Main Cast: Elvis Presley, Marlyn Mason, Nicole Jaffe, Sheree North, Edward Andrews
Release Year: 1969
Country: US
Run Time: 105 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
Walter Hale (Elvis Presley) is the manager of a chautauqua, a traveling show consisting of performances, lectures and entertainment. Along with manager Johnny (Edward Andrews), he helps some young kids break into show business and contends with the union-organizing Charlene (Marilyn Mason). Vincent Price appears as Mr. Morality. John Carradine, Sheree North and Dabney Coleman also appear in this forgettable film which makes Clambake and Girl Happy classics by comparison. Elvis is limited to three tunes as he plays out the string of poorly scripted vehicles that ended with his next feature, the equally awful Change of Habit. By now, the inane screenplays had done permanent damage to a once-promising film career, souring the King of Rock & Roll on everything in movies except live concert performances. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
John Carradine - Mr. Drewcolt; Vincent Price - Mr. Morality; Joyce Van Patten - Maude; Pepe Brown - Willy; Bill Zuckert - Mayor Gilchrist; Pitt Herbert - Mr. Perper; Med Flory - Constable; Robert Nichols - Smith; Helene Winston - Olga Prchlik; Kevin O'Neal - Yale; Frank Welker - Rutgers; John Rubinstein - Princeton; Charles Briles - Amherst; Patsy Garrett - Mrs. Gilchrist; Linda Sue Risk - Lily-Jeanne; Leonard Rumery - First Farmhand; William M. Paris - Second Farmhand; Kathleen Rainey - Farmhands; Hal James Pederson - Soda Jerk; Mike Wagner - Chowderhead; Brett Parker - Iceman; Duke Snider - The Cranker; Anissa Jones - Carol; Anthony Teague - Clarence; Charles P. Thompson - Cabbie; Dabney Coleman - Harrison Wilby
Credit
George W. Davis - Art Director, Edward C. Carfagno - Art Director, Bill Thomas - Costume Designer, Peter Tewksbury - Director, George W. Brooks - Editor, Billy Strange - Composer (Music Score), Billy Strange - Songwriter, Scott Davis - Songwriter, William J. Tuttle - Makeup, Jacques Marquette - Cinematographer, Lester Welch - Producer, Henry W. Grace - Set Designer, Jack Mills - Set Designer, Franklin E. Milton - Sound/Sound Designer, Dwight V. Babcock - Screen Story, Mauri Grashin - Screen Story, Day Keene - Short Story Author
The Trouble with Girls (full title The Trouble with Girls (and How to Get Into It)) is a 1969comedy film starring Elvis Presley. It was the only Elvis movie to have a subtitle in its name and is an odd mixture of music, comedy, and melodrama. The Trouble with Girls is unique for an Elvis Presley picture because Elvis is on screen for less than half the film.
The film takes place in a small Iowa town in 1927. A traveling chautauqua company arrives in the town, but internal squabbles create friction amidst the troupe. The new manager, Walter Hale (Elvis Presley), is trying to prevent Charlene, the troupe’s “Story Lady” (Marlyn Mason), from recruiting the performers to form a union.
Meanwhile, the town has a scandal following the murder of the local pharmacist Wilby (Dabney Coleman). Although a shady gambler is arrested, Walter realizes that the real killer is Nita (Sheree North), one of Wilby’s employees. Walter successfully gets Nita to confess during a chautauqua performance, where she makes public the sexual harassment that Wilby directed at her. Nita’s self-defense plea frees the wrongly jailed man, but Charlene is outraged that Walter used the crime to financially enrich the chautauqua.
In the end, Walter convinces Charlene of his ethics and morality, and she remains with the company. [1]
The film is based on the 1960 novel Chautauqua by Day Keene and Dwight Vincent. Chautauqua was the film’s working title, but it was later changed to The Trouble with Girls when the producers worried that audiences would not understand the title or be able to pronounce it.[2]
The film was originally intended as a vehicle for Dick Van Dyke.[3]Colonel Tom Parker, Presley’s manager, originally wanted actress Jean Hale for the female lead, but Marlyn Mason was cast as the leading lady at the insistence of director Peter Tewksbury.[2]Anissa Jones, best known for playing Buffy on the television program Family Affair, made her only film appearance in The Trouble with Girls.[4]
The Trouble with Girls was released as the bottom half of a double feature, sharing the screen with the Raquel Welch drama Flareup.[5]
Soundtrack
The soundtrack songs were recorded in October 1968 at United Recorders in Los Angeles, California. Only one recording, "Clean Up Your Own Backyard" was actually released in conjunction with the film's release, issued as a single with one of Presley's 1969 Memphis recordings, "The Fair is Moving On" as the b-side. "Almost" appeared in a later compilation, Let's Be Friends, while the remaining songs were not released until after Presley's death. One of these, the spiritual "Swing Down Sweet Chariot" is a re-recording of a song Presley previously recorded for his 1960 album, His Hand in Mine; it should not be confused with "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot", a completely different song.
"Clean Up Your Own Backyard" is notable for its anachronistic lyrics that do not fit the era of the film, such as the use of the term "armchair quarterback" which was not coined until the arrival of television.
Note: Although credited to Tepper and Bennett, the melody of the song "Violet" is actually based upon "Aura Lee", the same song upon which "Love Me Tender" was based.
