The Gazette from Montreal, Quebec, Canada • 53

THE GAZETTE, MONTREAL. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1998 ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT Hie importance of being EMs King's movies remind us that a world without him is not as much fun as a world with him 4 0 I r- pumped out nt a rate of three a year and the commercially successful formula has ossified. This brings forth such minor episodes as the psychedelic Elvis of Live a Little, l.ove a Littlo and closes the look on the whole exercise with Change of I labit ('69), notable for Mary Tyler Moore as a nun who must decide between Elvis and her calling. Two things make Viva ls Vegas interesting. The town itself, because It's the only thing on Earth that can match Elvis's enthusiasm for all American kitsch.

And Ann Margret. Ann Margret plays Rusty, a swimming Instructor, which involves wearing bathing suits. She's also a dancer (oh how clever these scriptwriters aif which means a very tight black leotard. In what could have teen nostalgic typecasting. Elvis is a mechanic-race-car driver named Luc ky Jackson.

When he first meets Rusty, her hite Triumph sports car is stalled. Elvis tries to start it. but the engine won't turn over. It easy to see why all the sparks are busy elsewhere, flying between Rusty and Lucky. The racing sequences have enough spectacular wrecks to make John Landis envious.

The great title song, incidentally, has been covered by Bruce Springsteen. But Vegas and Elvis are an even better match than Rusty and Lucky. This is where the King will make his last stand when he returns to live performing. At this point, that won't happen for another four years, ith the landmark television performance of 1968. That was when Elvis covered himself in black leather and returned to active rock duty, Vegas style.

Like rock'n'roll, enjoyment of Elvis movies requires a certain attitude, described by Jane and Michael Stern in their book Elvis World. They suggest immersing yourself in "a special state of being, Elvis World, here all that really matters is that "this is Elvis and this an Elvis But why would anyone want to take the plunge? Well, as Kevin Quain noted in his Elvis Reader, "Elvis films may not be masterpieces of cinema, but they're all we've got and the movies remind us that a world without Elvis is not quite as much fun as it was with him." MATT RADZ The Gazette The strange universe of Elvis movies is best entered through one of three gates: King Creole, Blue Hawaii br Viva Las Vegas. All three flicks have refurbished and re-released on video in the past year, which makes them all that more watchable. Each of the tluve marks, and echoes, nn inixrant stage in the King's career. Each one also illustrates the develop-.

nient of the 31 -title El vis movie library Directed by Michael Curtte, King 'Creole (1958) was the fourth Elvis movie and the last one he made before going into the army. It stands as a potent argument, in stark black and white, that Elvis was robbed of something irretrievable when he was pressed into the service. He's raw and jlangerous here, with an edge that will not be seen again. Curtiz displays the same mastery over smoke and shadows here that jnade his Casablanca so remarkable. gives King Creole such intensity, the movie is painful to at times.

Relief is never far the soundtrack has 11 songs, in-. eluding the title tune, Trouble (you came to the right place) and Hard- Headed Woman. King Creole was Elvis's personal favourite. It capped the most important early period, which began with Love Me Tender the heavily biographi- cal Loving You ('57) and Jailhouse 1 Rock the top choice of many fans. King Creole starred Carolyn Jones as the bad girl in Elvis's life and a young Walter Matthau as a crime boss.

Jones went on to fame as Morticia in the television series The Addams Family; Matthau went on to comedy Made in 1961, Blue Hawaii was not the first Elvis movie after the army stint that lobotomized his scandalous act, stilled the hips and made it all safe enough for the drive-in theatre. That distinction goes to the insipid GI Blues ('60), but Blue Hawaii seems like the one, with its story of a young man, Chadwick Gates, from a proper pine-' apple-plantation-owning family at-, tempting to make it on his own after army service. Coming after the very worthwhile 4 4, nar i v)l The music is great: Elvis serenades Joan Blackmail in Blue Hawaii, made in 1961. Girls! Girls! Girls! C62) which, with Paradise, Hawaiian Style (T6), makes up an island trilogy. It peaked with the execrable Tickle Me ('65), in which Elvis is get this a rodeo cowboy working at an all-girls dude ranch spa.

