Follow That Dream
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Movie Reviews of Follow That Dream
Movie Review: Charming and funny
Summary: 5 Stars
In "Follow that Dream", Elvis stands out as a somewhat simple-minded, somewhat naive, but incredibly honest GI who was retired on disability. Arthur O'Connell is hilarious as his father, who likes to help out the government as much as possible by taking all the money they will offer him.
Along with the father and son are a variety of foundlings that the father took in over the years. On a trip through Florida, they run out of gas and homestead a stretch of beach. A local banker who likes the fishing loans them the money to set up a fishing operation off of their beach, while at the same time a trailer load of gambling gangsters set up shop when they discover that the unincorporated area is a little hole in local law enforcement. A local social worker inserts herself into the picture in an attempt to help shoehorn the family off of their homestead, and makes a play to take the orphans away.
Elvis provides great straight-man comedy throughout, constantly misunderstanding situations from the commonplace to the abnormal as he tries to fit them into his narrow experience in the world around him. His adopted sister, Holly, who has less experience but more capacity to catch on to events around her, helps to keep the family from falling face first into the pitfalls placed in their path. Arthur O'Connell constantly expounds "sage" advice of a decidedly shaky nature, all of which is amusing.
Filmed on location on or near the Gulf Coast in central Florida, the scenery is beautiful. Of course, as an Elvis movie, there are several songs. All are entertaining, and the title song, "Follow that Dream", is a real winner.
If you've never seen Follow that Dream, you owe yourself the experience of this very entertaining film. If you haven't seen it for a while, you may not remember how much you liked it in the first place!
As a tip, this film is available as Netflix streaming content, however the streaming presentation is not up to the quality of the DVD.
Movie Review: Great Fun
Summary: 5 Stars
There are only three Elvis films that I enjoy: King Creole, Jailhouse Rock, and Follow That Dream. While the first two are great musical dramas from when Elvis still had the air of rebellion about him, Follow That Dream is a piece of comedic fluff like most of his later films, but one which avoids being as formulaic or sickly sweet or filled with terrible music as are most of those later films.In this one Elvis plays a true innocent who is somehow still ignorant about the ways of the world despite being a vet. He and his family (including some orphans they are looking after) build a homestead on government land which happens to be prime real estate and find themselves in the position to legally obtain ownership of this land. As a result they become the targets of organized crime and feds (who can tell them apart?) who want the land. Elvis also finds himself the target of a crackpot social worker looking into the welfare of the orphans who seeks revenge after he innocently spurns her advances. Elvis gives a really fun performance as a naive character who is so positive in his outlook that when somebody shoots at him he automatically assumes it was an error.
The film pokes great fun at bureaucracy and greed, but it maintains the optimistic outlook that good guys will win in the end. Such an innocent perspective tends to turn off many fans of social satire who find such things too escapist, but what most cynical viewers miss is that much of the innocence is tongue in cheek, and I personally see nothing wrong with optimism so long as it doesn't interfere with realism. If you enjoy, e.g., the film Harvey, then this might be your cup of tea.
Movie Review: Fabulous movie; why no wide screen?
Summary: 5 Stars
A non-typical "Elvis Movie" with charming story line, terrific acting by The King, great supporting cast with Authur O'Connell, Joanna Moore (Tatum O'Neil's mom), Simon Oakland and Roland Winters (who Elvis movie fans will remember as Elvis' father in "Blue Hawaii"). This movie could have been the pilot for the Beverly Hillbillies with Elvis as a Jethro Bodean meets Peter Sellers "Chauncy The Gardener" from Being There character. Elvis fans will love his performance, particulary as the family's lawyer in the courtroom scene near the end of the film. Very tourching performance. Great bit of rock trivia from this movie: Florida native Tom Petty met Elvis on the set of this movie when he was a kid and was inspired to pursue a career in music. Also, Bruce Springsteen often referenced this movie from the stage during his 1985 Born In The USA Tour and performed his own version of the title track, "Follow That Dream".
I've waited several years for this movie to come out on DVD and have seen it before on Turner Classics in wide screen; it was wonderful. Why on earth MGM is releasing the DVD in full screen format is a complete mystery. What a disappointment. Great movie, lousy format.
Movie Review: A Dream with the King
Summary: 5 Stars
Follow that Dream is Elvis at his best. A comparatively early musical effort before the King settled into his more formulaic series of musicals. The movie has Elvis as an 'aw shucks, maam' good ole' southern boy.On outside appearances - not too bright but underneath a tough core with a country smart take on things. Elvis is excellent and his screen presence shows why his movies were far more profitable than such mainstream musicals as 'Camelot' and 'Paint Your Wagon'. Elvis wandering the woods singing 'I Talk to the Trees' would have been an enjoyable, silly pleasure and not the toe curling embarassment that Clint Eastwood made of it in the latter film. Obviously Eastwood has transcended all expectations since then but in musical adventure films no one can surpass the King. Apart from the opening song there are no outstanding musical numbers but the ensemble cast works well with Arthur O'Connell particularly noticeable as the canny patriach and Anne Helm enticing as the romantic interest (both starred in other Elvis movies also). The story moves along well with a nice twist at the end. Great nostalgic movie for a time that probably never existed but should have.Movie Review: Elvis delivers a great comedy performance! One of his best !
Summary: 5 Stars
Elvis is in great form in "Follow That Dream",and this film shows just how wonderful his acting can be when given a good script to work with! The songs: "What A Wonderful Life", "I'm Not The Marrying Kind", "Sound Advice", "Follow That Dream" and "Angel" are among some of Elvis' best movie songs! Another song called "A Whistling Tune" was recorded for this movie, but was dropped before the film's release. It was re-recorded and included in Elvis' next film "Kid Galahad".I was very pleased to see "Follow That Dream" coming out on DVD...however, you guys at Amazon need to correct the technical details above concerning the DVD release! You have it listed as being available in Full-Frame only, when it is actually both Full-Frame AND Widescreen! I was very dissapointed when I first read this information here, and didn't realize that it was ALSO in widescreen until I saw a copy at the store! A great film with wonderful performances by the entire cast, which includes Arthur O'Connell, Ann Helm and Simon Oakland!