Good concept, poorly executed.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Released in 1964, "Kissin' Cousins" stars Elvis Presley as an army lieutenant who's assigned to the Smokey Mountains to talk a family of hilljacks into allowing the Army to build a missile site on their mountain. Yvonne Craig plays one of the daughters of the owner of the private mountain.This is a typical Elvis musical/comedy highlighted by Craig and a few peripheral beauties. It's obviously not shot in the east, but rather the wilds of California, which was typical (e.g. 1962's "Kid Galahad"). What's notable about this movie is that Presley plays a dual role, the officer Josh Morgan and the light-haired hillrod Jodie Tatum. "Kissin' Cousins" is essentially the early 60's precursor to 1993's "The Beverly Hillbillies." It's actually better, believe it or not.The movie runs 96 minutes and was shot at Big Bear Valley, San Bernardino National Forest, California.GRADE: C

Two things save this movie from being a disaster: Elvis and Yvonne Craig. Elvis plays one of his more likable characters, not one of those "bad boy" types but a good guy and that's good because movie bad boys become very boring and very annoying very fast unless you're a woman. Now, the other character he plays, the blonde hillbilly, is a complete waste of space. It's not Elvis' fault, the character is so poorly written he's like a sack of potatoes. All he does is keep saying "I wanna rassle! I wanna rassle!" Borrrrring.One thing that's definitely not boring is the stunning Yvonne Craig. She has lots of screen time and that was a very smart move by the movie makers because without her the movie would be close to unwatchable. The combination of her beauty (and there are lots of other female beauties too) and Elvis' likability make the movie worth seeing - once anyway. As for the songs, I'd say there is one good one and the rest are nothing memorable.

Glenda Farrell was in some of the greatest films of the early 1930's, including, "Little Caesar," "I Was Fugitive From a Chain Gang," "Mysteries of the Wax Museum," and "Gold Diggers of 1935". It was delightful to see her as a hillbilly mammy in this film. The director, to his eternal credit, even gave her a song to sing without Elvis. It was the best song in the film. I wonder if anybody else ever got to sing a solo in an Elvis picture?It was also nice to see Yvonne Craig, she because famous a couple of years later when she became a regular on the "Batman" television series as "Batgirl". It was a gimmick that helped save the rapidly fading series for a short while. She was rather adorable and perky in the role, as she was in this movie. Unfortunately, her career went nowhere, except for occasional television guest spots. Pam Austin also looked great in this film. She became famous for a Dodge television commercial a couple of years later, inviting people to join the "Dodge Rebellion." She starred in "the Perils of Pauline" with Pat Boone two years later. It was quite an amusing and sweet movie, but sadly her career also went nowhere afterward.We have to remember that three of the most popular television series at the time this film was made were 1) The Patty Duke Show (Patty Duke playing cousins with opposite personalities), 2) Petticoat Junction (rural comedy) and 3) Hootenanny (music variety show). It must have seemed like a great idea to combine all three themes in one movie. The conflicted cousins theme comes off the worse. Air Force Major Elvis is fine, but Hillbilly Elvis just stands around looking grouchy. The Petticoat Junction theme is transformed into a "Little Abner" theme, but there is no Julie Newmar (Stupifying Jones)to focus on. The Hootenanny that takes up the last 25 minutes is the only part that sort of works. It would have been nicer if there was more time for the choreography. It looks like they only had a couple of days to get it together, but everyone seems to be having a good time and it does send the audience out of the theater tapping their toes.While not a good film, it is fun and worth seeing for Elvis and Glenda Farrell fans, and people who enjoy 1960's television sitcoms. I thought this was much better than the other Elvis film that Gene Nelson directed, "Harum Scarum". That one really is only for die-hard Elvis.

Army Lieutenant Elvis Presley is assigned to infiltrate the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee to sweet-talk a hillbilly family into letting the government lease their mountain for a missile base; turns out Presley is distant kin-folk to the wrasslin' hick clan and bears a striking resemblance to the resident blonde hellraiser. Grubby-looking semi-musical manages to give us two Presleys for the price of one, but the script, direction, and production values are strictly third-rate. The bevy of squealing gals who chase Elvis through the woods have a much better time than most viewers will, seeing as how nobody cared enough to write a single decent song for the soundtrack--and E.P. himself walks through the picture looking non-plussed. Lovely Yvonne Craig, TV's Batgirl, is very frisky (until she goes all coy and demure) and has a fun scene proposing marriage to Elvis, but for a comedy this is awfully glum stuff. *1/2 from ****