On June 17, 1964 "Viva Las Vegas" was released by MGM. In the USA and Canada it generated a box office gross of 9.5 million USD, earning MGM a thumping 4.6 million USD of rental fees. Therefore it was twice as successful as "Kissin' Cousins", even surpassed "Blue Hawaii" and became the top grossing Presley movie. Using our factor 15 to translate the figures into the present it would have grossed 142.5 million USD and made MGM 71.25 million USD.

In Sweden and Norway the movie started on March 30th, in Germany "Tolle Naechte In Las Vegas" (translated "Great Nights In Las Vegas") hit the cinemas on July 24, 1964.

Storyline

Lucky Jackson (Elvis), a singing race car driver, arrives in Vegas to win the Grand Prix. But before he can pic up the motor for his self-build car, he looses all his money and has to work as a waiter. He falls in love with a girl named Rusty, but his grand prix rival Elmo Mancini is also keeping an eye on her, too.

Production Staff

Jack Cummings (producer), George Sidney (director), Sally Benson (script), George Stoll (music), Joseph Biroc (camera), John McSweeney (editor).

Principal Cast

Elvis Presley (Lucky Jackson), Ann-Margret (Rusty Martin), Cesare Danova (Elmo Mancini), William Demarest (Mr. Martin), Nicky Blair (Shorty Farnsworth) und Jack Carter (himself). The German voice of Elvis was dubbed by Rainer Brandt.

Production

The movie was produced between July 15th and September 16th, 1963. The Hoover Dam, the University Of Nevada, the Hotel Tropicana and the pool area of the Flamingo Hotel were used for location shots, the remaining scenes were filmed at the MGM Studios in Culver City.  Elvis was paid $500,000 plus 50% of the earnings, reduced by the guaranteed fee. According to our factor of 15 Elvis would have earned 7.5 million USD today plus a profit share of several times as much.

While the film was made Colonel Parker had an argument with George Sdney. According to Presley's manager the director was focussing a tad too much on the 22yo Ann-Margret and therefore paying not enough attention to his client, the star of the movie. Another thing that drove the Colonel up the wall was the constantly exceeded budget. The more money MGM spend on the movie, the later it started to earn money and the later Elvis' profit share kicked in. So he came to the conclusion that the production costs of a Presley musical had to be kept as low as possible. Even though the films were made by MGM and Parker was nothing but a "technical advisor", he had enough power to orchestrate release dates and production processes.

Soundtrack

Even though "Viva Las Vegas" became the most successful motion picture of Elvis' carrer, the soundtrack records only sold 2.5 million units, half of what the previously released "Kissin' Cousins" had moved. Just tap on the covers to get to the accordant reviews.

Soundtrack

Warner released a hd version of "Viva Las Vegas" in 2007. For a review, tap on the cover.