Live a Little, Love a Little (1968)

User Rating:

5.2/10   

Director:

Norman Taurog

Writers:

Dan Greenburg (novel)
Michael A. Hoey (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

23 October 1968 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical | Romance

Tagline:

Watch Elvis click with all these chicks!

Plot:

Greg Nolan meets Bernice, and loses both his job and his apartment. However, Bernice manages to get him a new apartment...

Plot Keywords:

Beautiful Woman | Elvis Presley | Based On Novel

Cast

Elvis Presley	...	Greg Nolan
Michele Carey	...	Bernice / Betty / Suzie / Alice
Rudy Vallee	...	Louis Penlow
Don Porter	...	Mike Lansdown
Dick Sargent	...	Harry Baby
Sterling Holloway	...	Milkman
Celeste Yarnall	...	Ellen
Eddie Hodges	...	Woodrow (the delivery boy)
Joan Shawlee	...	Robbie's mother
Mary Grover	...	Miss Selfridge
Emily Banks	...	RKC&P receptionist
Michael Keller	...	Art director
Merri Ashley	...	Secretary #1
Phyllis Davis	...	Secretary #2
Ursula Menzel	...	Perfume model

Also Known As:

Kiss My Firm But Pliant Lips (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Norway:12 | Australia:PG | Singapore:PG | Finland:K-8 | Sweden:Btl | USA:M (original rating) | USA:PG (re-rating) (1997)

Filming Locations:

Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Elvis Presley's father, Vernon Presley, is a model for one of the photo shoots in the film.

Quotes:

Greg Nolan: That wouldn't be a screwdriver you have there would it?

Movie Connections:

Featured in This Is Elvis (1981)

Soundtrack:

Wonderful World

LIVE A LITTLE, LOVE A LITTLE (Norman Taurog, 1968) **1/2

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 the film 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 Jarry Lewis, etc. – not to mention having been the youngest (and probably most forgotten) of Oscar-winning directors!