Live a Little, Love a Little

Elvis works two jobs in groovy Southern Cal while pursuing a batty babe who lives on the beach

A photographer (Presley) meets a free-spirited eccentric woman (Michele Carey) on the beaches of Malibu and is eventually forced to get two jobs, one for a Playboy-like mag and the other for a conservative advertising firm, both jobs being located in the SAME Los Angeles building. Dick Sargent plays another guy smitten with the mysterious woman.

“Live a Little, Love a Little” (1968) was Elvis’ 28th movie and he would only do three more before leaving cinema for good. What distinguishes this one is the way it tries to make Elvis’ character more ‘hip’ with the swinging 60s. For example, his love interest propositions him to “make love” within mere minutes after meeting him. Thankfully, the woman offers a somewhat interesting character study for those interested.

Despite her character’s nuttiness, Michele Carey is actually one of the most voluptuous women to star in an Elvis flick, along with Ann-Margret. There are also a few peripheral women just as beautiful, such as Celeste Yarnall, the woman in white at the groovy party that Greg kisses. Elvis and Celeste incidentally became good friends. They viewed the funeral of Martin Luther King Jr. together in his trailer over lunch. Celeste has stressed how warm & loving Elvis was and how he had an intense desire to please people.

Elvis started to struggle with his weight around this time and had to take diet pills to keep slim; he wasn’t happy about doing musical fluff when he really wanted to do more serious stuff. While he could no longer demand his usual $1 million per movie, he did make $850,000 plus 50% of the profits on this one. Despite all this, Elvis looked bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. He certainly still had his charisma.

The film runs 1 hour, 30 minutes, and was shot in Malibu, Marineland of the Pacific & Los Angeles, California.

GRADE: B