Viva Las Vegas

Well, what can you say about an Elvis film? Certainly, in my mind, this one has the coolest song, the coolest location and without doubt, the coolest leading lady. So with so much cool, why isn’t this film one of Elvis’ better movies? Who can say? Elvis is cool enough and dressed well enough, Ann-Margret is definitely hot enough, and the cars and locales are great (including, according to the original trailer, ‘The most exciting road race ever filmed!’ which is most debatable) but somehow, just like Vegas itself, it is all for show.

There is nothing divulged about life here, no moral other than ‘marriage is winning the best race of all!’ and no real story beyond fluff.

Elvis has the money for a new motor to go in the super car that he built (well, Jesus built my hotrod, why shouldn’t Elvis build my racecar?) Unfortunately when he meets Ms Margret and falls in love with her, he makes such a show of it he loses the money for the engine. Oh no! Now he has to find the money some other way. Luckily he’s in Vegas and he has a rich friend (an Italian count, no less). But, being the moral, upstanding member of society he is, he can’t take money off his pal. So he tries to win it in (you guessed it) a talent contest (competing against Ms Margret!). Naturally, the film ends with a fantastic racecar race, racing across the Nevada desert. In a race. Woo!

Actually, I have never been a great Elvis fan, but I found this film quite watchable right up until the ending. The end of the film is so sudden and so swift, you are left wondering if you missed something or dropped off for a moment (you probably didn’t.) It also comes without closure in one or two subplots and this left me feeling a little let down, but I guess I’ll get over it.

The picture I got on my TV came with a little warning before anything else: This film has been changed from it’s original version and formatted to fit your television. How thoughtful. Saturday afternoon authenticity coming up as we endure the lousy 1.33:1 and go without the widescreen. Now I’ll never see Vegas as it was meant to be seen! (Back to C.S.I. for me…)

It's not obvious whether they’ve digitally remastered this or not, but the picture looks pretty good most of the time, apart from occasional moments of graininess. There are some horrid instances of aliasing and flaring in the opening titles as they traverse the glittering showcase that is the Strip, so be prepared for that. Mostly, this film has been transferred well, but for some artefacts here and there and the reel changes. Try looking at it as adding a little sparkle of fairydust to the magic of an Elvis movie.

On the subject of sound quality (and keeping with my ‘Saturday afternoon’ theme) the audio gives us nothing new and no real depth. Whilst being Dolby Digital basically by default, it’s still a cleaned version of an older analog track, so it doesn’t have (or need, for that matter) anything too rich. It’s Elvis and Ann-Margret miming dubbed studio tracks too, so we shouldn’t really expect too much anyhow.

As for extras, it’s a poor showing: An original theatrical trailer is all she wrote, folks, apart from some cool and clever titles to the chapters. Oh well. The trailer is well worth a look or two, if only for the fantastic kitsch value. It is, after all, Funtown, U.S.A.!

Don’t watch this film for it’s great storyline and dynamic acting. Watch it for Ann-Margret’s incredibly energetic and authentic '60s dancing and Elvis’s unique onscreen presence. Watch it for the most exciting road race ever filmed but most of all, watch it on a Saturday afternoon free of commercials. For 85 minutes.

Uh huh huh!