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"Easy Come, Easy Go" was brought into the cinemas on March 22, 1967 and generated rental fees of 1.95 million USD in North America and Canada. Therefore we can estimate ticket sales of approximately 4 million USD. In the present (using the factor of 15) the studio would have earned 29.25 million USD, at the box office the flick would have made 60 million USD. Compared to "Paradise, Hawaiian Style" the revenue had dropped by 22%, squared to "Spinout" it was a full third! Paramount wasn't even able to reclaim their costs on the domestic market.
In Germany the movie was called "Seemann Ahoi!" (translated "Sailor Ahoy!") and started on December 22, 1967. By the way, this is also one of the cases I prefer the German poster.
Navy diver Ted Jackson (Elvis), his buddy Judd and a beatnik-girl named Jo want to retrieve a chest full of gold from a shipwreck. But the beautiful Dina and her boyfriend Gil are after the treasure, too.
Hal B. Wallis (producer), John Rich (director), Allan Weiss und Anthony Lawrence (script), Joseph Lilley (music), William Margulies (camera), Archie Marsheck (editor).
Elvis Presley (Ted Jackson), Dodie Marhall (Jo Symington), Pat Priest (Dina Bishop), Pat Harrington (Judd Whiteman), Sip Ward (Gil Carey), Dandy Kenyon (Schwartz), Frank McHugh (Captain Jack) und Elsa Lanchester (Madame Neherina). The German voice of Elvis was dubbed by Rainer Brandt.
During the past two years Hal B. Wallis had witnessed Elvis becoming chubby, bored and lazy. Of cause he also was fully aware of his shrinking popularity and the declining revenues from his records and movies. Even though it is said that the producer had no intention to continue to work with Presley, Colonel Parker somehow got him to agree to a final project. Maybe Wallis felt somewhat guilty about paying Elvis just a mere fraction of his usual fee for a decade, maybe it was out of friendship with Parker. But it's safe to say the the producer offered $500,000 plus a profit share of 20%.
Having ignored all current trends in "Paradise, Hawaiian Style" Paramount now wanted to present a modern Presley flick. And so they added freewheeling artists, beatnicks (the word "hippie" wasn't invented yet) and a trendy night club. The movie was shot between October 3rd and November 7th, 1966. Most work was done at Paramount Studios in Hollywood, some exterior scenes were filmed at the Long Beach Naval Station in San Pedro. Even though Elvis didn't really look like a navy diver, he was in better shape than he had been when shooting "Paradise, Hawaiian Style" (Paramount) and "Frankie And Johnny" (United Artists).
Because there were not enough songs for an album, RCA Victor released an extended player. Worldwide it sold no more than 30,000 units and became the biggest bummer of Elvis' career. A tap on the cover leads to the review.
Back in 2007 Paramount included "Easy Come, Easy Go" in their "Elvis - 8 Movies DVD Collection". For a short review just tap on the cover.
Back in 1967 "Easy Come, Easy Go" must have looked like a desperate try of outdated people to appear contemporary. Elvis look and sound had nothing to do with the "summer of love" and all modern elements used in the movie were obviously not understood. However, from today's point of view "Easy Come, Easy Go" can be considered a tolerable film.
Movie Posters and DVD Cover (C) Paramount, Record Cover (C) RCA Victor