The sets are cheap, the dance numbers are pretty standard and the songs are not too bad. Today, Tomorrow and Forever is beautiful but the rest, well, bog standard really.

The dance sequences between Elvis and AM is laughably dated. The will she, won't she plot is the usual Elvis script as is the casting of the dozy fall guy. The cast is kept to the minimum (probably on Colonel's orders) and are not that good. The colours are all candy floss and what can one say about the leading man's hair? The lego set is missing a wig. Ann-Margret acts Elvis off the screen, she moves natrually and is a good actor, unlike our leading man who looks stiff, bored and confused at the direction his career has taken.

This really did mark a rapid decline in the standard of scripts he was offered. He must have been cringing inside at the script, songs and dance numbers. Having an affair with his leading lady probably kept his mind off the banality but, unfortunately, doesn't do it for this viewer.


Viva This Elvis Movie!   January 13, 2003
 13 out of 13 found this review helpful

This one is more fun than it's legal to have at the movies thanks to Elvis, Las Vegas, and the sweet and delectable Ann-Margret. It's a pretty good story about Lucky Jackson (Elvis) trying to enter and win the Las Vegas Grand Prix, which doesn't get in the way of all the entertainment. This was Elvis at his best and Ann-Margret as Rusty matches him scene for scene, making this one something special.

Cesare Danova is the Count Elvis will have to compete with on the race track and off, his rival for Ann-Margret from the moment she shows up at the garage, leggy and gorgeous, and asks, "Can someone look at my engine, it whistles?" She is sweet dynamite in this film and is the only one of his leading ladies to match him. They are magic together, and only years later would she reveal their love for each other, but not revealing any details. She was all class then and she's all class now.

This Elvis film is in a class by itself. There are teriffic songs with no 'throw aways' here. "What'd I Say," "I Love My Baby, and My Baby Loves Me," "You'll Always be My Love," and of course, "Viva Las Vegas," capturing perfectly the excitment of the Las Vegas Strip are all here to enjoy. The most fun though is the back and forth of Elvis and Ann on "The Lady Loves Me, But She Doesn't Know It Yet" that culminates in her pushing him into the pool!

Their first date captures all the fun of this movie as they go skeet shooting (she beats him), water skiing, get to ride mopeds around an airfield, dress up and play gunfight (she beats him again), and get to take a helicopter ride over hoover dam and the marina where her dad (William Demarest in a nice role) lives on a boat. He likes Elvis and knows his daughter does to, in spite of Rusty's fear that he'll get hurt racing.

Shorty Fansworth offers nice support as Elvis's mechanic pal and the race is actually pretty good to. This is just a fun time at the movies with Elvis and Ann-Margret, some fine musical numbers, nice support from the cast, and the bright lights and hot desert of Las Vegas. If your going to pick up an Elvis movie, this is the one to get!


Bright Lights City Gonna Set My Soul On Fire   February 10, 2002
 7 out of 7 found this review helpful

Viva Las Vegas is a cracking film, very easy to watch and with Elvis and Anne Margaret sizzling on screan, this film is a joy.

Releases in 1964, Viva Las Vegas outgrossed Elvis massive 1961 smash Blue Hawaii for box office takings in America. It also outgrossed the Beatles Hard Days night; the King was still more popular than the fab four.

The music is very very good as is the race scenes, but it's the interaction between Ms Margaret and Mr Presley that makes this so good; especially the What'd I Say sequence and the C'mon Everybody sequence; also the scene where Elvis is a waiter, this is so very funny,

Critics and many fans have called this Elvis best film of the sixties and the only film of that decade that should be looked at; this aint true, as this is good fun, it does not in any way come close to his best work: Flaming Star, Wild In The Country, Trouble With Girls, Change of Habit, Blue Hawaii, Follow That Dream etc.....but check it out, it is a fun, feelgood film!