Dusay, Marj

MacArthur

Clambake

A rich young man relinquishes his oil-baron father's money and trades identities with a penniless water ski instructor to learn about life from the bottom up. Suddenly short on money but long on determination he repairs a radically designed powerboat in order to win the regatta and the affection of a girl who's determined to marry rich!System Requirements:Starring Bill Bixby Elvis Presley Shelley Fabares Will Hutchins Directed by Arthur N. Nadel Ladislav Smocek Vladimir Sis Running time: 99 minutes Copyright MGM 2003Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: NR UPC: 027616867704 Manufacturer No: 1002569

Elvis's outfits are impressive in 1967's Clambake, especially a groovy, belted sport coat and a cream-colored suit covered with cowhide-style stitching. The costumes are more creative than the soundtrack, which is heavy with the mindlessness of late-period Elvis movies. As he sings "Confidence" (an obvious rip-off of the Oscar-winning "High Hopes"), you can almost see Elvis batting out "Just shoot me" in Morse code with his eyelids. The only decent tune has the star crooning a nice, lonesome version of the standard "You Don't Know Me." This one's set in Florida, but with none of the scenic fun of his Hawaii pictures. He plays a rich oilman's son pretending to be a water-skiing instructor, with Shelley Fabares (a three-time Presley costar) as the girl. The camp highlight is an ensemble number with go-go girls helping Elvis fix a speedboat, which is just about as far from Sun Studios as you can get. --Robert Horton

Breezy

12 Bucks

Siao Yu

A Chronicle of Corpses

Made in Heaven

In Made in Heaven, Timothy Hutton plays a young guy in 1946 who's just been dumped by his girl and decides to go to California. On his way, he rescues a family from a car that's driven into a lake--and drowns in the process. Of course, he finds himself in Heaven, and there he meets Kelly McGillis, a soul who's never been born on Earth. The two fall in love. Just as they're about to get married--just for the fun of it, since by the rules of Heaven they're already married--McGillis gets sent to Earth to be born. Hutton pleads with Emmett, a figure who may or may not be God, who finally agrees to give Hutton 30 years on Earth to find her and continue their love. This 1987 Alan Rudolph film teeters on the edge of absolute cheesiness and steps over that edge at moments, but mostly it miraculously maintains a delicate, sweet, and affecting tone. McGillis is good, but Hutton is superb, demonstrating an honest charisma that makes him engaging even when he's being a jerk. The depiction of Heaven avoids the patronizing, overdone joyfulness that too many movies fall into. Though the idea sounds like pure saccharine, Made in Heaven consistently sidesteps the obvious and comes up with something genuine. Rudolph is a prolific but erratic director (his stronger movies include Choose Me, Trouble in Mind, The Moderns, and Afterglow), but this is one of the ones worth seeing. Made in Heaven features Debra Winger and an uncredited Ellen Barkin, as well as cameos by rock stars Neil Young, Ric Ocasek, and Tom Petty. --Bret Fetzer

A romantic, occasionally funny, drama about two souls who consumate their marriage literally in "Heaven". Mike Shea (Timothy Hutton), in his first life, dies as a young man performing a heroic rescue. Shortly after arriving in "Heaven" he meets a new soul, Annie Packert (Kelly McGillis), who has never lived on Earth before. The drama centers around their separation soon after being wedded and the burning question is whether they will reunite on Earth before time runs out or whether they are fated to eternal soul-searching.

Pride & Loyalty

Clambake [Region 2]

Elvis's outfits are impressive in 1967's Clambake, especially a groovy, belted sport coat and a cream-colored suit covered with cowhide-style stitching. The costumes are more creative than the soundtrack, which is heavy with the mindlessness of late-period Elvis movies. As he sings "Confidence" (an obvious rip-off of the Oscar-winning "High Hopes"), you can almost see Elvis batting out "Just shoot me" in Morse code with his eyelids. The only decent tune has the star crooning a nice, lonesome version of the standard "You Don't Know Me." This one's set in Florida, but with none of the scenic fun of his Hawaii pictures. He plays a rich oilman's son pretending to be a water-skiing instructor, with Shelley Fabares (a three-time Presley costar) as the girl. The camp highlight is an ensemble number with go-go girls helping Elvis fix a speedboat, which is just about as far from Sun Studios as you can get. --Robert Horton

Daniel Boone - Season 6