December 29, 2013
What better way to prepare my kids for their first Las Vegas vacation than forcing them to watch Viva Las Vegas?Actually, Fear and Loathing or The Hangover would be a better way, but I can’t in good conscience have an eight and five year old watch either of those films…or can I? Hmmmmm…
I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen Viva Las Vegas before…I knew it would be cheesy, but I wasn’t prepared for Velveeta Nagasaki level of total cheese meltdown.
It was fun seeing old Las Vegas exteriors. As a frequent Vegas visitor, I recognized more signs from the Neon Boneyard than what’s actually still lit in Vegas. I was delighted to see The Stratosphere in the background of many of the shots. The Strat was one of the hotels we stayed in when we got married in Vegas.
Ann-Margret dances like she’s having a seizure. Maybe it was a bad case of the “Elvis Fever”? My five year old daughter spontaneously got up and started dancing during the Roulette Wheel dance scene. She has the “Elvis Fever” too!
I forgot that all movies from the 50s and 60s end with a wedding. Where there’s sexual tension, there must be wedding bells…was it fear that film audiences would riot if they couldn’t go home fantasizing about Elvis and Ann-Margret consummating their lust in a marital bed?
Rating – Approved
Runtime – 85 minutes
Genre – Elvis Musical
Director(s) – George Sidney
Writer(s) – Sally Benson
Actor(s) – Elvis Presley, Ann-Margret, Cesare Danova, William Demarest, Nicky Blair
BOB Rating – Two BOBs
Favorite Quote – "My rival is a baby blue racing car." - Rusty Martin (Ann-Margret)