Really Surprised!

One of the best films i have seen

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

This is Elvis Presley at his very best! He plays Vince Everett jailed for manslaughter after a bar fight.This is a damn good movie in its own right. Moodily shot in black and white with Elvis making a good job of playing the rebel Vince Everet. The Jailhouse Rock sequence is superbly handled and the entire movie smokes. Along with the famous and quite brilliant title song we also get "Treat Me Nice," "Baby, I Don't Care," "I Want To Be Free," "Don't Leave Me Now" and the lovely tender "Young & Beautiful". Absolutely love this movie. Love the music and Elvis of course. A very enjoyable film showing Elvis in his raw rock and roll singing and acting days. Nostalgic, interesting and fun. Really good to watch..

Considered by some to be his best movie vehicle, the Elvis Presley feature "Jailhouse Rock" does indeed provide its star with an agreeable showcase. The King stars as Vince Everett, a hot tempered young man who accidentally kills a guy in a bar fight, and does time for manslaughter. There he makes the acquaintance of cellmate "Hunk" Houghton (Mickey Shaughnessy), who teaches him how to strum a guitar and carry a tune. Vince finds that he quite enjoys performing, and upon his release from prison embarks upon a singing career. Among those helping him are the bright and efficient - and very pretty - Peggy Van Alden (Judy Tyler).The King is compulsively watchable. A great actor he may not have been, but he had a powerful charisma, and he gives his character appeal. He's also convincing when the surly Vince starts to take his friends and associates for granted, and become all about financial gains to be made. The story (screenplay credited to Guy Trosper, based on a story by Nedrick Young) gets pretty serious without getting bogged down in melodrama, and naturally it gives The King a couple of opportunities to belt out a number. "Treat Me Nice" and the groovy title tune (one of this viewers' favorites by Elvis) are definite highlights.The supporting cast is somewhat variable, but Shaughnessy is good, as is Vaughn Taylor as money man Mr. Shores and Dean Jones as radio D.J. Teddy Talbot. Tyler is endearing as Peggy, but sadly, she never even got to see the film released as she and her husband died in a car accident just weeks after filming wrapped.This viewer next plans on watching "Flaming Star", also said to be another of Elvis' best vehicles.Seven out of 10.

No need to recap the plot.Seeing the movie again after so many years, I'm more impressed than in 1958. Of course, teens then were mainly watching Elvis as a singing idol, not much caring about the rest of the movie. But now, I'm impressed by his acting in what was only his third film outing. He's particularly good at being dislikable as the surly ex-con. That was something of a risk for a movie newcomer, and it's to his credit that he went ahead and did it. To lessen the risk, Paramount backed him up with a solid supporting cast, plus a good script that made into an involving story. Then too, Elvis has to go through a number of shifting moods, not the one- note requirements of his later formula films.I'm also impressed that the screenplay would reveal the dark side of record companies, knowing the audience would primarily be record buyers. I'm just sorry that Elvis signed that long-term deal with Hal Wallis after leaving the army. That contract, unfortunately, locked him into the dreary series of low-grade musicals that eventually sapped his talent and morale. Too bad he didn't fire the Colonel and buy out his contract. That way he could have expanded into more serious movie roles he wanted and was clearly capable of, as this film proves.Anyway, the movie can stand on its own as entertainment, Elvis or no, and also features what experts claim is his best on-screen musical number. So, if you're a younger viewer and wonder what shook up the placid 1950's, this is a movie to catch.

Elvis Presley plays "Vince Everett" who goes to jail after accidentally killing a man in a bar fight. While in the big house he is paired in his cell with Hunk Houghton (Mickey Shaughnessy), an ageing country singer whose best days are behind him. The pair strike up a friendship and Houghton teaches Everett to play the guitar, however, it's apparent that Everett is all about the voice. Reckognising this fact, Houghton is quick to strike up a contract with Everett so that once both are on the outside they can make some money in the music industry. Paroled well early into his stretch, Everett meets Peggy Van Alden (Judy Tyler), a record company talent scout, who eventually gets won around by Everett and they record a song. Although there are initial problems with the industry, the song takes off after the pair set up their own record company. But with fame comes internal conflict and Houghton is now released and wanting to call in on his and Everett's prison contract.Chances are that if you asked a group of film lovers to name an Elvis Presley motion picture, the majority would say Jailhouse Rock. Now that's not to say that is because it's the best film from The King because that would be King Creole or Flaming Star. Or that it's the most fun film of the 31 pictures he made, because that would be Viva Las Vegas. Its standing probably has more to do with the title song than the actual film itself. Which is actually a shame because although Jailhouse Rock is a weak film in many ways, it's also a film where Preseley got to play a moody, rebel like character. The like of which we would not see again. This was Presley's third feature length film, and the first for MGM. Shot in black & white by Robert J. Bronner, it's directed by Richard Thorpe and penned by Guy Trosper out of a story by Nedrick Young.The problems exist within the weak plot that has holes the size of Leavenworth Prison. Characters come and go without any purpose or meaning and Thorp uses shortcuts to keep the film's running time as trim as Presley's waist line was here. Yet to me these are forgivable issues as Presley embraces his rebel with a heart and gives it the full tilt lip snarling treatment. His Vince Everett is the guy that girls want to bed (lots of Elvis bare torso here girls) and the guy that guys want to be. And of course there is also a great set of songs and the choreography to lap up at every other turn. Along with the famous and quite brilliant title song we also get "Treat Me Nice," "Baby, I Don't Care," "I Want To Be Free," "Don't Leave Me Now" and the sublimely tender "Young & Beautiful". The latter of which stops this particular viewer in his tracks and instills a warmth that normally only Judy Garland gives me when warbling over the rainbow. Yes I love this film in spite of its obvious failings.The sad footnote to the film concerns co-star Judy Tyler who along with her then husband, Greg Lafayette, was killed in an automobile accident a couple of weeks after filming had finished. Thus never even getting to see the film released. Elvis was shattered and is said to have never watched the film as it would have been too painful. So as Elvis sings "Young & Beautiful" it becomes, one feels, a fitting tribute to a young actress cut down in her prime. In 2007 a Deluxe edition of the film was released on DVD, remastered in sound and picture, it's a triumphant release that really does the film justice. For now, Elvis, Judy and those wonderful songs, have never looked or sounded so great as they do now. 8/10