Today this would be called soft core porn. The low mark. Harum Scarum ('65), is generally regarded as the reel Elvis at his smirking worst. Made in 1964. Viva Las Vegas was the 15th film and it ushered in the final stage of the Elvis screen ocuvre.

At this point the movies are being and a dozen more sand-raisin' numbers. We also get a travelogue, and what is about to become a formula kicks in hard at this point. The sure-fire recipe worked like this: take one Elvis, add a chorus of girls and shake it all up. Throw in a fistfight, with Elvis defending a lady's honour, and when the action sags, just hand him a guitar and strike up the band. Elvis's wondrous singing always makes everything seem better.

The formula worked well enough through such disposable confections as Flaming Star ('60) and the very forgettable Wild in the Country ('61), Blue Hawaii shows an Elvis who is still exuberant but also eager to please. In this case, he wants to impress his tourist-bureau boss, played by Howard Mc-Near before he was Floyd Lawson, the wheezy barber on the Andy Griffith Show. With most of the action on the beach, Blue Hawaii also shows more Elvis than any other movie. The music is great Can't Help Falling in Love, Rock-A-Hula-Baby, Beach Boy Blues No matter how bad they got, EMs flicks made money ill Mr ELVIS Continued from PageDl fey. journey from the wrong side of the tracks.

In the same way, contending that Elvis couldn't act is like complaining that someone who can perform miracles is no magician. He was already Elvis, an act that still waits to be followed. If his movies are no better than they are it's because they didn't have to be. After Elvis came out of the army, the movies were, for nearly a decade, the only place he could be seen by his adoring public. No matter how bad they got Harum Scarum, Easy Come, Easy Go the Elvis flicks made a lot of money.

That's one Elvis miracle; his astonishing 114 Top-40 hits is another. (The next guy, Elton John, isn't even close with his 56 hits.) So once the golden formula was found, there was no reason to change it. Even at their worst, with their snazzy styles, neat gadgets and galaxies of stars to be and about to be forgotten, the Elvis movies are a treasure trove of cool Americana that any pop archeologist can dig. 18 digitally remastered Elvis films on video, including such essential titles as Jailhouse Rock and Viva Las Vegas. Seven more Elvis movies, owned by Paramount, were given the same electronic-shock treatment this year and are now in the stores Blue Hawaii and King Creole never looked or sounded better.

While the re-releases indicate a durable appeal among hard-core fans, the Elvis movie catalogue is increasingly neglected by the general moviegoer. This largely because popular wisdom has dismissed these flicks as vulgar schlock and worthless kitsch. Like their star, Elvis pictures are certainly all of that, with a few notably watch-able exceptions. But to stop at "bad taste" is to miss the point, and a lot of music. Even the most crude appreciation of Elvis begins just beyond such a facile judgment.

(Hint" it's the singer not the song.) The flamboyant packaging was a sincere camouflage and just the thing called for by such a long, light-speed It has become an icon so powerful that it has outlived what Elvis Presley, the rockabilly singer, started. Outlived because rock'n'roll is dead. Isn't it? Elvis is back where he started. On the wrong side of town, in working-stiff places like St. Michel, Brossard or Laval, where Johnny Casino awaits your call at (450) 691-2630, ready to do his "tribute to Elvis." Elvis is also at your video store.

For sale or rent. Here are the most true and brilliant images. This is the reel Elvis, forever young in the 31 movies made between 1956 and 1969. All that vitality, as inexplicable and as awesome as a force of nature, preserved in realistic black-and-white and in cheesy Technicolor. These images are not about to fade away.

