www.lvccld.org<\/a>.<\/p>\nLike most of Elvis Presley\u2019s cinematic output, the plot of \u201cViva Las Vegas\u201d is as flimsy as a showgirl\u2019s feather: Race car driver Lucky Jackson hits town to compete in the Las Vegas Grand Prix. His engine goes bad. Needing bucks, he gets a job and meets part-time lifeguard\/singer\/dancer Rusty Martin. The adjectivally named couple flirt, fight, dance and sing before, of course, (spoiler alert) marrying.<\/p>\n
But, as with every other movie musical Elvis acted in over the 14 years that he cranked these things out, the important thing isn\u2019t the plot but, rather, how it all comes together. And, in \u201cViva Las Vegas,\u201d it\u2019s director George Sidney who so adroitly creates an iconic whole.<\/p>\n
Sidney was an award-winning Hollywood veteran whose major-musical credits are so impressive \u2014 \u201cBye Bye Birdie,\u201d \u201cPal Joey,\u201d \u201cShow Boat\u201d \u201cAnnie Get Your Gun\u201d and \u201cAnchors Aweigh!\u201d among them \u2014 you\u2019d think the only reason he\u2019d agree to direct a Presley movie is that he lost a bet.<\/p>\n
For Elvis, Sidney was the perfect director at the perfect time. Before \u201cViva Las Vegas,\u201d Elvis had acted in a mostly forgettable string of movies, most of them formulaic musicals, and by the time \u201cViva Las Vegas\u201d started filming in Las Vegas in 1963, Presley\u2019s cinematic star had fallen.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t realize it, but this is at a lull in his career, because (his) movies have not been successful and the bloom is off the rose,\u201d Clark explains.<\/p>\n
That, he continues, is why MGM \u201ccame to George, because he\u2019s one of the most accomplished musical directors of the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sidney \u201cwas one of the big dogs,\u201d Clark says. \u201cSo they came to him and said, \u2018We want you to do this, George.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
Sidney liked Las Vegas and visited here often, says Clark, who became friends with Sidney after the director\u2019s retirement, when he moved here and began working regularly with UNLV film students (the college\u2019s Nevada entertainer\/artist hall of fame award is named the \u201cSidney,\u201d after the director, who also was its first recipient).<\/p>\n
Sidney \u201cknew the days of the, quote, MGM musicals were gone,\u201d Clark says, and he already had begun filming movies outside of Hollywood. And, Clark says, \u201cGeorge always loved a challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n
Corinne Sidney, George Sidney\u2019s widow, recalls, too, that the director was very close friends with her first husband, Jack Entratter, and the Sands executive encouraged Sidney to make a movie that would show off Las Vegas.<\/p>\n
\u201cGeorge loved Las Vegas,\u201d she says, \u201cand he said, \u2018Why not?\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
Studio executives had told Sidney that the way to put Elvis\u2019 cinematic career back on track would be to \u201cpump up the production values,\u201d Clark says. \u201cHe said: \u2018No, you need to give him a leading woman.\u2019 \u2009\u201d<\/p>\n
Giving Elvis a strong leading lady would go against the template that had been established in the singer\u2019s films up until then.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis handlers were always, \u2018You cast somebody sweet and forgettable who wouldn\u2019t overshadow Elvis,\u2019 \u201d Clark explains. \u201cIt was George who said, \u2018Get Ann-Margret.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
Ann-Margret recently had worked with Sidney in \u201cBye Bye Birdie\u201d and the director knew she could give the film a dynamic, hip energy. Elvis\u2019 camp had qualms, but Sidney stood behind his choice. When the falling fortunes of Elvis\u2019 movies went head to head against Sidney\u2019s talent and reputation, there was no contest.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was simple: They had gone to this formula, and it was just barely a notch above bad TV,\u201d Clark says. \u201cThey were just serving his personality, and it was George who said, \u2018Ann-Margret changes everything.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
Paul Casey, a former Elvis impersonator and now Las Vegas show producer, agrees. Seeing a strong leading lady in an Elvis movie \u201cwas a rarity, because most female co-stars with Elvis were just pretty,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of them in the beginning were serious actors \u2014 Carolyn Jones in \u2018King Creole\u2019 or Debra Paget in his first movie (\u2018Love Me Tender,\u2019 1956). The problem is that, after a while, they got to be cookie-cutter.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ann-Margret was different, Casey says. \u201cWhen the two of them are on screen, there\u2019s an energy there. I think it was because they had a mutual admiration and fondness for each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sidney\u2019s acumen for sharp casting also extended to the rest of the movie\u2019s cast. For example, William Demarest \u2014 boomers know him best as Uncle Charley from \u201cMy Three Sons\u201d \u2014 was cast as Ann-Margret\u2019s father.<\/p>\n
