I love this movie so much

Good concept, poorly executed.

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Arriving in a western town on a Greyhound bus, singing rodeo rider Elvis Presley (as Lonnie Beale) gets a job at a health ranch where attractive young women work on keeping their bodies in shape. You will agree with Mr. Presley about the success of the "Circle Z" ranch; here, the women are in excellent shape. Arousing exercise instructor Jocelyn Lane (as Pam Meritt) is the main attraction. Introduced in a pointedly sexy scene, Ms. Lane is looking for hidden treasure. In all ends up in a western-style ghost town..."Tickle Me" is unique in Presley's musicals in that he did not record any new songs for the film. They simply went through the Elvis Presley catalog and picked otherwise overlooked material from his early 1960s studio albums. RCA Victor's worldwide record labels started the ball rolling in 1964 with the hits "Kiss Me Quick" and "Suspicion" (some of the latter's US potential squandered when it was "covered" by Terry Stafford). Most of the audience had to be unaware of this stunt-work, which reached its peak in 1965...Surprisingly, every "Tickle Me" song hit the singles charts. Doing best on Billboard was first-released 45 rpm "(Such an) Easy Question" (#11) / "It Feels So Right" (#55). Selling even more copies, and going Top Ten on Cash Box, was "I'm Yours" (#9) / "(It's a) Long Lonely Highway" (#96). With "Night Rider" leading worldwide airplay, the remaining songs charted collectively as the "Tickle Me EP" (#70 on Billboard). The "older" Presley music now was out-performing the newer soundtrack-related material...As Presley's roommate, dependable Jack Mullaney (as Stanley "Stan" Potter) is able to navigate the star's level of preparedness nicely; subsequently, he was signed for "Spinout" (1966). Attractively available Julie Adams (as Vera Radford) is a beautiful boss. No competition for Presley, swimming instructor Edward Faulkner (as Brad Bentley) wears bathing trunks up to his rib cage. Presley wisely keeps his shirt on (and his belly belted). The appeal of a Presley film was not, by this time, the star or his music. A Presley movie offered an opportunity to see acres of well-proportioned female flesh. In that respect, "Tickle Me" delivers.**** Tickle Me (6/30/65) Norman Taurog ~ Elvis Presley, Jocelyn Lane, Jack Mullaney, Julie Adams

I have to admit this movie holds a special place in my heart as I saw in with the first girl I ever dated and fell in love with back in 1965. But all that aside, some 45 years later, I still enjoy the movie even if I haven't seen the girl in 40 years. Elvis as a singing rodeo cowboy gets sidetracked working at a dude ranch for young women wishing to look better and hooks up with Jocelyn Lane, possibly the best looking woman on the planet in 1965. The music, taken from some older Elvis LPs, fits fine. The songs "Dirty, Dirty Feeling" and "Slowly But Surely" are great songs on their own as is the opening sequence number, "Long Lonely Highway", which was released as a single. "Such An Easy Question", also released as a single in 65, is more of a romantic ballad and is quite good, tho it sounded better when it was released a couple years earlier on the "Pot Luck" album. They added some background orchestration to the movie version that is totally out of place. Julia Adams and "Wild" Bill Williams head up a stellar supporting cast. A good, solid Elvis movie and remember, these movies were not made to compete for Oscars.

The deadening treadmill of cookie-cutter Presley vehicles, foisted upon him by his "mentor" Col. Parker, continues here with both good and bad results. Presley plays a singing rodeo rider who finds himself working at a ranch where zaftig women go to peel away pounds. It's run by Adams, who has her sites set on him and is also home to exercise instructor Lane, who is more skeptical, at least at first. Presley's roomie is dim bulb fellow hand Mullaney while his chief antagonist is jealous swim instructor Faulkner (who sports one really awkward-looking and unappetizing set of swim trunks hoisted up practically to his chest!) Presley has to fend off the female guests of the ranch who are hungry not only for steak, but for him, while Lane searches in vain for a fortune her grandfather left behind in a nearby western ghost town. It all comes to a head in a protracted finale that seems more like a very bad episode of "Scooby Doo" than a piece of musical froth. Presley lopes through the film with varying degrees of interest, lip-synching to songs he had recorded months and years prior (a symptom of the low budget of the project), not that it stands out too much to the casual viewer. It's just that the songs bear virtually no relation to anything and there's not even a title tune. The script is preposterous, so Presley goes along for the ride as well as he can. Lane is almost legendary as one of The King's most attractive costars. Her body, even by today's standards, is unbelievable, so it's hard to imagine how jaw-dropping she must have seemed in '65. Her acting leaves quite a bit to be desired, but most male viewers will care very little! A Brit in real life, she provides a creditable American accent. Adams doesn't even try to mask her character's outright lust for Presley. She isn't given much to do at all beyond drooling over him, but she looks great doing it and does it with verve. Mullaney is annoying as would be expected from anyone being led through tired "3 Stooges" style schtick. (The films writers had worked with the comic trio previously.) Most of the rest of the cast are only shown is brief bits. At times it seems like the story – to use a term loosely – was cobbled together in order to take advantage of pre-existing sets left over from a prior movie and it's possible that that is what happened. Nonetheless, this was an inexplicable box office smash, placing the studio that backed it into the black and giving Presley (who was entitled to 50% of the profits) a hefty payday as well. At least it is colorful and attractive to the eye most of the time and undemanding (to say the least.) It's just a shame that someone as handsome and talented as Presley was unable or unwilling to be placed in projects that better displayed his charms while also paying tribute to them instead of bleeding them and his reputation dry.

This flick is fairly frightening! The plot is beyond explanation, but it does include the beautiful and undervalued Jocelyn Lane (Hell's Belles) and Allison Hayes (Attack of the 50-foot Woman). Not only are all of the songs forgettable, the script was left in the trailer.A 2 out of 10. Best performance = Jocelyn Lane. Don't go near this one unless you've sat through Schindler's List and need a goofy fix of sterilized nonsense (plenty of pretty girls though). Jack Mullaney is his usual mental defective sidekick and Julie Adams was a decent actress (Creature from the Black Lagoon and The Last Movie), but this one is right there with SPINOUT, CLAMBAKE, and LIVE A LITTLE, LOVE A LITTLE. Sorry Elvis!