To mark the 20th anniversary of his death last year, MGMUA released "rfl Ann-Margret and Elvis in the 1964 movie Viva Las Vegas. Home Team a Mighty Ducks-like tale STARS Continued from Page Dl prompting noted Hollywood booster Leonard Maltin to quip: "What can you say about a sequel that Steve Gutten-berg won't even appear But these movies left their makers and likely, Guttenberg wealthy men. Now Guttenberg must contend with 11 kids in Home Team, a Mighty Ducks-like tale about a gambler sentenced to a year of community service in a boy's home. Guttenberg reluctantly becomes their soccer coach and tries berg is not talking petty-cash per diems. He's talking big-time taxes and fees to lawyers, agents and managers.

He's also talking the grizzled-celeb talk. "This ain't my first rodeo," he says, by way of explaining his leeriness of the media. "The press is like a horse. Sometimes the horse throws you. And sometimes the horse sits still, letting you do what you want to do.

No matter, the media is in charge. "Sometimes I says. "If it did, a lot of big names would be out of business. I'm not bitter. I understand the game.

I love what I do, and I love doing it here." And then there's 15-year-old Ryan Slater, one of the Home Team kid stars and brother of Christian. He might like the money, but he doesn't like the business. His dream is to become a pilot, preferably far away from Hollywood. "I've been working in the entertainment business since I "Besides, London and New York have seen me, on stage. Paris has seen me.

Palisades Park where I live has seen me. It might be hard for some people to understand, but my life is as wonderful now as it was in 1987, when Three Men and a Baby was the No. 1 feel lii 3 quitting this business at least three times a day. Sometimes I feel that my best work has probably been done on a to lead them to glory. Making matters a little less tense for the coach is the home's lovely but firm boss (Sophie Lorain).

This $4-million comedy is directed by Montrealer Allan "Sometimes I feel like quitting this business at least three times a Steve Guttenberg "Long ago, I learned that this business has nothing to do with talent." Sophie Lorain box-office hit in the world. I feel I've been blessed." Last year, Gutten-berg shared top billing with a dog and a dolphin in Zeus and Roxanne. He has played alongside was 8," he says. "All I see are phony people with big egos. So I tell my friends to stay out of the business." He doesn't get or seek advice from Christian.

"He supports my deci stage in a rehearsal hall somewhere, not on screen for the world to see. Yet I feel like I still have a lot of promise. "But the worst thing of all? That's easy When they won't let you do this work any more. I've been really lucky. So far." One doubts that Denzel Washington, last rumoured to be shooting a scene at Russell's book store across the street from The Gazette, has these kinds of career concerns.

So far. sion to become a pilot. We're quite different. He's into Jack (Nicholson) and Frank (Sinatra), but my favourite actors are Steve Buscemi and Ving Rhames." Ryan isn't wild about round-the-clock work and studying with a tutor, but he does like some of the perks. "I get a per diem of $53 U.S., which comes in handy when I go party at night here when I'm not doing my school work, of course." On another part of the set, Gutten aliens in the Cocoon series, ghosts in Casper and High Spirits, a robot in Short Circuit, and the Olson twins in It Takes Two.

He held his own with hu-manoids Holly Hunter and Robert Downey Jr. in Home for the Holidays, and with Kevin Bacon and Paul Reiser in Barry Levinson's divine Diner. The reviews weren't glowing for Gut-tenberg efforts like Three Men and a Baby, the follow-up Three Men and a Little Lady or Police Academy 1-3. (He avoided Nos. 4 to 6 in the series, (Outside Chance of Maximillian Glick) Goldstein.

Although much in demand in both English and French productions, Lorain, like Guttenberg, has few illusions about show biz. The affable star of C't'a Ton Tour, Laura Cadieux on the big screen, Urgence and Omerta on the small screen, and Les Belles Soeurs on stage doesn't lie awake nights dreaming of honours in Hollywood. "Long ago, I learned that this business has nothing to do with talent," she PHIL CARKfcNTtK, GAZETTE Slater: "All I see are phony people with big egos.".