Kissin' Cousins

Silly Elvis backwoods farce with Yvonne Craig and other curvy cuties

An Army lieutenant (Presley) is assigned to the Smokey Mountains to talk a family of hilljacks into allowing the Army to build a missile site on their mountain. Yvonne Craig plays one of the daughters of the owner of the private mountain.

"Kissin' Cousins" (1964) was Elvis’ 15th movie of the 31 in his acting filmography. While easily one of the least of his movies, this is a fun tuneful frolic in them thar hills highlighted by Craig and a few peripheral beauties, like voluptuous Beverly Powers as Trudy, the main ‘Kittyhawk’ girl.

It's obviously not shot in the East, but rather the wilds of Southern California, which was typical, e.g. "Kid Galahad" (1962). What's notable about this movie is that Presley plays a dual role, the officer Josh Morgan and the light-haired hillrod Jodie Tatum. "Kissin' Cousins" is essentially the early 60's precursor to 1993's "The Beverly Hillbillies." It’s eye-rolling and can be tedious if you’re not in the right mode.

The movie is overlong at 1 hour, 36 minutes. It was shot at Big Bear Valley, San Bernardino National Forest, California.

GRADE: C/C-