Love Me Tender (1956)

At the end of the Civil War, a Confederate team is ordered to rob a Union payroll train but the war ends leaving these men with their Union loot, until the Feds come looking for it.

Director:

Robert D. Webb

Writers:

Robert Buckner (screenplay), Maurice Geraghty (story)

Stars:

Richard Egan, Debra Paget, Elvis Presley

Cast

Complete credited 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

Storyline

Elvis plays Clint Reno, one of the Reno brothers who stayed home while his brother went to fight in the Civil War for the Confederate army. When his brother Vance comes back from the war, he finds that his old girlfriend Cathy has married Clint. The family has to struggle to reach stability with this issue. Vance is involved in a train robbery, while a Confederate soldier, of Federal Government money. There is a conflict of interest, when Vance tries to return the money, against the wishes of some of his fellow Confederates.

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Plot Keywords:

train | civil war | soldier | army | robbery | 

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Taglines:

IT'S MR. ROCK N'ROLL...IN THE STORY HE WAS BORN TO PLAY!

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Genres:

Drama | Musical | Romance | Western

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 November 1956 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Reno Brothers

Filming Locations:

Bell Moving Picture Ranch, Santa Susana Mountains, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$4,500,000

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$9,000,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

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

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Average Shot Length (ASL) = 9.5 seconds

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Goofs

A Confederate soldier zips up the pants that were taken off Northern soldiers, before zippers were invented.

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Quotes

Clint Reno: [In a rage] Go on, say it Cathy! Say you don't love him. You can't, can you? You think I couldn't feel it? With you lying awake beside me every night? Wishing I was Vance! Wishing you'd waited for him and never married me!

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Crazy Credits

Opening credits prologue: April 10, 1865

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Alternate Versions

Coloured version was released in early 1990's unofficially.

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Connections

Referenced in Elvis Meets Nixon (1997)

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Soundtracks

We're Gonna Move
by Elvis Presley and Ken Darby (as Vera Matson)
Performed by Elvis Presley (uncredited)

User Reviews

Love Me Tender (1956) ***

Finally got around to seeing Elvis Presley's debut film in its entirety and in widescreen, and I think it's a good deal better than it's usually given credit for. Richard Egan plays Vance Reno, who is serving in the Civil War and returns home after the war ends to join his family and reunite with his lover (Debra Paget). But a tragedy ensues when it's learned that while he was away, his young brother Clint (Elvis) fell in love with and married his girl, after hearing that Vance had died. Also factoring into the trouble is that Vance has kept some Union cash which he never delivered to its destination when he found out the war had ended in the interim.

This turned out to be a good, solid story with fine performances, especially by Richard Egan. But again, Elvis is amazing as a completely first-time novice actor. He always wanted to be on the big screen from youth, after admiring James Dean, Marlon Brando and Tony Curtis. For a film fan who never had any professional acting training or experience, he's really quite good as Clint Reno. Though he didn't want to sing in this film, Presley was already a big recording star so of course there had to be songs in the movie. The title tune is a classic and it's very emotional as perfromed within the context of the film. I also like the singalong ditty "We're Gonna Move", which is performed by Elvis on the front porch "1950s-style" with his family, even though it's 1865. Other songs include the unremarkable "Let Me" and "Poor Boy". *** out of ****