Live a Little, Love a Little is a 1968 American musical comedy film starring Elvis Presley. It was directed by Norman Taurog, who had directed several previous Presley films. This was to be Taurog's final film, as he went blind shortly after production ended.

The film introduced the song "A Little Less Conversation", an alternate take of which would form the basis of a remix that returned Presley to international music sales charts in 2002.

Plot

Greg Nolan is a newspaper photographer who lives a carefree life until he encounters an eccentric, lovelorn woman named Bernice on the beach. Bernice assumes different names and personalities whenever the mood hits her. She introduces herself to Greg as "Alice" but she is known to the grocery delivery boy as "Susie" and to the milkman as "Betty."

After having her Great Dane dog Albert chase Greg into the water when he insults her after a kiss, Bernice invites him to stay at her beachfront home. Bernice later causes Greg to get fired from his job and get evicted from his apartment after drugging him, which leaves him in a deep sleep for days.

However, Bernice manages to find Greg another home. Greg wants to repay her, so he procures two full-time photographer jobs: one for a Playboy-like magazine owned by Mike Lansdown, and the other for a very conservative advertising firm co-owned by Mr. Penlow. The two jobs are in the same building, forcing Greg to run from one to the other without being detected. Greg also deals with Bernice and her eccentric ways, and finally realizes he has fallen in love with her.

Cast

Background

Based on the 1965 novel Kiss My Firm, But Pliant, Lips by Dan Greenburg, and with a screenplay co-written by Greenburg, Live a Little, Love a Little was a departure from the standard Presley films of the period. Elvis also did all of his own stunts in the film, including the high speed driving and stunt work in a dune buggy during the film's opening scene. This has been compared to a similar scene featuring Steve McQueen

in the film The Thomas Crown Affair, which was released at the same time as Live a Little, Love a Little.

Elvis also choreographed the film's fight scenes with the intention of displaying his karate skills. The fight in the newspaper pressing plant is also thought to have been an influence on the fight scene in a newspaper pressing plant in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies. Perhaps because the producers knew how big of a fan Elvis was of James Bond.

Unlike many previous films that involved "location scenes" shot against a backdrop, Presley appeared in more real location scenes than usual. Scenes were filmed in and around Hollywood, along the Malibu coast, at Marineland and at the Los Angeles Music Center. The producer in nominal charge of the session, Billy Strange (also known for his work as a session guitarist and songwriter), was attuned to current trends in popular music and brought in a group of musicians outside of Presley's usual stable, offering written arrangements that strayed from Presley's usual sound. It peaked at No. 69, while its B-side scraped into the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 95 independently. Over three decades later, a remix of "A Little Less Conversation" became a global No. 1 hit record. The version sourced for the remix was initially believed to be a later re-recording made for the soundtrack of Presley's 1968 NBC comeback special, and not the movie version; however, when the Live a Little, Love a Little soundtrack tapes were rediscovered in the vaults. "Edge of Reality" appeared on November 5, 1968, as the B-side of RCA single 47-9670 "If I Can Dream," the song Presley used to close out his 1968 Christmas Special. "Wonderful World," which played over the opening credits to the film, appeared on the compilation Elvis Sings Flaming Star. All three tracks released on singles also appear on Command Performances: The Essential 60's Masters II.

Track listing

  1. "Wonderful World" (Doug Flett, Guy Fletcher)
  2. "Edge of Reality" (Bernie Baum, Bill Giant, Florence Kaye)
  3. "A Little Less Conversation" (Billy Strange, Mac Davis)
  4. "Almost in Love" (Luiz Bonfá, Randy Starr)

Personnel

Credits compiled from RCA and AFM union paperwork as organized and published by sessionographer Keith Flynn.

  • Elvis Presley – vocals
  • B. J. Baker, Sally Stevens, Bob Tebow, John Bahler – backing vocals
  • Joseph 'Bobby' Gibbons – electric guitar
  • Neil LeVang – electric guitar
  • Al Casey – electric guitar
  • Charles Britz – electric guitar
  • Don Randi – piano
  • Larry Knechtel – electric bass
  • Charles Berghofer – double bass
  • Hal Blaine – drums
  • Gary Coleman – percussion
  • Lew McCreary, Thomas Shepard, Richard Leith, Dick Hyde - trombones
  • Roy Caton, Oliver Mitchell - trumpets
  • James Horn - saxophone
  • Lou Raderman, Sidney Sharp, Leonard Malarsky, Ralph Schaeffer, William Kurasch, Tibor Zelig, Jerome Reisler, James Getzoff, Harry Bluestone, Arnold Belnick, Bernard Kundell, Stanley Plummer - violins
  • Harry Hyams, Joe DiFiore, Leonard Selic, Louis Kievman, David Burke, Gareth Nuttycombe - violas
  • Jesse Ehrlich, Armand Kaproff, Joseph DiTullio, Victor Sazer, Frederick Seykora, H.G. Bemko - cellos
  • Billy Strange - producer
  • Chuck Britz - engineer

Quotes

Celeste Yarnall, who played Ellen, recalled the making of the film and her impressions of Presley:

Reception

Variety called the film one of Presley's "dimmest vehicles," writing that Taurog's direction "tried to give some lilt to the proceedings. Nothing, however, can buck that writing. Songs are dull, physical values are standard, and mediocrity prevails."

Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called the film "a pleasant Elvis Presley picture that's rather more sophisticated than the durable singing star's 27 prior efforts."

The Monthly Film Bulletin, reviewing the film in 1978, wrote that it "commendably attempts to create a more eccentric, 'sophisticated' setting for Presley than hitherto," but that it "fails to achieve the kind of comic invention vital to a screwball romantic comedy," and that its songs were "unmemorable."

Home media

Live a Little, Love a Little was released by Warner Home Video on August 7, 2007, as a Region 1 widescreen DVD.

See also

  • List of American films of 1968

References

  • DVD Talk Review