without being either overbearing or oversentimental; the chase scenes are mercifully-short; sub-text characters are given enough delineation to evoke interest and sympathy without burdening the main plot. No threads are left dangling, and suspension of disbelief is at a minimum, except (of course) Elvis' swaying hips in 1865 Dixie! The ending was purposedly refinish to accommodating insulted Elvis fans, but it doesn't matter, even if Elvis' hair is a different color than in the film.

Perhaps the least interesting part of the film (for me) was Elvis' singing, although his swiveling never fails to amaze.