Year: 1962
Director: Gordon Douglas
Country: US
Language: English
Follow That Dream didn’t approach the commercial success of many of Elvis' previous pictures.
It spent only two weeks on Variety’s National Box Office weekly survey, peaking at number five, while the others went on to be the highest grossing films of their respective years. Part of the reason could be the lack of musical numbers in this picture. If that is true then it certainly says much of how audiences flocked to the silver screen to see the King's musical chops rather than his acting ability.
When the Kwimper family car runs out of gas on a new Florida highway and an officous state supervisor tries to run them off, Pop Kwimper (Elvis Presley) digs in his heels and decides to do a little homesteading. He and his son Toby and their "adopted" children - Holly, Ariadne and the twins - start their own little community along a strip of the roadside.
Audiences may have also been turned off by this new Elvis. In previous pictures our hero played a young brash rebellious character who was very anti-authoritarian, while in Follow that Dream Elvis portrayed a slow-taking, calm country boy, with a mix of innocence and down home intuition. His performance was calm and believable; even critics at the time were swoon by his newfound charm.
I believe Follow that Dream holds Elvis' best foray into acting. His unexpected, natural comedic talent helped carry the film through its first 90 minutes. Unfortunately the music, although there is little of it, is greatly disruptive to the story and hampers what could have been a great drama w/ spliced bits of comedy.
The cast, message, script and comedic moments all join together to create an entertaining picture that rivals Elvis' best. Follow that Dream certainly isn't perfect, but as far as an Elvis picture goes it's quite memorable.
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