Wild in the Country

A beautiful and passionate screenplay by Clifford Odets. Elvis plays a brawling delinquent with a hidden literary talent. Three women compete for his attention, lust and future. Millie Perkins plays the childhood sweetheart. Tuesday Weld is outstanding as the seductive cousin. The older of the three, Hope Lange, is an understanding psychiatrist trying to lead Elvis' character to college. The songs in this drama are limited, but highlighted by "I Slipped, I Stumbled, I Fell". An emotional performance turned in by Elvis. Some say this is one of his best movies. Watch it again to appreciate.

"A troubled young man discovers that he has a knack for writing when a counselor encourages him to pursue a literary career." Do me a favour: Do not think of this movie as any other Elvis flick, because this is one of the best classic films I've seen. Well, he sings a couple songs to his lovers and he gets into a couple of fights, but here it just doesn't happen randomly. The plot is excellent and Elvis blew me away with his acting. There's one specific scene where he's sharing stories about his dead mother with Hope Lange and it almost brought me to tears. His acting was very natural, as was Hope Lange's, Tuesday Weld's and Millie Perkins'. This is a fantastic movie and I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did.

Wild in the Country is a solid film and one of Presley's best.

Elvis is excellent as a delinquent who happens to be a potentially terrific writer. Psychiatrist Hope Lange helps Elvis achieve his potential and they slowly fall for each other. Elvis only sings a couple of songs here and therefore, instead of a musical, we get a dramatic story that's well acted by all three leads and is genuinely captivating, only falls short towards the end and goes for a sappy conclusion. Overall, one of Presley's best films and he once again proves what a great actor he could have been. 7 out of 10.

J.R. Salamanca's book "The Lost Country", adapted for the screen by Clifford Odets (!), becomes decent though somewhat stodgy melodrama featuring Elvis Presley as southern delinquent who shows promise as a writer, counseled by a female psychologist who believes in him. Critics at the time were calling for Elvis to start doing some decent dramatic work, yet when this picture was released it was mostly ignored (it is often cited as the one Presley-vehicle which failed to turn a profit). The females in the cast (Hope Lange, Tuesday Weld and Millie Perkins) are strong screen-matches for Elvis, and the plotting is good when it isn't being overripe. As for the star, he does his typical thing: singing just a few songs, but performing in his usual shy and self-conscious, overly-polite low key. **1/2 from ****

Released in 1961, Wild In The Country would offer Elvis his last serious role in a film by a significant director (Philip Dunne). He gives what may be his finest acting performance as a troubled young man from a dysfunctional family whose passion is really writing.

There were fine supporting roles played by Millie Perkins as his girlfriend Betty Lee, Tuesday Weld as his cousin Noreen, and Hope Lange as his psychiatrist.

Wild In The Country is ranked high as one of my all time favourite Elvis movies, it's a bit slow moving at the start, but as you keep watching it gets better and better, this movie is worth the watch to see Elvis as an actor... He is great in this movie!

Conclusion - Great Movie.. 7/10.