raymondw63-400-384219 I expected something a with a little more class than this. Elvis goes from girl to girl so fast it's like where's his heart? Then he gets the hots for his counselor, a lady who is significantly older than him. Yuck! This kind of action was being made to look appealing, all the way back then? One of the other girls his age he runs off with is so trashy, and she says the most horrible thing- that she wants to go sliding right down into hell, like it's nothing to fear. In the movie are also some references to the Bible and Elvis quotes some scripture and carries his bible around. This does not make a trashy movie good...it remains what it is.Very disappointed in the content and story lines...I've watched some other movies with Elvis in them that were much better.

moonspinner55 J.R. Salamanca's book "The Lost Country", adapted for the screen by Clifford Odets (!), becomes decent though somewhat stodgy melodrama featuring Elvis Presley as southern delinquent who shows promise as a writer, counseled by a female psychologist who believes in him. Critics at the time were calling for Elvis to start doing some decent dramatic work, yet when this picture was released it was mostly ignored (it is often cited as the one Presley-vehicle which failed to turn a profit). The females in the cast (Hope Lange, Tuesday Weld and Millie Perkins) are strong screen-matches for Elvis, and the plotting is good when it isn't being overripe. As for the star, he does his typical thing: singing just a few songs, but performing in his usual shy and self-conscious, overly-polite low key. **1/2 from ****

dangfuling "Wild in the Country" presents the following credible scenario: a) the King is a loser, but with an untapped talent for writing; b) Hope Lange checks him out as he comes before community elders, deciding how to deal with his delinquencies; c) Tuesday Weld is something like an unwed-mother cousin, who hangs around waiting for a guy to make her whole (and no one, no one, shows up); d) Gary Lockwood is a jerk with a weak heart who dies after Elvis punches him once; e) John Ireland is Gary's dad, loves Hope, and is hanging around waiting for a gal to make him whole; f) given the choices (Millie Perkins, Hope, and Tuesday), Mr. Presley goes "wild in the country" for Ms. Lange ("ma'am"); and, gee) given that Elvis loves her, Hope decides to...SPOILER.4.5 stars is about right; there's a nice scene where the porch is hosed, while the youngsters fake insobriety.

Mankin Elvis Presley as a hell-raising juvenile delinquent? I don't think so. That's what `Wild in the Country' would have us believe, but in reality he's the only honest and decent male in the movie. He plays a misunderstood young man from a poor white trash background who is sent to a psychologist as part of his parole after he gets into trouble (which he often does through no real fault of his own, naturally). Hope Lange plays the `older woman,' who discovers a budding literary talent in her charge. However, according to director Philip Dunne's memoirs the part was originally offered to Simone Signoret (!). Contemplating this pairing is more exciting than anything that happens in this movie. Miss Lange gives it a good try, but she was only about 3 years older than Elvis. Signoret would have made a man out of him in no time! This was supposed to be Presley's big dramatic breakthrough in a non-singing role, but according to Dunne, the bosses at Fox insisted upon interpolating songs. The movie also suffers from the Production Code censorship of the time (no actual going to bed with Lange, thank you), and Elvis was too nice to be really bad. Considering all the strikes against it, it's surprising that `Country' is still as watchable as it is. Presley is as good as he's allowed to be, and Tuesday Weld also spices things up as the requisite `bad girl' who tempts him. Call this one a `bad movie to love.'