Cheap Follow That Dream (Video) (Elvis Presley) (Gordon Douglas) Price

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Customer Reviews of Follow That Dream

Elvis in a homesteading, laid-back image.
"Follow That Dream", believe it or not, was the first Elvis movie I saw. I first saw it about 10 years ago and own it. I watch it occasionally from time to time. This isn't a real top-notch Elvis film for me since because Elvis constantly looks tired and looks disinterested. It might have been the heat since it was done in the summer in Florida and temperatures went above 100. Elvis had to change his shirt constantly in one day. My mama loves this one. She's the one who started me off with my admiration of Elvis and everything about him. Now I'm a bigger Evis fan at the age of 15. This is something Elvis fans have to see at least once. You won't regret it. It gives you a down-home laid back country feeling as a rural Southern family settles on a "public-settled" beach, run a fishing equipment rental business, and try to keep gangsters from taking over.

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Fabulous movie; why no wide screen?
A non-typical "Elvis Movie" with charming story line, terrific acting by The King, great supporting cast with Authur O'Connell, Joanna Moore (Tatum O'Neil's mom), Simon Oakland and Roland Winters (who Elvis movie fans will remember as Elvis' father in "Blue Hawaii"). This movie could have been the pilot for the Beverly Hillbillies with Elvis as a Jethro Bodean meets Peter Sellers "Chauncy The Gardener" from Being There character. Elvis fans will love his performance, particulary as the family's lawyer in the courtroom scene near the end of the film. Very tourching performance.

Great bit of rock trivia from this movie: Florida native Tom Petty met Elvis on the set of this movie when he was a kid and was inspired to pursue a career in music. Also, Bruce Springsteen often referenced this movie from the stage during his 1985 Born In The USA Tour and performed his own version of the title track, "Follow That Dream".

I've waited several years for this movie to come out on DVD and have seen it before on Turner Classics in wide screen; it was wonderful. Why on earth MGM is releasing the DVD in full screen format is a complete mystery. What a disappointment. Great movie, lousy format.

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Great Fun
There are only three Elvis films that I enjoy: King Creole, Jailhouse Rock, and Follow That Dream. While the first two are great musical dramas from when Elvis still had the air of rebellion about him, Follow That Dream is a piece of comedic fluff like most of his later films, but one which avoids being as formulaic or sickly sweet or filled with terrible music as are most of those later films.

In this one Elvis plays a true innocent who is somehow still ignorant about the ways of the world despite being a vet. He and his family (including some orphans they are looking after) build a homestead on government land which happens to be prime real estate and find themselves in the position to legally obtain ownership of this land. As a result they become the targets of organized crime and feds (who can tell them apart?) who want the land. Elvis also finds himself the target of a crackpot social worker looking into the welfare of the orphans who seeks revenge after he innocently spurns her advances. Elvis gives a really fun performance as a naive character who is so positive in his outlook that when somebody shoots at him he automatically assumes it was an error.

The film pokes great fun at bureaucracy and greed, but it maintains the optimistic outlook that good guys will win in the end. Such an innocent perspective tends to turn off many fans of social satire who find such things too escapist, but what most cynical viewers miss is that much of the innocence is tongue in cheek, and I personally see nothing wrong with optimism so long as it doesn't interfere with realism. If you enjoy, e.g., the film Harvey, then this might be your cup of tea.