Viva Las Vegas

Year of Release:  1964

Director:  George Sidney

Screenplay:  Sally Benson

Starring:  Elvis Presley, Ann-Margaret

Running Time:  85 minutes

Genre:  Musical

Racing driver Lucky Jackson (Presley) arrives in Las Vegas to compete in a Grand Prix Race.  However, his car needs a new engine.  Lucky manages to raise the money fairly easily, but loses it in a hotel swimming pool.  In need of money to not only buy the engine but to pay his hotel bill, Lucky and his mechanic sidekick Shorty (Nick Blair) end up working at the hotel.  However, Lucky soon finds himself distracted by the hotel's swimming instructor Rusty Martin (Ann-Margaret).

Elvis Presley acted in 31 films in his career, and the quality could be politely described as... variable.  In his early roles, such as Jailhouse Rock (1957), he showed real talent as a dramatic actor, and he always had a lot of charisma, but the films soon deteriorated into formulaic vehicles, as Elvis himself admitted.  Viva Las Vegas is one of his better films, however.  You'll pretty much be able to guess how everything is going to work out five minutes after the opening credits, but it's an enjoyable ride.   Elvis' considerable screen presence is on show here, and he has very strong support from Ann-Margaret, as the swimming instructor who manages to resist the King for about five minutes.  There is real chemistry between them, and allegedly they did have an on-set romance.  There are ten musical numbers, of which the title number is the best, although the others range from "passable" to "pretty good".  The climatic motor race is pretty exciting even if the end is never really in doubt.  The racing scenes and the musical set pieces are well-staged by veteran director George Sidney, but the dialogue scenes are mostly flat, although lifted by Elvis and Ann-Margaret.  Even if your not a fan of Elvis, it is a fun, inoffensive, time-passer.  

 

Elvis Presley and Ann-Margaret in Viva Las Vegas