"Girls Girls Girls" is an early entry in the cavalcade of fomulaic nonsense that serves as Elvis Presley's filmography, a trifle that reveals the usual design features of his routinely drecky movies.
There's Elvis playing the ambitious, yet happy-go-lucky rake on the make, a sorta hybrid of Danny Fisher ("King Creole") and Lucky Jackson ("Viva Las Vegas"). In this one, Elvis typically weasels his way into singing at a nightclub so that he can afford to buy a fishing boat. In other films, it's the same old take, only in other instances he's looking to open a nightclub, buy an engine for his race car, etc. This film sets up the tired, hackneyed plot devices used ad nauseaum by his producers for the following five or six years.
As is common in an Elvis flick, the screenplay is juvenile and moronic, complete with confrontational scenes, childish interaction with his leading ladies, friction with an antagonistic foil (in this case Jeremy Slate) and the presence of either the goony sidekick or paternal well-wisher (Robert Strauss fits that bill in his cultural abortion, as the nightclub owner). Add a score that has maybe two or three decent songs ("Return To Sender" is the stand out tune) and the rest just padded junk, and sunny carefree locals, and you have the makings of the standard EV singing travelogue.
What I find interesting is that the Elvis character in his post-military films is always resolving issues with his fists, assaulting someone or other for the sake of injecting a tad of action in the rather lame proceedings. The stunt doubles used for E in the matching shots are invariably unconvincing. His characters also usually display a condescending or patronizing antipathy towards his love interest, who always comes around to E's rather bumptious attempts at courtship in the final reel.
Also noteworthy in E's flicks is the constant use of back projection. This is a wan approach at making "motion pictures," in that the camera doesn't move, but the background does. Maybe this is because Presley didn't move very well, and the directors didn't want their star getting vertigo and stumbling around, hurting himself, damaging the set, etc. by doing anything physically ambitious.
These aspects are seen constantly in "Girls Girls Girls," which makes it quite typical of this sub-genre. In fact, as it's early on in the cycle, it's the blueprint for much worse films to follow, and since a modicum of effort was expended on this film, an aspect increasingly absent in later Presley flicks, this one is a solid 2-star. Keep in mind that by the time Presley is making "Harum Scarum" three years later, the Elvis picture melts down to a typical 1-star status.
"Girls Girls Girls" is at least watchable, which is more than you can say about 75% of the crap that appears on TV these days.
There's Elvis playing the ambitious, yet happy-go-lucky rake on the make, a sorta hybrid of Danny Fisher ("King Creole") and Lucky Jackson ("Viva Las Vegas"). In this one, Elvis typically weasels his way into singing at a nightclub so that he can afford to buy a fishing boat. In other films, it's the same old take, only in other instances he's looking to open a nightclub, buy an engine for his race car, etc. This film sets up the tired, hackneyed plot devices used ad nauseaum by his producers for the following five or six years.
As is common in an Elvis flick, the screenplay is juvenile and moronic, complete with confrontational scenes, childish interaction with his leading ladies, friction with an antagonistic foil (in this case Jeremy Slate) and the presence of either the goony sidekick or paternal well-wisher (Robert Strauss fits that bill in his cultural abortion, as the nightclub owner). Add a score that has maybe two or three decent songs ("Return To Sender" is the stand out tune) and the rest just padded junk, and sunny carefree locals, and you have the makings of the standard EV singing travelogue.
What I find interesting is that the Elvis character in his post-military films is always resolving issues with his fists, assaulting someone or other for the sake of injecting a tad of action in the rather lame proceedings. The stunt doubles used for E in the matching shots are invariably unconvincing. His characters also usually display a condescending or patronizing antipathy towards his love interest, who always comes around to E's rather bumptious attempts at courtship in the final reel.
Also noteworthy in E's flicks is the constant use of back projection. This is a wan approach at making "motion pictures," in that the camera doesn't move, but the background does. Maybe this is because Presley didn't move very well, and the directors didn't want their star getting vertigo and stumbling around, hurting himself, damaging the set, etc. by doing anything physically ambitious.
These aspects are seen constantly in "Girls Girls Girls," which makes it quite typical of this sub-genre. In fact, as it's early on in the cycle, it's the blueprint for much worse films to follow, and since a modicum of effort was expended on this film, an aspect increasingly absent in later Presley flicks, this one is a solid 2-star. Keep in mind that by the time Presley is making "Harum Scarum" three years later, the Elvis picture melts down to a typical 1-star status.
"Girls Girls Girls" is at least watchable, which is more than you can say about 75% of the crap that appears on TV these days.