The other night my Bonnie Bride and I watched Wild in the Country (1961), a story about a young man who is regularly in trouble, getting into fights and other problems with the law. Elvis Presley plays the lead role of Glenn Tyler, with Hope Lange as his court appointed therapist, Irene Sperry. Although Presley does sing a couple of songs in the film, the film is a serious drama, with a lot of conflict between Tyler and everyone he is involved with. Tyler comes off as an angry young man to everyone in his life, except for his girlfriend, Betty Lee (Millie Perkins) at the beginning of the film, and for Irene. That’s a rough outline of what the story is about.
Wild in the Country poster - IMDB
In addition to Elvis, there are several other very familiar faces in the film – John Ireland as Phil Macy, who wants to marry Irene; Gary Lockwood as Macy’s son, Cliff, who is also is a bit of a troublemaker, and a nemesis of Glenn’s; and Alan Napier (Alfred from Batman) appears in a small role as a college professor.
The film is heavy on the drama, unlike most of Presley’s films that focused on his musical talent, and were a bit formulaic in nature. Wild in the Country has a number of twists and turns, with a few elements that follow the writers manta of – If you show a gun, you have to use it – meaning there are plot devices presented that have to be used to good effect. And no, there isn’t a gun used in the film. As a drama, the conflict is centered around the various characters, with Glenn Tyler being the focus of a lot of animosity, and it is a character study of the principal characters, including the elder Macy as well as Irene.
Although it is nice to hear Presley sing in the film, it was, at least to me (but probably not my bonnie Bride) unnecessary fluff added to the film. It didn’t add anything to the story which was the main focus of the film. That being said, we both enjoyed the film. There are a few bits of the story that were predictable based on scenes that had taken place earlier, and one scene that came out of nowhere and caught me off guard. It was easy to figure out the motivation for the character in that scene, but it was an unexpected twist in the plot. I don’t want to say more than that at the risk of providing too much of a spoiler.
Overall, I would say it is a good film, but not a great film; it is worth checking out, especially if you are an Elvis Presley fan.
That’s it for this tme around. Thanks for stopping by.
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