Main Cast: Elvis Presley, Hope Lange, Tuesday Weld, Millie Perkins, John Ireland, Rafer Johnson
Release Year: 1961
Country: US
Run Time: 114 minutes
Plot
Rock 'n roll king Elvis Presley stars as Glenn Talbot, a country boy with a problem temper and a yen for literary greatness in this typical Presley vehicle directed by Philip Dunne. After Glenn is sent packing by his father for mixing it up one too many times with his brother, the court makes him a ward of his uncle. His inner turmoil leads him into therapy with the older and very attractive Irene (Hope Lange), a patient-doctor relationship that is misconstrued by their small town. The two spend a platonic night in the same room in a motel, but no one is believing it was innocent. Glenn's romantic interests include Noreen (Tuesday Weld), with whom he shares a drink or two or more, and a song, and Betty Lee (Millie Perkins). Between the singing and carousing and fist fights, it still looks like a happy resolution looms large on the horizon. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
Review
Wild in the Country may not be Elvis Presley's best film, but it's arguably his most serious -- as well as the film that most tested his acting ability. As the screenplay is by Clifford Odets, this is understandable, but the mixture of Odets and Presley doesn't combine productively. Presumably, Odets (or some uncredited writers) adapted an earlier work to better suit the talents of the star, but the result has too much Odets to work as a Presley vehicle and too much Elvis to be the serious "issue" picture that it tries to be. Neither fish nor fowl, Wild is ultimately unsatisfying, but it does have some strengths. While an actor with the intensity of a James Dean or Marlon Brando would have been more welcome in the lead role, Presley comes off better than might be expected. He doesn't embarrass himself and some scenes are nicely done; he just doesn't have the chops necessary to make the part really work. Tuesday Weld does very well, demonstrating once again that she is a talented and often surprising actress who has rarely been given the chance to show what she is really capable of, and Hope Lange comes off nicely, especially during the motel sequence. There are some small stretches of flavorful Odets dialogue, although these are offset by some unfortunate arid stretches -- and by some hard-to-take plot developments. Indeed, the last portion of the film becomes unbearably melodramatic and never recovers. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Preston Ames - Art Director, Jack Martin Smith - Art Director, Donfeld - Costume Designer, Philip Dunne - Director, Dorothy Spencer - Editor, Kenyon Hopkins - Composer (Music Score), Ben Nye, Sr. - Makeup, William C. Mellor - Cinematographer, Jerry Wald - Producer, Stuart A. Reiss - Set Designer, Walter Scott - Set Designer, Clifford Odets - Screenwriter, J.R. Salamanca - Book Author
Wild in the Country is a 1961 film drama starring Elvis Presley in which he portrays a troubled young man from a dysfunctional family who pursues a literary career.
The movie starts off with Glenn Tyler (Elvis Presley) getting into a fight with, and badly injuring, his drunken brother. A court releases him on probation into the care of his uncle in a small town, appointing Irene Sperry (Hope Lange) to give him psychological counselling. Marked as a trouble-maker, he is falsely suspected of various misdemeanors including an affair with Irene. Eventually shown to be innocent, he leaves to go to college and become a writer. Filmed on location in the Napa Valley and in Hollywood Studios, although it is set in the Shenandoah Valley, the cast and crew created a public sensation in Napa for over two months of filming. The motel that they stayed at, Casa Beliveau (since torn down) was so mobbed that Elvis had to be moved to the St. Helena home that was being used in the film as Irene Sperry's (Hope Lange) house where Glenn Tyler (Elvis) went for counseling. Now a top-rated Inn in the Napa Valley and known as The Ink House you can still stay in the room that Elvis slept in for over two months. Other Napa Valley locations figuring prominently in the movie are the downtown main street of the town of Calistoga where Glenn Tyler's uncle and his cousin (Tuesday Weld) lived, the Silverado Trail between Calistoga and St. Helena, the old movie theater still in operation in downtown St. Helena where the dancehall scenes with Elvis and Tuesday Weld were filmed, and the hills and farmland behind what is now Whitehall Lane Winery just north of the town of Rutherford. At the Ink House you will recognize the house, the backyard where a drunken Glenn Tyler tries to hose down Irene Sperry through the porch window, and the 1885 barn where Irene Sperry drives her DeSoto in to attempt suicide when she is so distraught over her suspected romance with Glenn and the scandal it has caused.
This was Elvis' last dramatic lead role until Charro! as his next film, Blue Hawaii, was his first big budget musical and was a box office sensation. All his subsequent movies were largely formula musicals which were quite lucrative but never gave him the chance to develop his potential as a serious actor that was very apparent in "Wild in the Country".
Presley began an off-screen romance with Hollywood "bad girl" Tuesday Weld but the relationship was short-lived after Colonel Tom Parker warned Presley against his involvement, fearful it would harm his image. Elvis and Hope Lange also were quite taken with each other, but her separation from her husband did not result in a divorce until the next summer making her unavailable for a serious relationship.
Incidentally, Hope Lange and Tuesday Weld have another movie connection as each portrayed the character of Selena Cross. Lange originated the role in the original film, Peyton Place. In the sequel, Return to Peyton Place, Weld portrayed the same character.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack was completed in November 1960 at Radio Recorders in Hollywood, California. Six songs were recorded but "Lonely Man" and "Forget Me Never" were not used in the film. RCA Records chose not, therefore, to release either a full soundtrack album or an EP. Despite being cut from the film, "Lonely Man" was actually the first song from the score to be released, appearing in February 1961 as the b-side of Presley's hit single, "Surrender" (47-7850). The theme song, "Wild in the Country", was released as a single in May 1961 (47-7880), backed by "I Feel So Bad", while "I Slipped, I Stumbled, I Fell" appeared on the June 1961 album, Something for Everybody."Forget Me Never" and "In My Way" appeared on the 1965 compilation Elvis for Everyone. "Husky Dusky Day" remained unreleased until the 1990s.
