Claysaba
Excellent, Without a doubt!!
ChanFamous
I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.
Billy Ollie
Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable
mark.waltz
This convoluted psychological melodrama of one man's tortured soul and the women in his life doesn't explode into something interesting until the last quarter. Country boy Elvis Presley is a misunderstood youth, filled with the spirit of God but so desperate for love that no cold shower could calm him down. He goes from young girl (Millie Perkins) to vixen (Tuesday Weld) to a mature young lady (Hope Lange) who guides him into self-discovery and a hopeful future. The mood of the first three quarters goes all over the place that it is difficult to sustain any level of consistent interest. But all of a sudden, Presley's brooding hero (with a fragile ego) begins to open up and you really see the spirit.Clifford Odets ("Golden Boy", "Come Back Little Sheba") adapted the screenplay for this mixed effort that doesn't actually fail because of Presley's participation in it. It fails as a whole because the structure is rather all over the place. It is at its weakest when Presley's character is around both Weld and Perkins, as they don't sparkle with him as he does with Lange, evidenced in their tender but brief love scene. It reminded me of such Southern dramas as "The Chase", "This Property is Condemned" and "Hurry Sundown" in its exploration of mixed up people in rural locations, even though the exact whereabouts was rather vague. Elvis only sings a little bit, most memorably a cute improvised dialog with Lange that is quite humorous.You hope for so much more in the dramatic development in this interesting man's life, but it is never delivered. Presley gives a respectable performance in trying to move past his hip-shaking musicals he'd been making up to that point, yet it is clear that in his hopes to be another James Dean, he had a lot going against him. I don't thin, however, in spite of my mediocre review, that this film isn't not worth seeing: It is, as long as you are aware of the flaws that could have been unavoidable.
wes-connors
Elvis Presley plays a troubled young "country boy" who faces The Law after administering a deadly punch. He receives parole; then, the court has him move in with his uncle, and attend counseling sessions. There are three women who incur Elvis' attentions - Hope Lange is the "sophisticated" psychiatrist, Tuesday Weld is the "sexy" cousin, and Millie Perkins is the "nice" girl.The story's structure is much like "Jailhouse Rock". It differs from that film in that Elvis more prowess as a actor than a singer. What hurts the film is a plodding story which becomes to hard to understand. It seems to be about the difference in societal classes. The religious imagery gets very heavy when, during a "flood", people march into a motel "two by two" with Elvis quoting the Bible.Elvis' status as an undiscovered writer is made believable during a scene where the script give him some imaginative dialog, which he delivers well. Eventually, the film turns into a soap opera - more contrived than authentic. A couple of songs are nice, but they add nothing to the story. **** Wild in the Country (6/15/61) Philip Dunne ~ Elvis Presley, Hope Lange, Tuesday Weld, Millie Perkins
slapstck2000
Don't get me wrong Elvis is cool, so is Millie Perkins, Tuesday Weld and Hope Lange, but thats about it, this movie makes the classic mistake of having about 2 plots and about 2 or 3 subplots to many, any movie should only have one main plot and one sub plot and thats IT! but Wild In The Country commits that exact offense, thus throws the movie into fast forward in the first 10 minutes first Elvis is in a fight with his brother which is in real life good friend and body guard (Red West) we see Elvis in the court room answering for that cause were left thinking Elvis killed him, then Elvis goes to live with his uncle, who's daughter (Tuesday Weld ) has the hots for him!(Elvis that is)lol. and we find he already has a girlfriend (Millie Perkins) then there's Hope Lange the phychiatrist who eventually falls for Elvis, then Elvis has aspirations to be an author, he winds up going to college to be an author, ! wait a minute ! in this movie Elvis doesn't even have a high school diploma, and hes going to college???????! Shouldn't he get a GED first, see what i mean, this movie is that confusing, and don't get me started on him hitting and supposedly killing Gary Lockwood,WHEWWWWW slapstck2000
Michael O'Keefe
A beautiful and passionate screenplay by Clifford Odets. Elvis plays a brawling delinquent with a hidden literary talent. Three women compete for his attention, lust and future. Millie Perkins plays the childhood sweetheart. Tuesday Weld is outstanding as the seductive cousin. The older of the three, Hope Lange, is an understanding psychiatrist trying to lead Elvis' character to college. The songs in this drama are limited, but highlighted by "I Slipped, I Stumbled, I Fell". An emotional performance turned in by Elvis. Some say this is one of his best movies. Watch it again to appreciate.
