Love Me Tender

1956

NR

Love Me Tender is a western-style film that was released in November of 1956. The movie is based in the Southern United States in 1865. The Civil War is over, but the Reno brothers don’t get word that it is over until a day after Robert E. Lee surrendered and they staged an attack of a Union train carrying a little over $12,000 of Federal money. Since the war is over, the Reno brothers and their counterparts decide to keep the money and provide themselves with a more comfortable life after the war. The first thing that the main protagonist, Vance Reno (Richard Egan), was going to do after the war was marry his longtime girlfriend, Cathy (Debra Paget). When the brothers returned home, they were greeted by their mother (Mildred Dunnock), Cathy, and youngest brother Clint (Elvis Presley). This was a surprise to the family, because they were mistakenly told that the brothers died in battle. As Vance and Cathy reunite, Vance is shocked to find out that Cathy married Clint while he was fighting in the war. Vance shakes it off, but you can tell it is irritating him. A little while after their return home, the US government sent officials after the money that the Reno brothers and their Confederate counterparts stole from the Union train. The group ultimately changes their mind to give up their shares of the money, but are reluctant because they think that Vance is plotting to steal the sum, because he mentions he is heading to California. The other men also convince Clint that Vance will run away with Cathy, but obviously that wasn’t true. The rest of the film is about settling the dispute within the group.

Although the film is famous for being Elvis Presley’s movie debut, he did not receive the top billing and it turned out that this was the only time in his career that this happened. The original name of the film was intended to be The Reno Brothers, but since Elvis’ hit single “Love Me Tender” was so successful, they changed the name of the movie to the title of the song. The film was very successful and it turned a profit in just three days after its release. I am a huge fan of Elvis Presley, but I really haven’t watched many of his movies. It is crazy to think that just 2 years prior to this film, he was starting to have his music played on regional airwaves. He wasn’t nationally known until earlier in 1956, when he released his first Billboard Number One hit, “Heartbreak Hotel”. I thought he did a good job in the film, but you could tell he was green to the acting world. As far as authenticity goes, I’m not sure what a man from the post-Civil War South exactly sounded like, but I have a good idea. The actors in the film all had proper voices, but I thought Elvis had the most believable accent. His onscreen mother had a believable accent, but she wasn’t featured nearly as much. There were four songs in the film, all performed by Elvis. He performed his songs throughout the movie and he did his signature gyrations while performing them, obviously this wouldn’t have happened in the 1860’s, but I understand they were trying to sell tickets rather than strive for authenticity. I thought at times they made Clint’s character out to be ignorant, which hurt the value of Elvis’ character for me personally, but I thought they did a great job with Richard Egan and Debra Paget’s characters. I liked the movie, but personally I don’t think it was a film with a ton of re-watch value.

GRADE: 3/5

Yacs

Movie Review: Love Me Tender