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Projecting a positive image
Officially recognised by Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc
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Clambake (United Artists, 1967)
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| In the spring of 1967, not long before his marriage to Priscilla, Elvis filmed his 25th motion picture - Clambake - his fourth and last for United Artists Studios. His previous films for the studio were Follow That Dream, Kid Galahad and Frankie and Johnny. He was thirty-two years old and his Hollywood career still saw him singing to children, singing on beaches, defeating the bad guy and winning the girl at the end. It would be a little while yet before an image change was evident. What was evident in Clambake was that Elvis no longer looked comfortable with this type of role. Filmed on the Universal lot in Hollywood, the movie cast Elvis in a kind of modern day The Prince and the Pauper story - rich boy swaps places with poor boy to prove he can make it on his own. The co-stars proved effective enough. Will Hutchins returned from Spinout (California Holiday) to play alongside Elvis in the 'rich boy/poor boy' exchange. Bill Bixby played the suitably disagreeable speedboat rival. He would return in Elvis's next film, Speedway, in a much more amiable role. Shelley Fabares played the female lead for the third and final time in an Elvis movie - her previous outings being in Girl Happy and Spinout (California Holiday). James Gregory played Elvis's father with a nice comedic touch. Red West and Charlie Hodge managed to slot into the storyline in small parts. In one scene in the hotel bar, though it is very fleeting, actor Lee Majors can be spotted in a brief cameo as a waiter. Visiting the set, he was offered this 'blink and you'll miss it' part. In the minor role of the hotel manager was the somewhat surprise casting of British pop impresario Jack Good. This was the man responsible for the successful Oh Boyl Television programme of the late 1950's (forerunner of Top of the Pops and many other music programmes) - the platform which helped launch the careers of British pop singers such as Cliff Richard and Marty Wilde. A mere two years after Clambake, Jack Good was quoted in an interview describing the film as `one of the really, really awful ones'. Wonder why he took the role? He had always held Elvis in high regard musically, so perhaps the opportunity to work with him, even in an inferior feature film, was something he simply couldn't resist. The music recorded for the soundtrack was a mixture of some very good songs and some of the worst songs Elvis was ever to put on disc. From the excellent You Don't Know Me (Ray Charles' classic) and The Girl I Never Loved, the music plunged to embarrassing depths with such songs as Who Needs Money, Confidence and Hey Hey Hey. This was far from Elvis's finest hour in a recording studio. It may have fitted the storyline to some degree but was distinctly unworthy of his talents. The soundtrack album came and went with no significant impact (understandably), and in terms of a single release to coincide with the movie, You Don't Know Me was issued, backed with Big Boss Man - a song not featured in the film. The single release version of You Don't Know Me was the later cut which was recorded in September 1967 and was not the version recorded in February that year for, and seen in, the film. This film version would not make it on to disc until the 'Double Features' soundtrack releases of the 1990's. The highly interesting video Joe Esposito - My Home Movies of Elvis features a fair amount of footage taken off the set of Clambake (along with other movies of course). Much of it centres around the opening sequence at the garage with Elvis in the white, embroidered suit. He is seen signing autographs for quite a gathered group of spectators. It highlights the fact that he wasn't just as inaccessible to the public as his image frequently suggests - certainly at this point in his career anyway. Following Elvis's marriage to Priscilla in Las Vegas in May 1967, he was to return to Hollywood for some additional filming on Clambake. For all its lack of production values, this was the film quoted by Red West as the one they had the most fun on - this being off the set of course. With work complete, Elvis then headed off for his honeymoon before he was back at MGM Studios in Culver City, California to begin work on Speedway. This information was produced by the Elvis Presley Film Society in January 2003 |
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