In 1956, Elvis Presley made his film debut with a western musical: Love Me Tender.
The story revolves around the Reno Brothers, a gang of criminals that actually operated after the civil war. According to the library of Congress, the Reno Brothers committed the first train robbery in October 6, 1886 wearing masks and toting guns. Elvis plays one of the brothers that stayed home during the civil war. The drama begins when Elvis ends up marrying his brother’s girlfriend after being mistakenly told his brother had died during the war.
Originally titled The Reno Brothers, the studio ended up changing the title and the script to cash in on Elvis’s immense popularity. One can even notice this in the poster above; Elvis is third on the billing yet he takes up most of the poster. Indeed, the studio must have been delighted as the film grossed over a million dollars opening weekend, and made it into the top ten box office films of that year.
Perhaps this is where it went wrong. Hollywood studios knew that Elvis would guarantee an audience no matter what. This led to a majority of Elvis’s film being done with 2nd rate directors, lousy scripts, and little attention given to the music as well. In the end, Elvis acted in 31 films.
His films may have ruined his career. Nonetheless, his films can almost be considered a musical genre of its own. As a B movie musical genre Elvis lives on in the film history.
The story revolves around the Reno Brothers, a gang of criminals that actually operated after the civil war. According to the library of Congress, the Reno Brothers committed the first train robbery in October 6, 1886 wearing masks and toting guns. Elvis plays one of the brothers that stayed home during the civil war. The drama begins when Elvis ends up marrying his brother’s girlfriend after being mistakenly told his brother had died during the war.
Originally titled The Reno Brothers, the studio ended up changing the title and the script to cash in on Elvis’s immense popularity. One can even notice this in the poster above; Elvis is third on the billing yet he takes up most of the poster. Indeed, the studio must have been delighted as the film grossed over a million dollars opening weekend, and made it into the top ten box office films of that year.
Perhaps this is where it went wrong. Hollywood studios knew that Elvis would guarantee an audience no matter what. This led to a majority of Elvis’s film being done with 2nd rate directors, lousy scripts, and little attention given to the music as well. In the end, Elvis acted in 31 films.
His films may have ruined his career. Nonetheless, his films can almost be considered a musical genre of its own. As a B movie musical genre Elvis lives on in the film history.
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