A script was quickly cobbled up to tie the musical numbers together and it shows in the finished product. It is a cartoonish boy-meets-girl love story with Las Vegas and car racing as the backdrop. But when you make three films a year you can’t expect the best scripts. He made 31 films in fourteen years, all variations on a theme. He was the star in each and top billed in all but his first.
Because of Elvis’ still impressive star power and Ann-Margret’s up-and-coming status, Viva Las Vegas was the biggest hit of his career, out earning A Hard Day’s Night released the same year. A bigger studio and Technicolor might have helped. Both stars began headlining in Las Vegas due to the film’s success. They would date for a while but his marriage to Priscilla would put an end to that. His view that wives are for making babies and not performing in large venues may have played a part in that decision.
At only twenty nine, Elvis looked out of place and out of time, doing his 50’s swagger and snarl while Ann-Margret did her freaky 60’s dance moves. It is said she came the closest to matching his on-screen charisma, but frankly even William Demarest had the better of him. Elvis could perform on stage and read lines on camera, but let’s be honest. Unless you are a rabid fan, he didn’t exactly sizzle out there. Case in point, the title number. Shot as one long take and I wonder if he refused to perform a second take. It was a laughably poor lip sync job.
Likely because the soundtrack was never released, only the title song was familiar. Here’s some fun stuff. In one musical number both Teri Garr (Young Frankenstein, Close Encounters, et. al.) and Toni Basil (Mickey) appear as extras.
Rife with plot holes, like how he must work as a waiter to pay his hotel bill, but has a helicopter he can fly on weekends, but my expectations were appropriately low. And even though the abrupt magical conclusion is annoying, it’s still an amusing watch, even if you are not a fan of the man. AMRU 3.
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