Follow That DreamDirector: Gordon DouglasGenre: Musicals Publisher: MGM Released: 1962 MPAA Rating: Unrated Cast: Elvis Presley, Arthur O'Connell, Anne Helm |
A Review by John Nesbit
08/20/2004
Follow that dream, I gotta follow that dreamEver since the 1950's the American dream has often consisted of building a private bungalow on your own plot of land, but when applied to an Elvis movie you have to add cheesecake photo ops, musical numbers, and a kissing finale. The formula plays out as expected in Presley's 1962 romantic comedy, Follow That Dream, a fairly entertaining film where the King plays innocent hayseed homesteader, Toby Kwimper.
Keep a-movin, move along, keep a moving
I've got to follow that dream
wherever that dream may lead
Led by patriarch Pop Kwimper (Arthur O'Connell), Toby and his “adopted” brothers and 19-year old sister Holly Jones (Anne Helm) run out of gas on a new stretch of highway in the Florida Keys and decide to homestead the oceanfront property when a state highway supervisor tries to run them off. He becomes one of three major stock characters that play villains in the lightweight melodrama that takes potshots at government bureaucracy while working in a ludicrous mobster scenario along the way. The other two badies are sexually frustrated state welfare supervisor Alisha Claypoole (Joanna Cook Moore) and gangster boss Nick (Simon Oakland, best known for his role as the psychologist in Psycho's weakest scene).
The Kwimper clan finds balance in the Keys with some well placed allies in the local bank and civil court, especially useful to resolve a custody battle when Florida officials attempt to remove the young twins from the homestead though not enough to prevent them from cutting off some government benefits. In the beginning, maverick Pop seeks the dream lifestyle where government programs supply his basic necessities yet doesn't infringe on his lifestyle. Elvis unwittingly partakes of this by collecting disability from the military despite being perfectly healthy, which leads into an opening song:
It's a wonderful lifeThe biggest pluses come from the light-hearted script that has Elvis fending off the bad guys inadvertently without realizing that he's in contention. Don't look for nuance in his comic strip role, but the screenwriters provide a few comic moments—like Elvis obliviously talking about the weather when gangsters hint about “things getting hot around here” or causing loan officer (played by Howard McNear of Mayberry fame) to faint from a comedy of errors. Most laughable are the blatant advances of the state welfare officer, who manipulates Elvis into seeking a private beach setting to administer her word association test that includes “love” and “sex.”
This life I'm livin'
What a wonderful life,
days with a life of ease, oh-ho-oh
Well, I've got no job to worry me
No big bad boss to hurry me
It's a wonderful life life's good to me
Elvis remains true to the puritanical early 60's, automatically reciting multiplication tables whenever sex beckons, and God knows the King receives plenty of offers. Naturally this leads to a song to explain why “I'm Not the Marrying Kind” and why he refuses to give in to these “nestling type” women. Had he kept to that stance throughout, that would have been a really different take and totally out of formula, so rest assured that he finally gives an honest kiss in the end and gets the girl that you're rooting for. Audiences expect this and the King delivers well enough here for diversion. Although Follow That Dream isn't the greatest Elvis flick or contain the most memorable tunes, it's far from the worst and more entertaining than any Ben Affleck-J-Lo material that Hollywood has produced during the last few years.
© Copyright CultureCartel.com 08/20/2004
