Kissing Cousins

Every year on Elvismas or the anniversary of his death I somehow delude myself into thinking that because I am a huge Elvis fan, I should watch an Elvis movie. And they never fail to disappoint. Kissing Cousins "distinguishes" itself amongst Elvis movies because it features Elvis in a dual role. He plays an Air Force Lieutenant assigned to talk mountain folk into letting SAC built an ICBM base in the side of their mountain. Brunette Elvis is a distant relation of these hillbillies and meets Blonde Elvis. They are some kind of cousins, but that's never fully explained. Hopefully they are distant, however, because Brunette Elvis almost immediately begins to work Blonde Elvis's sister (eventually picking the brunette over the blonde in what is surely a subliminal statement about mixed race marriage). What always amazes me about Elvis movies is how terrible the music is. Every now and then there's a good song that sneaks in, but they invariably make Elvis - described by many as the most dynamic performer ever - seem downright boring.

I was so uninterested in this movie that I started IMDBing it while I was watching. I find it interesting that it was released in 1964. So Vietnam is really heating up and here's Elvis playing a military guy chasing hillbilly tail in the Smokey mountains. It's also the same year that "A Hard Day's Night" was released. So the Beatles were making an immortal document that would change not just music, but film forever while Elvis was wrestling himself in a blonde wig. Sigh.