{"id":9749,"date":"2014-09-28T13:51:49","date_gmt":"2014-09-28T17:51:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=9749"},"modified":"2014-09-28T13:52:28","modified_gmt":"2014-09-28T17:52:28","slug":"the-dream-that-failed-to-follow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=9749","title":{"rendered":"The Dream That Failed to Follow"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"FollowThatDream_featured_m\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Being too young to appreciate Elvis Presley\u2019s talent in the seventies, my early impressions were of an accomplished singer, a studded karate-chopping performer, and a star of mostly musicals, and as much as enjoy the goofy Viva Las Vegas<\/strong> (1964), that film also represents the formula imposed by his managerial handlers who wanted to exploit Elvis\u2019 voice and natural likeability in light fodder instead of more dramatic material \u2013 not Shakespearian tragedy, but roles where there was depth, decent dialogue, and a genuine character.<\/p>\n

Perhaps that\u2019s the most striking aspect of this forgotten gem \u2013 Elvis was a natural actor, and he\u2019s the most magnetic and compelling figure in a film that also affords fair screen time to the solid character actors, many drawn from TV.<\/p>\n

\"FollowThatDream_songshot\"Follow That Dream<\/a><\/strong> (1962) is a balanced production that almost offers everything to everyone; when allowances are made for songs, though, the film is literally put on Pause, forcing some very ridiculous situations (as in the seduction scene between good guy Toby and the sultry Ms. Claypoole).<\/p>\n

Twilight Time\u2019s resident film historian Julie Kirgo chimes the sad but true view that Follow That Dream<\/strong> represents the kind of films Elvis should\u2019ve been able to make between the populist musicals; had his overlords not been so greedy to exploit with ease Elvis\u2019 most obvious skills,\u00a0he could\u2019ve done both.<\/p>\n

But in fairness, when given the freedom to choose after gaining earning power and self-direction, even singers can stumble and similarly never recover what was lost. It may read a little pale, but I can\u2019t help thinking of Jennifer Lopez after she co-starred in Out of Sight<\/strong> (1998), a perfect film with a perfect cast that gave everyone moments of brilliance in long and brief scenes.<\/p>\n

Lopez soon earned power, and it was apparently her choosing to go back to her roots as a singer \/ dancer, and what could\u2019ve been a strong career in acting was neutered by vanity projects, bad filmic decisions, and a desire to focus on crafting an image that even in its earliest stage resembled a fabricated pop diva.<\/p>\n

One can even see similar issues at play with Frank Sinatra, working his way up through musicals to dramatic roles, earning an Oscar Award for From Here to Eternity<\/strong> (1953), producing classic jazz albums, producing personal films… and then getting complacent, becoming his own worst enemy by walking through a string of mediocre, sometimes lazily crafted films, like Assault on a Queen<\/a><\/strong> (1966), before he too would have to reassess what he was: an actor, a jazz artist, or an icon from an era losing its relevance with new generations.<\/p>\n

Elvis\u2019 predicament in the sixties is more complex because he put great faith in the Colonel, the impresario who managed his career, and signed him to lucrative but creatively stifling film contracts.<\/p>\n

1962 is still very early in his career \u2013 Follow That Dream<\/strong> was only Elvis’ 9th of 31 non-concert films \u2013 but it is sad that the work that led up to his final film, 1969\u2019s Change of Habit<\/strong>, has a certainly sameness. Fans may have wanted more variety and scope, but it was the Machiavellian hands of Elvis\u2019 handlers and contract holders who ultimately failed to fully exploit the dream of a balanced, rewarding film career.<\/p>\n

Coming next<\/em>: DVD review of the Roy Budd-scored version of Universal\u2019s Phantom of the Opera <\/strong>(1925), released by Mishka Productions + an interview with Sylvia Budd on rescuing her late husband\u2019s great work from a 20 year stasis.<\/p>\n

Cheers,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mark R. Hasan<\/strong>, Editor
\nKQEK.com<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The release of Follow That Dream (1962) on Blu from Twilight Time is a reminder of Elvis Presley’s natural acting talent, and the kind of work he rarely managed to find in the sixties due to Machiavellian management.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9752,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[3051,2562,3044,2563],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/FollowThatDream_featured.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-2xf","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9749"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9749"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9749\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9774,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9749\/revisions\/9774"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}