arsportsltd
Elvis Presely was deemed to be about the only sure thing in movies as a bankable star when Allied Artists paid Elvis the the great salary of one million dollars to star in this film. Norman Taurog directs this film in a breezy style and the movie while a AA film was produced at nearby Paramount.Allied Artists was a boutique studio with films such as Love In The Afternoon, Friendly Persuasion, Soldier In the Rain, El Cid, and 55 Days At Peking, etc. AA had a small studio and no TV division and its fates rose and fell with its movies competing with giant studios such as MGM, 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. Some of the major film personalities that worked at AA were Gary Cooper, Audrey Hepburn, Steve McQueen, Ava Gardner, David Niven, and Sophia Loren. AA would go on to film Cabaret with Liza Minnelli, Pappillion with McQueen, and The Man Who Would Be King with Sean Connery. Directors such as William Wyler, John Huston and Billy Wilder contributed to the success of AA.
morpheusatloppers
I approach this as a guy who's long in the tooth and hasn't SEEN this film since '65. At the time (I was only 12) I was unaware that all the songs were from an album Elvis cut FIVE YEARS EARLIER. Some years later, upon obtaining said album, I discovered this fact. Today, after reading other comments in this strain, I've discovered WHY.But even back then, I knew SOMETHING was askew. The songs sounded SO out of date (which may explain why, when Elvis movies constantly appear on MGM and TCM, "Tickle Me" is NEVER among them).But that fact didn't dim my utter ENJOYMENT of this classic. Despite its miserable budget, its stage-bound production - and no new songs - "Tickle Me" was a TRIUMPH. "Viva Las Vegas" has pizazz - and "Follow That Dream" came from a good book and stands as Elvis' best drama - but "Tickle Me" certainly tickled ME.Although he had a good "funny side-kick", Elvis showed what great comic timing he himself had. If ONLY he'd had other opportunities to display them.And I even recall that - under-produced though they were - the ghost-town sequences had genuine creepiness.So altogether, I have to say that if I were sent to that Desert Island with a choice of just one Elvis movie - after considering "Viva Las Vegas" and "Follow That Dream" - "Tickle Me" would be the one!
moonspinner55
Elvis Presley plays the Panhandle Kid, working at an all-female dude ranch. Doing what? Well, he pitches hay, checks out the gamms on the girls while they're exercising, struggles with his female boss (who can't keep her hands off him), and of course sings. But, in an outrageous but silly/enjoyable plot twist, it turns out one of the young ladies is involved with villains who are after her hidden treasure. All this leads E.P. to a ghost town, where the bad guys are all dressed as ghouls! A brainless hoedown, but Jocelyn Lane is a very sexy cowgirl and some of Presley's songs aren't too bad. Elvis' self-conscious swagger is always good for a few chuckles and the haunted house finale is something new (at least for a Presley picture). **1/2 from ****
ptb-8
More astonishing than the script for the final 2 reels in the haunted house part of TICKLE ME is the real life fright (to us 40 years later) is the phenomenal success of this Allied Artists film. In Sydney alone TICKLE ME opened at the massive, gorgeous treasure chest State Theatre and filled all 2500 seats for an unprecedented run of 8 weeks. Built in 1929 as a luxury outlet and famed for its Astaire Rogers runs in the 30s, and the Sinatra runs of the 50s, nothing but nothing topped Elvis there in 1965. Even when his films played other major luxury palaces in Sydney before and after TICKLE ME was the winner. As flabbergasted as I am to realize that success was repeated in city after city in every country it played, NOW I realize how well this film saved Allied Artists. This was their last production until 1969. They concentrated on releasing Euro dramas like A MAN AND A WOMAN and in the 70s were responsible for CABARET and PAPILLON. If the rentals in 1965 in the US alone were $3m then you can double that from the rest of the international ticket sales: $6m from a $1.4m investment. They weren't Monogram Pictures once for nothing, were they!
AD
