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Loving You
(Paramount, 1957)

Elvis's second movie; Loving You, was filmed by Paramount Studios (the first of nine films Elvis would make at Paramount) in early 1957. Working titles included Running Wild and Lonesome Cowboy before the final choice was made. In what is often described as a story which parallelled his own life, Elvis played the volatile Deke Rivers with a certain depth beyond that of his movie debut the previous year. The film was directed by Hal Kanter, who also wrote the screenplay. Prior to filming, Kanter accompanied Elvis on a trip to Memphis - staying around him for a period - ostensibly to observe him and try to discover some kind of motivation for his upcoming characterisation. In the informative 1993 Elvis in Hollywood video, Kanter describes this period and what he felt Elvis had to offer as a screen performer. Four years later, Kanter also wrote the screenplay for Elvis's Blue Hawaii.

This was Elvis's first colour movie and was also the first to be constructed especially for his particular talents. In his previous film (and screen debut) Love Me Tender, Elvis was cast in a production that was already planned prior to his attachment. Loving You, however, offered fans the opportunity to see Elvis perform in a contemporary setting. The finished film had much to offer in the way of both music and drama.

Making their debut in an Elvis movie, and no doubt providing him with a certain comfort in his unfamiliar surroundings (Hollywood sound stages) were Scotty Moore, Bill Black, D.J. Fontana and the Jordanaires. All of these musicians/singers would feature in further Elvis movies in minor roles. In Loving You, Scotty, Bill and D.J. played respective members of the country band fronted by Tex Warner (Wendell Corey) in the story. Bill Black even had a couple of lines of dialogue. The soundtrack for the film included such classic songs as Teddy Bear, Loving You (naturally), Mean Woman Blues and Lonesome Cowboy. The talented songwriting teams involved in the soundtrack included Leiber & Stoller, Tepper & Bennett and Schroeder & Weisman. The songs were sheer quality, and not surprisingly the soundtrack album went to the no.1 spot in the U.S. charts in July of 1957. It remained at the top for a full ten weeks. There is indeed a curio with the soundtrack as it remains the only one of Elvis's film albums to have been released as a 10" vinyl. Later it was reissued as a standard 12" version. Several single releases were taken from the soundtrack, the most successful being Teddy Bear which reached no.1 in the U.S. and no.3 in the U.K. charts.

Loving You, interestingly, had its premiere in Memphis at the Strand Theatre on July 9th 1957, then went on nationwide release three weeks later.

This information was produced by the Elvis Presley Film Society in June 2002
© 2003 Elvis Presley Film Society