Easy Come, Easy Go

A frogman (Elvis) working for the Navy discovers treasure in a sunken ship and once he becomes an ordinary citizen he sets out to retrieve it; but he's got competition for it.

One of Elvis's later entries; quite shallow and cheesy but fairly enjoyable. The slapstick humor works OK in parts and there's an underlying comic jab at the hippie lifestyle that's well played out. There are also some impressive underwater sequences here; "Easy Come, Easy Go" is a little more visually compelling than other Presley flicks around this time.

The songs are few but pretty good (6 in total) and many have commented on "Yoga is as Yoga Does" as Elvis's most embarrassing moment on film. Personally I think nothing can top his singing to the dogs in "Paradise, Hawaiian Style" but I also think the Yoga moment here is pretty funny and the song OK; in a cheesy sort of way. You gotta admire how the King was a professional through and through and pulled this off and manages to be funny as well in his bungled Yoga attempts.

Anything that was associated with Elvis Presley was one of those Hollywood pictures where Elvis just did naturally....pop up in some strange town,sing his heart out,have the kids dancing to the music,or in other cases, gets the girl and saves the day.

This was one of his films had that authenticity. Even though it would be the last association with producer Hal Wallis(who would take over production at Universal) and the last film he would do for Paramount Pictures before he would go into his next feature film.

The basic formula was simple: Any feature that starred the King of Rock and Roll would bring box-office success,and that was what "Easy Come,Easy Go" was just that. I had the chance to see this film on Encore just the other day,and I thought it was well enjoyable by all aspects. You have an action-packed adventure yarn that is filled with the music of the sixties that is swinging and grooving.

Check out the co-star of Pat Harrington(who was Schinder on TV's "One Day at a Time"),as his mate in search of buried treasure and a beau of lovely dames in distress.

"Easy Come, Easy Go" is hardly the King's best - but still, it ain't that bad. I certainly prefer it to "Harum Scarum."

And it does have a few killer songs, including "The Love Machine" & the irresistible "I'll Take Love," performed as the finale (it should have been a hit single).

But having said that, Elvis looks bored at various times. As he put it, by then he was tired of beating up the bad guys and then singing to them.

It's too bad that he never got a role in a truly serious film directed by a truly serious director later in his career because I believe he could have been taught, encouraged and coaxed into some truly terrific serious dramatic performances - and not just the brooding, pouting youth roles a la "Wild In The Country" or "Jailhouse Rock." Perhaps in a smaller serious role.

Imagine him as naive good old boy male prostitute Joe Buck in Jon Voight's shoes in "Midnight Cowboy"? I really think he could have done something special with a serious role like that in a serious film. Roles such as that could have changed his entire career - and how people viewed him.

In this movie Elvis plays a Navy Seal. This is not one of my favorite Elvis movies. It's not the worst movie that he did, but it is the best of the worst. There were some good scenes, and having Pat Priest in the movie made it worthwhile. There were some funny scenes but nothing great.

Easy Come, Easy Go (1967)

** (out of 4)

Elvis plays a former Navy frogman who discovers a buried treasure and must try and reach it before anyone else can. This is a pretty bad and stupid film but it thankfully enters into the camp territory and gets a few laughs along the way. The story is pretty bland and something we haven't seen in countless other films and lets not forget the subplot of Elvis and his women, which we've also seen in countless other films of his. As for Elvis, he isn't horrible here but there's not too much to the performance. He seems a bit livelier here than in the previous picture I watched but he's still a long way off from an actual good performance. The title track and "The Love Machine" are pretty good tunes but "Yoga Is As Yoga Does" is pretty embarrassing. "I'll Take You", written by Ed Wood's former lover Dolores Fuller, isn't too bad and Ray Charles' "Leave My Woman Alone" comes off fairly good.