Wonderful Movie

best movie i've ever seen.

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Elvis Presley was a hugely influential performer with one of the most distinctive singing voices of anybody. He embarked on a film career consisting of 33 films from 1956 to 1969, films that did well at the box-office but mostly panned critically (especially his later films) and while he was a highly charismatic performer he was never considered a great actor.Some of his films, well a vast majority of the films before 'Girls! Girls! Girls!' (when his films became much less consistent), are actually pretty good and a few of them close to great. Particularly good are 'King Creole', 'Jailhouse Rock', 'Flaming Star' and 'Loving You'. 'Fun in Acapulco' is like 'It Happened at the World's Fair', a decent but patchy effort that ranks somewhere in the middle of his work instead of being one of the best or worst.Despite Acapulco being more rear/back projections than the real thing, it is still portrayed in a colourful and exotic way. The film is very nicely shot. The music is inconsistent, though still fit well and Elvis sings them beautifully and with soul. The hit unsurprisingly is "Bossa Nova Baby", while the title song, "Mexico" and "Marguerita" are not too far behind.Elvis is charming, very charismatic and very relaxed. He is well supported by three sensational ladies, with Ursula Andress epitomising sexy glamour just as much as she did in 'Dr No' and Elsa Cardenas and Teri Hope just as sexy and glamorous (neither of the three fare too badly in the acting stakes either), Paul Lukas' scene-stealing and hilariously batty Maximillian and the assured direction from Richard Thorpe (in his second collaboration with Elvis after the infinitely superior 'Jailhouse Rock').Just for the record, anybody wondering about the acrobatics, they're actually stock material from 'The Greatest Show on Earth' modelled on Cornel Wilde's movements and matched by Elvis. This said, this is very likely not to be an issue and will only really be of significance to anybody who's seen 'The Greatest Show on Earth'.However, as said not all the songs are great. The rest are decent to forgettable, while "Bullfighter is a Lady" is disposable and "There's No Room to Rhumba in a Sports Car" is even worse than that (only having the unintentionally hilarious title going for it).'Fun in Acapulco' is also overlong and very slight and formulaic in story, making the energy flag so the film can drag badly as a result. As to be expected, considering that it is rarely a strong suit in Elvis' films with a couple of exceptions ('King Creole' and 'Flaming Star') the dialogue is corny with mawkish sentimentality and humour that sometimes is fun but too often falls flat.In summary, another decent but patchy middling effort. 6/10 Bethany Cox

coulda-shoulda(s): Elvis is King of Pop and King of shoulda-wouldas > since so much of his '60s career was based upon movies and move soundtracks, we have a perfect example of what coulda shoulda woulda been: in 1962 Elvis traveled to the Seattle World's Fair to film IT HAPPENED AT THE WORLD'S FAIR. in 1963 Elvis traveled to Mexico to film FUN IN ACAPULCO. not really > he had traveled to Canada before, so the excuse of his Manager not being a citizen and therefore couldn't travel, won't take.so the movie co. gets down some nice location shots for cheesy rear projections.having said all that, we have some positives: yes Elvis played once again the loner, fighting inner demons, and outer angels (aka girls, girls, girls). but the storyline is quite enticing: can this young man, playing lifeguard during the day and nightclub swinger at night, manage to overcome his fear of heights and do the big dive off the cliff? good storytelling! very good script (for an Elvis musical). and very importantly, although there are way too many songs, they are all good, some fantastic, like MARGARITA (written by noted ballad writer, Don Roberson), and the unknown Leiber and Stoller BOSSA NOVA BABY. Elvis really sings his heart out and we have the most "production" since the BLUE HAWAII recording sessions.

Almost any Elvis movie is a decent one. He can not act that well but does do a decent job when he stays within his character. There are usually a lot of songs, acceptable acting, and lots of nice girls. This one has him stuck in Acapulco after being fired because of a young girl that is daddy's little angel even though she is an underaged tart, (funny since she appeared in Playboy four years before this movie). Elvis's character is Mike and of course he sings a lot of songs but not many I recognized. Raoul is sooo good. He is a treat as Mike's manager and is a scammer at heart. Moreno is a bit of a butt-head when he brings up Mike's past as a trapeze performer who lost his brother to an accident that he feels responsible for. Of course he overcomes his fear of heights and succeeds at the end.

After her big break role in Dr. No Ursula Andress got to co-star with Elvis Presley in Fun In Acapulco. Not that she or Elvis got to have any fun in Acapulco off the set because Paramount did all their location footage with doubles. On learning that fact I carefully watched all the scenes and if you examine it closely which the average member of the movie-going public did not do you can clearly see that the King is being doubled.Still Acapulco is certainly shown to best advantage with that second unit cinematography. And Elvis sings some nice songs, none of which really charted for him. Fun In Acapulco find Elvis working as a charter boat skipper who gets fired and is stranded in the famous Mexican resort town. He has a past which involves him being involved in a family trapeze act and when he failed to catch his brother during the act resulting in the brother's demise it left him with a fear of heights and failure. Still he can sing and he gets a job at one of the resorts due to an enterprising shoeshine boy played by little Larry Domasin. And he gets two girls falling for him, lady bullfighter Elsa Cardenas and an exiled princess Ursula Andress. That gets Mexican high diving champion Alejandro Rey all bent out of shape. Ursula's dad, a former Grand Duke from some Zenda like duchy is played by Paul Lukas who is now making a living as the head chef at the resort hotel Presley is singing at. Another great example of Colonel Tom Parker getting Elvis the best support possible. I have no doubt that Parker also got former MGM contract director Richard Thorpe who did a number of MGM classics back in the day to direct the film.Elvis does a bit of acting here and Fun In Acapulco gives the King a bit of an acting job which he carries off as he struggles with his fears.I'm sure Presley felt gypped along with the rest of the cast in not actually shooting in Acapulco. The second unit shooting though gives Fun In Acapulco a look like the Hawaiian location films that Presley did. And it's a nice story with a capable cast backing up the King.