Love Me Tender **** (1956, Elvis Presley, Richard Egan, Debra Paget) – Classic Movie Review 1357

Elvis Presley makes his historic first movie appearance in director Robert D Webb’s interesting if routine 1956 American Civil War Western with musical numbers about four feuding Southern brothers, all of whom love the sultry Cathy (Debra Paget).

Three of them – Vance, Brett and Ray – go to fight in the Civil War for the Confederate Army and commit a heist on a Unionist payroll, while the fourth, youngest brother Clint Reno (Elvis), stays at home to take care of his mother and the family farm. He marries Cathy (Paget), the girlfriend of the supposedly killed Vance (Richard Egan), who returns home from the war after having committed the robbery and promptly goes into an understandable fury.

Robert Buckner’s screenplay, based on Maurice Geraghty’s story, is sometimes melodramatic with some clumsy dialogue, and is rewarded with some stilted acting, not least from an unsure Elvis. But all is well when he swings his hips to the film’s four songs, ‘Let Me’, ‘We’re Gonna Move’, ‘Poor Boy’ and of course the classic smoochy title song. They’re written by Ken Darby but credited to Presley and Vera Matson.

Egan and Paget are also stiff as the nominal stars of a sluggishly handled film, but there are some good, solid scenes and some good, solid performances from the long roster of vintage character actors, who include Robert Middleton, William Campbell, Neville Brand, Bruce Bennett, Mildred Dunnock, James Drury, Russ Conway, Ken Clark, Barry Coe, L Q Jones as Pardee Fleming, Paul Burns and Jerry Sheldon.

[Spoiler alert] Brand became well known as a villain when he killed Presley’s character here.

In any case, whatever its merits or demerits, Presley was a teen sensation and his fans loved it and made it a hit, and this is a record of the fresh young Elvis.

It was the only time in his acting career that he did not receive top billing – it’s ‘and introducing Elvis Presley’. Filmed in black-and-white and CinemaScope, it was originally to be titled The Reno Brothers, but when advanced sales of Presley’s Love Me Tender single passed a million—a first for a single—the film’s title was changed to match.

Presley’s role was turned down by Jeffrey Hunter and Robert Wagner because the part was too small, but when Presley signed up the role was expanded.

A more realistic film telling the story of the Reno Brothers, Rage at Dawn. starring Randolph Scott was released by RKO Radio Pictures only the year before.

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