Elvis quits Hollywood
From Forgotten Films: 1966-1971 by Nolan Hendricks, 1998
"After Easy Come, Easy Go hit theatres in March 1967, rumors began circulating that Elvis Presley was thinking about ending his film career. Easy Come, Easy Go became infamous for the campy 'Yoga Is As Yoga Does' sequence featuring legendary character actress Elsa Lanchester. These novelty numbers and increasingly poor scripts, as demonstrated in Elvis' next film Clambake, led to him becoming increasingly frustrated.
On June 26th, 1967, Elvis would start filming his final movie, Speedway (1968). The picture cast him opposite another big recording star, Nancy Sinatra. After filming was completed, Elvis Presley shocked many by announcing his retirement from films. This naturally infuriated Tom Parker, who reluctantly went along with it..."
One of the handful of films Elvis was attached to at the time he quit movies, Stay Away Joe, remained in production as late as August 1967. Eventually, MGM backed out of the project and the script would later become retooled by a young Canadian filmmaker named Arthur Ericson--
Outtake from Sam Westwood's Hollywood
Sam Westwood is talking about the Summer of 1967 and drug culture
Sam: What was I doing during the Summer of Love? (laughs)
'Mary Rose' was in post-production and I was filming 'Journey To Shiloh'. I have always been active in civil rights causes. That was as radical as I got. In those days, I was really focused on work.
Living near the beach, though--I was friendly with people who could be labeled as hippies. Pre-Charles Manson, it seemed harmless. Harris was a little hippie-ish--
A voice is heard next to Sam. It's quite obvious that it belongs to Harris Walker.
Harris (off camera): In the late 60's and early 70's, if there were available drugs, I was usually in. (laughs)
Sam doesn't seem to find this as funny.
Sam: In those days, you would go to Hollywood parties and there was a really wide assortment of people. I liked that. It wasn't boring. It was surreal because you'd have the Old Hollywood stars in one corner. Henry Fonda, for example. Then someone like Natalie Wood who was technically Old Hollywood but still young enough to dabble with New Hollywood--
"After Easy Come, Easy Go hit theatres in March 1967, rumors began circulating that Elvis Presley was thinking about ending his film career. Easy Come, Easy Go became infamous for the campy 'Yoga Is As Yoga Does' sequence featuring legendary character actress Elsa Lanchester. These novelty numbers and increasingly poor scripts, as demonstrated in Elvis' next film Clambake, led to him becoming increasingly frustrated.
On June 26th, 1967, Elvis would start filming his final movie, Speedway (1968). The picture cast him opposite another big recording star, Nancy Sinatra. After filming was completed, Elvis Presley shocked many by announcing his retirement from films. This naturally infuriated Tom Parker, who reluctantly went along with it..."
One of the handful of films Elvis was attached to at the time he quit movies, Stay Away Joe, remained in production as late as August 1967. Eventually, MGM backed out of the project and the script would later become retooled by a young Canadian filmmaker named Arthur Ericson--
Outtake from Sam Westwood's Hollywood
Sam Westwood is talking about the Summer of 1967 and drug culture
Sam: What was I doing during the Summer of Love? (laughs)
'Mary Rose' was in post-production and I was filming 'Journey To Shiloh'. I have always been active in civil rights causes. That was as radical as I got. In those days, I was really focused on work.
Living near the beach, though--I was friendly with people who could be labeled as hippies. Pre-Charles Manson, it seemed harmless. Harris was a little hippie-ish--
A voice is heard next to Sam. It's quite obvious that it belongs to Harris Walker.
Harris (off camera): In the late 60's and early 70's, if there were available drugs, I was usually in. (laughs)
Sam doesn't seem to find this as funny.
Sam: In those days, you would go to Hollywood parties and there was a really wide assortment of people. I liked that. It wasn't boring. It was surreal because you'd have the Old Hollywood stars in one corner. Henry Fonda, for example. Then someone like Natalie Wood who was technically Old Hollywood but still young enough to dabble with New Hollywood--
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