Tickle Me

Talk about cultural curios. That's exactly how Tickle Me was regarded when it was released in 1965, the same year as the Beatles' Help! There was a musical revolution going on, but you wouldn't have known it from this would-be comedy, in which the King plays a rodeo champion forced to take a job on a combination dude ranch/fat farm. Naturally, all of the women tumble at his feet; even when he's pitching hay, he's liable to burst into hip-swiveling song. What little plot there is deals with his romance with the ranch's exercise instructor (Jocelyn Lane), who happens to hold the key to a fortune in gold hidden in a nearby ghost town. Nary a recognizable Elvis hit is to be heard in the score, and as for his acting, well, Elvis looks as though he happened to be wandering past the set and was pressed into service at the last minute. --Marshall Fine