Love Me Tender
November 2002 Reviewed by: Wes Phillips Format: DVD	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

Given a career that spanned an ungodly number of films -- most of them forgettable -- it is easy to overlook the fact that Elvis Presley, at one time, was quite serious about acting. Unfortunately, as Peter Guralnick so ably describes in his two-volume Presley biography, the young rocker's profit-earning potential as "Elvis the Pelvis" blinded the people around him to any consideration of his "artistic fulfillment." But the camera loved him -- and when he tried, as he did in Love Me Tender, he showed flashes of brilliance.

Love Me Tender was filmed under the working title The Reno Brothers, which was changed when Elvis’s single "Love Me Tender" pre-sold an unprecedented million copies before the movie's release. Produced by David Weisbart, who had also produced Rebel Without a Cause, it is the only film in which Elvis appeared where he didn't receive top billing.

Set in the post-Civil War West, Love Me Tender is an earnest melodrama that pits brother against brother. Elvis played Clint, the youngest Reno brother, who stayed on the farm while his siblings fought in the war. Thinking his eldest brother Vance (Richard Egan) has died, Clint marries his grieving sweetheart Cathy (Debra Paget). But news of Vance's death was premature and he returns home, expecting to resume his old life. The resulting love triangle is complicated even further by the actions of a group of dastardly ex-Confederates, and Clint ends up reconciling with Vance before dying in Cathy's arms.

By and large, Presley acquitted himself well in Love Me Tender. He tended to gulp his dialogue, but he came across as natural and modest. Although several scenes of Elvis singing are included, they are fairly believable, and naturally integrated into the plot.

In fact, he impressed David Weisbart so much, the producer added him to the cast of Flaming Star, originally intended as a vehicle for Marlon Brando -- also recently reissued on DVD by 20th Century Fox.

Directed by Don Siegel, Flaming Star was again an earnest effort -- this time a "message movie" about the son of a farmer father and an Indian mother, caught between two cultures. Once again, Presley dies. Mortally wounded, he declaims, "Maybe someday, somewhere, people will understand folks like us." He then rides out into the desert to die alone.

Flaming Star had problems that had nothing to do with Elvis (as that bit of dialogue illustrates), but he didn't help matters either. He never felt comfortable with Siegel and his discomfort shows throughout the film. Furthermore, Presley was obviously the wrong actor for carrying such a substantial role in an ensemble film -- he doesn't match the rest of the cast in presence or style and he seems to flounder while searching for the most basic bits of stagecraft. Many people, however, deem this his finest moment as a serious actor.

Both films feature crisp anamorphic transfers. It is a pleasure to see Love Me Tender in a sharp, widescreen black-and-white print after viewing decades of faded pan-and-scan versions on TV screens. The sound is variable and ranges from quite poor to not-too-awful -- 20th Century Fox could have done so much more in this area.

It's fascinating to watch Love Me Tender (and Flaming Star, for that matter) and realize that we are witnessing Elvis confront the same dead-end as the young Alexander the Great -- he had conquered the world and he eagerly sought a new challenge. Who knows what could have happened if he had been allowed (or, perhaps, had allowed himself) to work at it as seriously as he obviously intended to when he started out.

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