Viva Las Vegas (1964)

Viva Las Vegas
Directed by George Sidney
Written by Sally Benson
!964/USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
First viewing?/Netflix rental

[box] Count Elmo Mancini: You work on my car, I’ll work on your girl.[/box]

If you are looking for your first Elvis movie this would be a good place to start.  Has Elvis being Elvis but WOW that Ann-Margret!

Lucky Jackson (Elvis Presley) makes his living gambling at the casinos in Las Vegas.  His real passion is car racing.  He needs a new engine to participate in the Las Vegas Grand Prix.  He meets up with Count Elmo Mancini who wants him to help him with his own car and act as a “blocker” in the race but Lucky refuses.  While at Elmo’s shop, fate meets both men up with the tasty Rusty Martin.  After looking for her in all the girlie shows in Vegas (allowing us to see excerpts from several casinos), they find her working as the pool supervisor at the Flamingo.

It is obvious from day one that Rusty and Lucky were made for each other.  Of course, before they can be properly united we get many misunderstandings and complications, along with some fabulous singing and dancing.  With William Demerest as Rusty’s father.

This has a fairly standard Elvis white-bread plot but Ann-Margret gives it sexual tension in spades.  The songs are pretty good and Ann-Margret’s dancing is electric.  My favorite part however were all those views of Las Vegas from the good old day before the billionaires took over.