It's the beast in me

Magnet #542 - Elvis IS

Hot. Seriously. That's what Elvis is.

Ya'll. I cannot believe that I haven't done a single post on Elvis Presley, even though I have a few Elvis magnets. I think one is from Graceland, and I love it cuz it's early-on, pretty Elvis.

Yesterday marked the 32nd anniversary of his death - and to honor him, my beloved TCM is doing a whole day of Elvis movies. What a treat.

In fact, it's still going on right now, with my second favorite, G.I. Blues with Juliet Prowse. Such a good one! And yay for a uniform. Yay.

Growing up there was one summer where one of the cablenets did a summer-long marathon, so my sisters and I saw most of them. If I'm not mistaken, it coincided nicely with our 50s/60s music kick, which meant every car ride was filled to the gills with fun music.

As TCM host Ben Mankiewicz said this afternoon, Elvis movies weren't high art. They weren't meant to be. Maybe not. But man, they sure are fun to watch.

Plus, hello. It's Elvis. Young and pretty, and with some sort of contract rider that meant he was shirtless at least once in every movie. Ok, I'm kidding about that last one. But that's what it felt like, watching each film. Heh.

I had so much planned for yesterday and when I started the day, it was the beginning of Jailhouse Rock, which I'd never seen before. Then came Fun in Acapulco, which I had dim memories of; Girls! Girls! Girls!, which I can't remember the plotline of anymore; Girl Happy, the one where he has to "protect" Shelley Fabares in Fort Lauderdale; then Clambake, again with Shelley, which I hadn't seen; and then my all-time favorite, It Happened at the World's Fair, with little Kurt Russell in an uncredited cameo.

I skipped King Creole, and took a break to watch Don Draper and his scarily true to life ad agency in Mad Men. But I'm totally DVRing, my favorite G.I. Blues, Roustabout, and The Trouble with Girls.

I'm totally bummed I missed Viva Las Vegas and Spinout, though. And sorrier that I missed Blue Hawaii. Sigh.

But goodness, these movies are pretty. And silly. With even sillier dialogue. For example, my post title. Or, when he gives the come hither look to whatever leading lady is playing opposite him, and drawls, "C'mere."

Whoa, hot. Yeah, I'd cross a room for him too.

I can't believe that Elvis did 31 movies over the course of 13 years - it's amazing. I can't believe how much I enjoyed this retrospective.

Thanks, TCM, for a thoroughly delightful and distracting day!

eta:
Ok. Must say that I saw the tail end of Roustabout, and didn't need to see all of it. And saw the beginning part of The Trouble with Girls, and given that it was produced in '69, and he was wearing a white (white!) suit with a blue shirt, I will likely not watch the rest of it. Sorry...but yay for G.I. Blues.

eta2:
Ok. Must say that I've got an hour left on this magnetpost, and I'm totally sitting here watching all of Roustabout. Seriously. Barbara Stanwyck. Love. It.