Thursday, December 31

stay away, joe

Not an insane huge Elvis fan, but have a few coffee table books, read some bios, friends send me Elvis Christmas cards, have his portrait up in the kitchen [all true -ed.]; OK, maybe a bit of a fan... Those Louisiana Hayride days must have been off the chain, have a few of those early recordings. Admittedly, Elvis' movies are a pretty *ahem* mixed bag and Stay Away, Joe came near the end of the film days. Sidenote, Jailhouse Rock may be his best imho; just cut out the campy Jailhouse Rock song/set piece itself. The end fight between Elvis and old Hunk; "I'm gonna beat hell outta you boy..." -great stuff.

Long/short, hadn't looked at Stay Away, Joe until a NYT article mentioned it (and I then proceeded to leave an incoherent comment, good for the 10engines stock...) but it is pure fencepost prAWn. Bathtub-bleached denim on Elvis, pleated unwashed jackets on everyone else. Snap shirts for everybody. The greek chorus of mangy dogs, and sleepy bull motif has legs but atrocious otherwise, borderline offensive...