Elvis and the Beauty Queen (1981)

After celebrating from his wife Priscilla in February 1972, Elvis Presley begins a love affair with Linda Thompson, a young beauty pageant contestant who became his live-in girlfriend and ... See full summary »

Director:

Gus Trikonis

Writer:

Julia Cameron

Stars:

Stephanie Zimbalist, Don Johnson, Ann Dusenberry

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Stephanie Zimbalist	...	Linda Thompson
Don Johnson	...	Elvis Presley
Ann Dusenberry	...	Jeannie
Rick Lenz	...	David Briggs (as Richard Lenz)
Ann Wedgeworth	...	Aunt Betty
Richard Herd	...	Thompson
Jay W. MacIntosh	...	Mrs. Thompson
Ruta Lee	...	Su-Su
Edward Edwards	...	Sam Thompson
John Crawford	...	Vernon Presley
Darrell Fetty	...	Pete Moore
Richard Winterstein	...	Bobby Farr
Gary Lee Davis	...	Ray
John Ashton	...	Jake
Bobbi Jordan	...	Pregnant Woman

Storyline

After celebrating from his wife Priscilla in February 1972, Elvis Presley begins a love affair with Linda Thompson, a young beauty pageant contestant who became his live-in girlfriend and travelling companion for four of the last five years of his life.

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Plot Keywords:

elvis | elvis presley | beauty queen | bikini | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 March 1981 (USA)

Also Known As:

Elvis ja kaunotar

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Television, David Gerber Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

All scenes were filmed in Los Angeles.

User Reviews

Casting every bit as bad as you think

You may say to yourself, "Don Johnson as Elvis? Can that work? Is it possible? Seems like an terrible choice to me, but perhaps I should have an open mind. Maybe I'll be surprised. Maybe he can pull it off."

NOT!

Don Johnson is not a bad actor. But he is an awful Elvis. He's too short, too weak-voiced, too sharply featured ... well you've already imagined how bad he would be. Add to that a hokey black wig and heavy-handed eye-liner and mascara and it's a big fat embarrassing mess.

The best I can say is that since Johnson's acting is decent and since his impersonation is so far off, after a while you don't even think of him as Elvis anymore. You see him as some other crazed pop star instead. Then, on that level, the movie becomes watchable.

Stephanie Zimbalist is also not ideally cast as the tall, beauty queen, Linda Thompson. But she is attractive in her own right and plays the part with the honesty, elegance and intelligence we've come to expect from all her roles. There may be too much intelligence in her performance. You have to be kind of a dope to stick with a dope abusing dope.

There's nothing new to this story; we've heard it many times before. If you've looking for new info or insight, you won't find it. It's told as a love story - an unrequited one: Linda for Elvis and Elvis for drugs.