Elvis fans apparently enjoy full-color fun in Sin City more than black-and-white crime in the Big Easy — but not by much.
That's the verdict that was delivered across five days of voting in The Commercial Appeal's latest reader poll, which asked the question: "What is your favorite Elvis movie?"
The winner, by a margin trimmer than Ann-Margret's waist, was MGM's "Viva Las Vegas" (1965), an expert escapist romp directed by movie-musical master George Sidney ("Kiss Me Kate," "Bye Bye Birdie"), which pairs Elvis with a star who matches him wiggle for sexy wiggle, the aforementioned Ann-Margret. (When Ann-Margret swings her hot-pantsed hips into an auto repair shop to complain that her motor "whistles," Elvis responds: "I don't blame it.")
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Finishing second was Paramount's "King Creole" (1958), directed by movie-of-any-type master Michael Curtiz, whose filmography across 50 years ranges from "The Adventures of Robin Hood" to "Casablanca" to "White Christmas." Elvis' fourth feature film, "King Creole" is a noirish, New Orleans-set black-and-white crime drama from the time when Elvis hoped to be taken seriously as an actor, before the box-office success of "Blue Hawaii" in 1961 provided a formula for an era of Elvis travelogs. This time, Elvis was tugged between two actresses: The good girl (so good she became a nun in real life) was played by Dolores Hart, while the bad girl was Carolyn Jones, the future Morticia of TV's "The Addams Family."
Votes were cast from Australia, Malaysia and Canada, as well as from the U.S., and the votes were as spread out as the voters. In fact, the two top vote-getters were hardly runaway champions.
"Viva Las Vegas" earned 16.92% of the votes cast, in online balloting that began Aug. 3 and concluded Aug. 7.
"King Creole," meanwhile, received 16.15% of the vote. Finishing third was "Blue Hawaii," with 13.08%.
All 31 of the movies in which Elvis starred as an actor were eligible, from "Love Me Tender" in 1956 to "Change of Habit" in 1969. (In other words, documentaries, concert films and the slew of biopics or Elvis-connected movies that have arrived in the half-century since his death weren't included.)
Apparently, even "Clambake" and "Harum Scarum" have their devotees. Only eight of the Elvis 31 received no votes. The Unlucky Eight include "Wild in the Country" (1961), "Girls! Girls! Girls!" (1962), "Tickle Me" (1965), "Frankie and Johnny" (1966), "Spinout" (1966), "Easy Come, Easy Go" (1967 — apparently, people really dislike the song "Yoga Is As Yoga Does"), "Double Trouble" (1967), and "Live a Little, Love a Little" (1968).
John Beifuss is an entertainment writer at The Commercial Appeal. Contact him at john.beifuss@commercialappeal.com.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Favorite Elvis movie? See which of the King's films won our poll
