''Easy Come, Easy Go'' is a 1967 American musical comedy film starring

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

. Hal Wallis produced the film for

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

, and it was Wallis' final production with Presley. The film co-starred Dodie Marshall, Pat Priest,

Pat Harrington, Jr. Daniel Patrick Harrington Jr. (August 13, 1929 – January 6, 2016) was an American Emmy Awards, Emmy Award–winning stage and television actor, best known for his role as building superintendent Dwayne Schneider on the sitcom ''One Day at a ...

, Skip Ward, Frank McHugh (in his last feature film) and

Elsa Lanchester Elsa Sullivan Lanchester (28 October 1902 – 26 December 1986) was a British actress with a long career in theatre, film and television.Obituary '' Variety'', 31 December 1986. Lanchester studied dance as a child and after the First World ...

. The movie reached #50 on the ''Variety'' magazine national box office list in 1967. ''Easy Come, Easy Go'', Presley's twenty-third film, was released on March 22, two weeks before his twenty-fourth, '' Double Trouble'', which was released on April 5. However, ''Double Trouble'' was filmed before ''Easy Come, Easy Go''.

Plot

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

officer Lieutenant Junior Grade (j.g.) Ted Jackson (Elvis Presley) is a former U.S. Navy explosive ordnance disposal officer who divides his time between twin careers as a deep-sea diver and nightclub singer. Ted discovers what he believes could be a fortune in Spanish gold aboard a sunken ship and sets out to rescue it with the help of

go-go dancing Go-go dancers are dancers who are employed to entertain crowds at nightclubs or other venues where music is played. Go-go dancing originated in the early 1960s at the French bar Whisky a Gogo, located in the town of Juan-les-Pins. The bar's n ...

yoga Yoga (UK: , US: ; 'yoga' ; ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines that originated with its own philosophy in ancient India, aimed at controlling body and mind to attain various salvation goals, as pra ...

expert Jo Symington (Dodie Marshall) and friend Judd Whitman (Pat Harrington, Jr.). Gil Carey (Skip Ward), however, is also after the treasure and uses his girlfriend Dina Bishop (Pat Priest) to foil Ted's plans. Presley sings six songs in the movie: the title song, "I'll Take Love", "Sing You Children", "You Gotta Stop", "Yoga Is as Yoga Does" in a duet with

, and "The Love Machine". The film would be the first starring Presley that had a ballad-free soundtrack since his 1956 film debut, '' Love Me Tender''. Despite this, only 30,000 copies were sold, making it the worst selling record that Elvis ever released for

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic ...

Cast

as Ted Jackson * Dodie Marshall as Jo Symington * Pat Priest as Dina Bishop *

as Judd Whitman * Skip Ward as Gil Carey * Sandy Kenyon as Schwartz * Frank McHugh as Captain Jack * Ed Griffith as Cooper * Read Morgan as Ensign Tompkins * Mickey Elley as Ensign Whitehead * Elaine Beckett as Vicki * Shari Nims as Mary * Diki Lerner as Zoltan * Robert Isenberg as Artist *

as Madame Neherina *

Mickey Rooney Mickey Rooney (born Ninnian Joseph Yule Jr.; other pseudonym Mickey Maguire; September 23, 1920 – April 6, 2014) was an American actor. In a career spanning nearly nine decades, he appeared in more than 300 films and was among the last survivi ...

as drunk man * Russ Tamblyn as yoga student

Production

Paramount originally intended to make a movie called ''Easy Come Easy Go'' starring

Jan and Dean Jan and Dean were an American rock music, rock duo consisting of William Jan Berry (April 3, 1941 – March 26, 2004) and Dean Ormsby Torrence (born March 10, 1940). In the early 1960s, they were pioneers of the California Sound and vocal surf m ...

with director Barry Shear but it was cancelled when the stars and several crew were injured in a train crash. The studio decided to use the same title, but a completely different plot. Principal photography began on October 3, 1966 and finished about a month later.

Soundtrack

Reception

Howard Thompson of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' called the film "a tired little clinker that must have been shot during lunch hour" and also criticized it for only including "three measly songs. A pittance!" '' Variety'' was more positive, writing: "Good balance of script and songs, plus generally amusing performances by a competent, well-directed cast, add up to diverting entertainment."

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

gave the film one star out of four and wrote that it was "obviously produced with a minimum of care and with the sole purpose of contriving a plot, any plot, to fill in between when Elvis sings." Kevin Thomas of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' wrote that the film was "aptly summed up in its title: easy to take, easy to forget. Always pleasant, occasionally just plain hokey, it sticks to the familiar Presley formula of songs, pretty girls and a slight plot."Thomas, Kevin. "Elvis Stars in 'Easy Come, Easy Go'". ''

''. March 24, 1967. Part IV, p. 9.

References

External links

* * ;DVD Reviews
Review of the movie collection "Lights! Camera! Elvis! Collection (King Creole, Blue Hawaii, G.I. Blues, Fun in Acapulco, Roustabout, Girls! Girls! Girls!, Paradise, Hawaiian Style, Easy Come, Easy Go)
by Paul Mavis a
DVD Talk
August 6, 2007.
Review
by Jeff Rosado a
digitallyOBSESSED!
March 4, 2003. {{John Rich 1967 films 1967 musical films Films directed by John Rich Films produced by Hal B. Wallis Paramount Pictures films Films about treasure hunting Films featuring underwater diving 1960s English-language films English-language musical films Films scored by Joseph J. Lilley