tilloscfc Cracking film from the end of the Elvis - Hollywood era. "Live a Little, Love a Little" is the most adult, modern movie that Elvis made and this one is hilarious with lots of great dialogue, particularly between Elvis, gorgeous co star Michele Carey, Dick Sargent...and, er "Albert" the Great Dane - who was actually Elvis' pet at the time, one of two Great Dane's he had at the time of the movie. Elvis plays Greg - a photographer - who's life is thrown into chaos when he meets stunning Michele Carey (who adopts a string of "different names for different moods" throughout the film). When she orders Albert to chase Greg into the sea, he keeps him in there for so long he catches pneumonia and after taking him back to her house on the beach to freshen up, apparently drugs him and he wakes up three days later, only to go to work and find out he's been fired. Then, inexplicably, two tough employees set about beating him up. They were actually Elvis' two chief bodyguards, cousins Red and Sonny West...but Elvis comes out on top thanks to his karate skills that came in handy in most of his movies. Elvis did become a black belt in the art and you can tell in his fight scenes in all his movies that he knows what he's doing and especially when fighting Red or Sonny (which he usually did) the fights always looked realistic.So after being fired, Greg returns to his apartment...only to find he's been moved out and another woman and her child have taken over the rent, with the landlady explaining that Greg's "sister" Michele has paid off the back rent.Obviously expecting him to come round to her house in a rage - which he does - Michele invites Greg to stay with her (and Albert) until he finds employment and a place to live. He subsequently lands TWO jobs as a photographer for two different photography firms in the same building - one a respectable firm that expects it's employees to be impeccably dressed at all times, the other a more laid back "Playboy-esque" magazine that insists it's photographers dress casual...thus leading to a few Mrs Doubtfire-like dashes from one place to the next in an attempt to be in two places at once... It's an enjoyable, funny, fast paced movie that you never know what is going to happen next due to Michele Carey's eccentricity. What is her name? What does she want? Who are all these men in her life? Is she really married to "Harry Baby" (Sargent) It's a far out removal from the stereotypical Elvis musical of the 60's. There's only four songs - all outstanding. Two of them "A Little Less Conversation" and "Edge of Reality" are both in my top 10 Elvis songs and both effectively come with fine "music videos" due to the scenes that accompany them. The Edge of Reality dream sequence in particular is superb, with Elvis producing some funky hip swivelling that reminds you of his early days and acts as bit of a light sampler for what was to come over the next 4 years starting with his "Comeback Special" which was filmed just a few weeks after "Live a Little, Love a Little" Another song, a ballad "Almost in Love" is also fantastic and again probably only just misses out on my "Top 10 Elvis songs" but I'd regard it as his best ballad. Great song, beautifully sung.

lisa-kevin3531 I am a huge Elvis fan, but even I admit most of his movies were dreadful, and that's being kind. This one is a pleasant exception. Not only is it quite funny at times, but the songs in the film are well above average for a Presley movie, and Elvis himself looks and acts better than in the seven or so films that preceded it. He has a natural flair for comedy, as anyone will know who has seen his earlier film from 1962 "Follow That Dream," which was another under-appreciated Elvis film. He acts more grown up and the situations he's thrust into have a much more adult theme than in his previous efforts. By the time this film was released, these points were lost to most critics, who dismissed it as just another infantile Elvis musical. That's a shame, because it deserved a wider audience than it received.

MARIO GAUCI 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 this one 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 Jerry Lewis, etc. – not to mention having been the youngest (and probably most forgotten) of Oscar-winning directors!

serpico-usa What a shame that at a time when it appeared that Elvis was finally getting some mature comedy roles it was nearing the end of his film career. Maybe if the brains ?? behind Elvis had been more selective in choosing his movie roles, he may have been still with us and may have been credited for being a far better actor than people gave him credit for. To have him act alongside the Elvis of the twenties in Rudy Vallee was a great piece of casting. The only other great piece of casting would have been to have him act alongside the great John Wayne, which I believe they offered him the part in True Grit played by Glen Campbell. What a sad waste of talent, another screw up by Hollywood suits who have no idea on talent just getting their greedy hands on as much money as they can.