Jailhouse Rock (1957)
Grade: 74
"Jailhouse Rock" is Elvis Presley's best film. He plays an ex-convict struggling to becoming a star as a pop singer. His business partner and would-be girlfriend is Judy Tyler. Presley's character achieves fame and fortune as a recording artist and movie star, but has he surrendered his humanity and values in a greedy and decadent lifestyle?
Elvis Presley had much in common with Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby. They all were fabulously successful American singers whose fame and charisma also extended to successful film careers. But while Sinatra and Crosby would eventually win Academy Awards, Presley was not as fortunate. Some of his early films were passable, but as Hollywood moguls tried to mine his popularity, the movies came quicker and the scripts grew worse and worse. By the time his studio contracts had been fulfilled, his career had nearly been destroyed.
It is no wonder that most Presley films are terrible. Because there was a soundtrack album to sell, the film had to be laden with songs. This meant that Presley had to portray a singer, and the plot would have to be stripped. He had to have someone to sing to, which meant one or more pretty girls. Add fancy cars and a tropical locale, and what else would be needed to bring the teenagers to the drive-in?
"Jailhouse Rock" was Presley's third film, made at the peak of his career, and before the formula had taken over. Yes, he plays a singer, but the Lieber-Stoller songs are top-notch. He also has a surly attitude, and the party atmosphere of later films is missing. Best of all, the script is terrific, only occasional stumbling to underscore his platonic romance with Judy Tyler or to moralize over his loss of values.
http://members.tripod.com/~Brian_Koller/movies.html
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