My year-long tribute to Elvis Presley took a nosedive with this excruciating drama, which was as heavy as a leaden weight. Here, Elvis plays another angry delinquent country boy who nearly kills a man and then is kept on probation and ordered to regularly see a female psychiatrist (Hope Lange). He gets a job working for his uncle, but Hope recognizes his potential to be a great writer and tries to get him interested in going to college instead. In the meantime, Presley is falling for his analyst while trying to deal with his seductive young cousin (Tuesday Weld) and his usual girlfriend (Millie Perkins, whose character barely figures into this film). Though Elvis isn't bad, the movie's plodding and overlong, and the few little songs sprinkled within don't seem to fit. The title track, though, is nice enough. *1/2 out of ****
Review of Wild in the Country
