In this modest black comedy, Elvis Presley plays a gullible but likable sort of fellow who is driving through Florida with his old dad and three orphaned siblings when the family car runs out of gas and they become stranded along a public strip of land. On this spot, the hapless group decides to set up house as "homesteaders" and refuse to move off the spot, which leads to a series of semi-humorous events including neighboring gangsters and a court hearing to have Elvis and his family removed from their nest.
This is certainly one very odd situation for a movie, but the real highlight in spite of it all is Presley's spirited performance where he scores another of those promising moments in proving that he could have been a pretty good actor if he had only been given more chances. I've always felt that he had a flair for comedy too, and he plays it beautifully here. His characterization of a naive and dimwitted soul who's short on brain power but strong in heart is completely believable, and we forget we're watching Elvis Presley, the King of Rock and Roll. As always, new songs were to be commissioned for every Elvis picture, and the tunes in FOLLOW THAT DREAM aren't much to rave about with the exception of the pleasant title track; it's just too bad the song wasn't put to better use as placed in the film itself, where Presley sings along to it on the radio while lying about on the ground. **1/2 out of ****
This is certainly one very odd situation for a movie, but the real highlight in spite of it all is Presley's spirited performance where he scores another of those promising moments in proving that he could have been a pretty good actor if he had only been given more chances. I've always felt that he had a flair for comedy too, and he plays it beautifully here. His characterization of a naive and dimwitted soul who's short on brain power but strong in heart is completely believable, and we forget we're watching Elvis Presley, the King of Rock and Roll. As always, new songs were to be commissioned for every Elvis picture, and the tunes in FOLLOW THAT DREAM aren't much to rave about with the exception of the pleasant title track; it's just too bad the song wasn't put to better use as placed in the film itself, where Presley sings along to it on the radio while lying about on the ground. **1/2 out of ****