Demarest \u201cwas always a great comic foil,\u201d Clark says. \u201cThe interplay with Ann-Margret and her dad is very well-crafted.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cViva Las Vegas\u201d takes full advantage of the lights and color of the Strip and the city\u2019s resorts, but also shows off Hoover Dam, Lake Mead, Mount Charleston and other parts of the city. Clark says Sidney also tweaked the structure of the traditional movie musical for the film.<\/p>\n
In a traditional musical, \u201cthe songs take over when there\u2019s an overflow of powerful emotions,\u201d Clark says. \u201cSo we can give to a song that which we will not (express) in dialogue.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not uniformly true in \u201cViva Las Vegas.\u201d While a few songs do allow characters to express emotion, \u201cin an odd way, in \u2018Viva Las Vegas,\u2019 some songs are there because they seem like a good place for a song,\u201d Clark says.<\/p>\n
Sidney, who liked to operate his own camera, also devised some creative ways to get what he needed. For instance, the studio balked at paying extras for the race scenes, Clark says, \u201cso they basically said, \u2018Want to be in a movie? Come and stand on the sidewalk,\u2019 and then they drove the cars right through.\u201d<\/p>\n
And that song? Written by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, \u201cViva Las Vegas,\u201d released as the B-side of \u201cWhat\u2019d I Say\u201d from the film\u2019s soundtrack, became a classic, covered by everybody from Bruce Springsteen to the Dead Kennedys.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo this day, wherever you go, if you\u2019re from Las Vegas, they start singing that to you,\u201d Casey says.<\/p>\n
The \u201cViva Las Vegas\u201d movie was released on May 20, 1964, and was, depending on whose figures one uses, around the 14th top money-earner of 1964 worldwide. The buzz on its release was international, Clark says.<\/p>\n
Elvis made 16 more musicals after \u201cViva Las Vegas,\u201d but almost all of them reverted to forgettable pre-\u201cViva Las Vegas\u201d form. None was directed by someone of Sidney\u2019s talent or stature. None featured a leading lady as sexy or as talented as Ann-Margret. And none would become as fondly remembered as \u201cViva Las Vegas.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe great thing is, it showed the diversity of Elvis,\u201d Casey says. \u201cNot only did he have, I believe, star presence that was always there, but he could be on screen with somebody with equal charisma but a female (actress), and it wasn\u2019t threatening to him or to the audience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Presley confidante Joe Esposito considers \u201cViva Las Vegas\u201d to be one of the best films Elvis made, and says Presley agreed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was definitely one of his favorite films,\u201d Esposito says in a recent phone interview. Elvis and Ann-Margret \u201cgot along so good together. They just clicked, and they were great, and became very, very good friends after the movie was over.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c(The movie) only works if it really clicks with the two of them together,\u201d he adds. \u201cIf somebody else did \u2018Viva Las Vegas,\u2019 would it have made a difference? Well, we\u2019ll never know that. But they clicked together. They were really good together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Why didn\u2019t Elvis and his camp continue the winning formula Sidney had devised? \u201cBecause George was a sweet man who had a way of getting what he wanted, and the Elvis people liked the way they liked things done,\u201d Clark says. \u201cSo we go back to \u2018Clambake.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
What did Sidney think of the film? Corinne Sidney recalls visiting the Department of Motor Vehicles to get license plates not long after she and her husband moved here.<\/p>\n
While waiting, \u201cI asked, \u2018What are you going to put on yours?\u2019 \u201d she says. \u201cHe said, \u2018I don\u2019t know.\u2019 I said, \u2018Why don\u2019t you get, \u2018Viva Las Vegas\u2019? He said, \u2018Oh, God, Corinne. It\u2019s the worst movie I ever made.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cSo we get in, and I said I\u2019ll just have a plain plate. He said to the woman, \u2018I want V LAS V\u2019 \u2014 he said \u2018to let everyone know I did that horrible movie.\u2019\u2009 \u201d<\/p>\n
Clark recalls that Sidney\u2019s phone messages often would include some variation of the phrase \u201cViva Las Vegas\u201d because \u201che knew he had something popular with that alone. That phrase just falls off the lips. It\u2019s the perfect title.\u201d<\/p>\n
George Sidney died May 5, 2002, but Corinne Sidney is reminded regularly how enduringly popular \u201cViva Las Vegas\u201d is.<\/p>\n
\u201cI get a residual every month,\u201d she says with a laugh. \u201cI must get five dollars every month. And, I get fan letters to George.\u201d<\/p>\n