The Trouble with Girls (1969)

Director:

Peter Tewksbury

Writers:

Arnold Peyser (screenplay) &
Lois Peyser (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

3 September 1969 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical

Tagline:

Elvis crosses the country...into trouble! trouble! trouble!

Plot:

Chautauqua manager Walter Hale and his loyal business manager struggle to keep their traveling troupe together in small town America.

Plot Keywords:

Chautauqua | Speaker | Tent | Lecturer | Actor

Cast

Elvis Presley	...	Walter Hale
Marlyn Mason	...	Charlene
Nicole Jaffe	...	Betty
Sheree North	...	Nita Bix
Edward Andrews	...	Johnny
John Carradine	...	Mr. Drewcolt
Anissa Jones	...	Carol
Vincent Price	...	Mr. Morality
Joyce Van Patten	...	Maude
Pepe Brown	...	Willy
Dabney Coleman	...	Harrison Wilby
Bill Zuckert	...	Mayor Gilchrist
Pitt Herbert	...	Mr. Perper
Anthony 'Scooter' Teague	...	Clarence (as Anthony Teague)
Med Flory	...	Constable
Robert Nichols	...	Smith
Helene Winston	...	Olga Prchlik
Kevin O'Neal	...	Yale
Frank Welker	...	Rutgers
John Rubinstein	...	Princeton
Charles Briles	...	Amherst (as Chuck Briles)
Patsy Garrett	...	Mrs. Gilchrist
Linda Sue Risk	...	Lily-Jeanne
Charles P. Thompson	...	Cabbie
Leonard Rumery	...	First Farmhand
William M. Paris	...	Second Farmhand
Kathleen Rainey	...	Third Farmhand
Hal Pederson	...	Soda Jerk (as Hal James Pederson)
Mike Wagner	...	Chowderhead
Brett Parker	...	Iceman
Duke Snider	...	The Cranker
Pacific Palisades High School Madrigals	...	Choral Group
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Joe Esposito	...	Gambler (uncredited)
William H. O'Brien	...	Hotel Lobby Extra (uncredited)
Susan Olsen	...	Auditioning Singer (uncredited)
Jerry Schilling	...	Deputy Sheriff (uncredited)

Directed by
Peter Tewksbury

Writing credits
Arnold Peyser		(screenplay) &
Lois Peyser		(screenplay)
Day Keene		(novel "Chautauqua") and
Dwight V. Babcock		(novel "Chautauqua") (as Dwight Babcock)
Mauri Grashin		(story)

Produced by
Wilson McCarthy	....	associate producer
Lester Welch	....	producer

Original Music by
Billy Strange

Cinematography by
Jacques R. Marquette		(director of photography) (as Jacques Marquette)

Film Editing by
George W. Brooks

Art Direction by
Edward C. Carfagno		(as Edward Carfagno)
George W. Davis

Set Decoration by
Henry Grace
Jack Mills
Robert R. Benton		(uncredited)

Costume Design by
Bill Thomas

Makeup Department
Mary Keats	....	hair stylist
William Tuttle	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Robert Vreeland	....	unit production manager
Lindsley Parsons Jr.	....	assistant production manager: MGM (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
John Clarke Bowman	....	assistant director (as John Clark Bowman)

Sound Department
Franklin Milton	....	recording supervisor

Other crew
Jonathan Lucas	....	choreographer

Production Companies

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1969) (USA) (theatrical)
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1973) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• Warner Home Video (2010) (Canada) (DVD) (17 film box set)
• Warner Home Video (2004) (Germany) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2008) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2010) (USA) (DVD) (17 film box set)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Finland:K-8 | Sweden:11 | UK:U | USA:G (original rating) | West Germany:o.Al. | Australia:G

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Elvis used to sing some of his hit songs on the set, and would often suck helium from balloons to make his voice sound high and strange.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the musical number, "Look In Your Own Back Yard", the girl appears to change sides behind Elvis. Although there is a slight change of camera angle when far away from Elvis then close up, her move from behind Elvis's left shoulder to behind his right shoulder looks wrong.

Quotes:

Betty Smith:Do you think Romeo and Juliet had pre-marital relations?
Mr. Drewcolt:Only in the Des Moines company.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Brady Bunch Home Movies (1995) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Violet (Flower of NYU)

THE TROUBLE WITH GIRLS (Peter Tewksbury, 1969) **

While, as some of you may know, I recently went through a marathon of Elvis Presley movies (in tribute to the 30th anniversary of his passing) – and which emerged to be a more pleasant experience than I had anticipated – I have to admit that I opted to check this one out mainly for the presence in it of Vincent Price. As it turned out, his role is quite brief and he doesn't even share any screen-time with Elvis!!

Incidentally, this has to be Presley's most eccentric vehicle: it combines the period setting of the star's own FRANKIE AND JOHNNY (1966) with the carnival backdrop of his ROUSTABOUT (1964); however, he seems quite lost here (this was, in fact, Elvis' penultimate film) in which he's given just one typical number ("Clean Up Your Own Back Yard") and where his hair-do and trademark stage moves clash with the feel of quaint Americana the narrative is striving for! Otherwise, the film features annoyingly flashy direction, while the traits of the supporting characters range from the obnoxious (the cardsharp and the villainous store owner) to the embarrassing (Joyce Van Patten reminiscing about her past as a champion swimmer and Sheree North's bout with drunkenness).

Besides, the songs are below-par (most don't even involve the star) and the title itself terrible (apparently, the people who made it didn't quite know how to sell their own product!) – even if we do get three prominent female roles: Marlyn Mason (whose shop steward/piano player/instructor character seems to have been modeled on Doris Day's role in THE PAJAMA GAME [1957]), Nicole Jaffe as the requisite ditzy blonde, and the afore-mentioned North as a 'loose' woman (a single mother who murders the married sleazeball who relentlessly pesters her). Also featured in the cast are Edward Andrews as the long-suffering managing director of Presley's traveling show and John Carradine, criminally underused in a blink-and-you'll miss-him bit as a Shakespearean actor (whose incongruity reminds one of Alan Mowbray's memorable similar turn in John Ford's MY DARLING CLEMENTINE [1946]).

As for Vincent Price, he appears as "Mr. Morality", a philosophy-quoting orator who's another specialty performer of the troupe; having watched him in this film, I was reminded of two more of the horror icon's non-genre performances (both of them Westerns, incidentally) which are available for rental on DVD in my neck of the woods – THE JACKALS (1967) and MORE DEAD THAN ALIVE (1968).