If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Having watched all of Elvis's movies, towards the end you tend to know the quality of what you're getting into. For the most part, even the bad ones tend to fall into the 'So bad they're good' category. However, I didn't feel that way about 'Double Trouble', and then got an even worse dose of bad with Stay Away Joe.This film is, frankly, god awful. This is a film that should only be shared on movie night with your worst enemy. The first 40 minutes seem to be full of people told to 'project' how much fun their having by screaming and shouting extra loudly as much as they can, especially during the never-ending party scene, which drags on and on. If you appreciate your hearing, turn to movie down for the first half of the movie, you won't be missing much, but your ears will thank you.I'm not even going to get into Burgress Meredith in dark makeup grinning creepily as one of the supposed American Indians. I get that this is a product of it's time, but it's all done in an incredibly awkward and cringe inducing way. If you happen to be Native American, don't watch this, it's offensive on at least 546 levels.By all means watch most of Elvis's films. Some are really good, with classic songs. Some are so bad, they're good. Stay Away Joe is sadly, quite possibly one of the worst films made...ever.

They wanted to make a good Elvis film. They wanted to bring his screen image up to date. They just didn't have the commitment to do what it took, as evidenced by a gun-slinging Joan Blondell (I love her anyway) and the almost unbelievable decision to let Elvis act near a comic bull, to or about which he will inevitably sing, with tragic results.The film they wanted to make here, more or less, in my opinion, is "The Rounders" (1965): a bawdy, modern western with a smallish feeling, driven by life-sized characters and the fringe world they inhabit. Good idea. And there are a lot of things going for "Stay Away": the location shooting, an excellent cast; and even the meandering plot serves the film well, to a point. Elvis is clearly on board this time with his unapologetically horny, scheming, and semi-corrupt character- a much needed change of pace.But they just can't get Elvis off of "Gilligan's Island". "Stay Away, Joe" is defeated by a number of things, ranging from the decision to let Elvis sing "diagetically" (i.e., in the film rather than over it), a make-up job on Burgess Meredith (who is completely wasted) that would make Bozo blush, and most especially, the overly broad comedy.Broad comedy is a nice fit for this film. But in one of several fight sequences, they push through a progression of painful cartoonish clichés that starts with timpani and slide-whistles and degenerates into the old favorites- someone gets something over the head and goes cross-eyed, little guy's punches bounce off big guy, etc. If that really makes you laugh, I beg your pardon, I guess. Joan Blondell chasing Elvis around with a gun and actually shooting at him while friends and family stand by and chuckle further erode the sense that we're in a more believable world than Hope and Crosby or Martin and Lewis inhabit. Blondell's daughter is one of the saddest clichés: the exploitable sexpot with a small child's mind. It all just doesn't fit.So unless you love Elvis and Elvis films as much as I do, stay away- Joe

Wow what an uneven movie. A congressman gives an Indian twenty heifers and a bull. If they can raise cattle successfully then more Indians will get some. The Indian given the cattle is played by Burgess Meredith. Why he took this role is beyond me. He is made up to look like an idiot and acts like one too. Elvis is his son and he shows up just in time to get everything messed up. Almost every Indian is a white man in bad make up. There are several wild parties with lots of booze, women and fighting. Sure makes the Indians look good. At the first party they have a BBQ with, did you guess?, the bull. Elvis then borrows another bull who just sleeps, until someone tries to ride that is. Now this bull is a Hereford. I have never seen one of those in the bull ring. Setting up a rodeo with the never ridden bull Joe takes on all comers, is the only one to ride the bull and wins a ton of money. Meanwhile Meredith's wife has sold off all the rest of the stock to fix their hovel of a shack up for the visiting mother of her daughter's fiancée. This turns out soooo well!! A fight breaks out, the fiancée's mother faints, the house ends up trashed, a mother shows up with a shotgun to force Elvis to marry her daughter, plus they are repoing his cars. So no cows, no bull, no future. Wait Elvis takes his winnings and shows up with about a hundred head to appease the congressman and keep papa out of jail. This movie is kind of uneven and not that well written, in other words a typical Elvis movie. Though titled a musical there is not very much music.

Stay Away, Joe (1968) * (out of 4) Incredibly bad film has Elvis playing an Indian who also just happens to be a rodeo champion. He decides to return to the reservation so that he can help his father (Burgess Meredith) raise cows but soon he gets into trouble with various women and some government men. I'm really curious if Marlon Brando watched this movie and that's what set him off about how Indians were being treated in film because this movie is so outrageous that even D.W. Griffith and John Ford would blush. For starters, all of the white cast members are wearing tan paint to make them look like Indians and the first time we see Meredith he's an ignorant drunk. In fact, all of the Indians do nothing more than get drunk, fall down and start fights. The stereotypes here are outrageous but the film is so poorly done that you can't even get any politically incorrect laughs at of it. I'm really not sure what in the hell was going on with the story but it was incredibly stupid and full of large plot holes. The songs were equally as bad including one scene where Elvis sings to a bull. The supporting cast are all pretty bad but Meredith comes off the worse with the most embarrassing performance and part I've ever seen him do. He was such a great character actor that it was rather sad seeing him in something like this. Elvis, on the other hand, actually manages to be the only decent thing here but that's still not saying too much.