ELVIS MONTH Day 9 Follow That Dream (1962)

Year:  1962

Age:  27

Movie:  9th

I love this movie.  If you want a feel good fun movie to watch one afternoon while consuming a bowl of popcorn and having a dance around the lounge room, well this movie is IT!  Follow That Dream has 5 good songs full of fun and innocence.  So easy to watch and enjoy.  Just some country people having a bit of a “holiday” by the water, including a few interruptions.  We meet Arthur O’Connell for the first time, playing Pop Kwimper, and in a few days time we meet him again in Kissin Cousins.  He is fantastic as Pop, and extremely lovable.  There is also a few mentions that Elvis’s character, Toby, was in the army.  (In the army in G.I. Blues, return home from the army in Blue Hawaii, was in the army in Follow That Dream…there’s a few more yet).

What a Wonderful Life

The family are travelling through Florida when poor old Pop Kwimper drives onto an unopened stretch of highway, (it has since been named, officially, the Follow That Dream Parkway) after a bit of uninterrupted driving they run out of gas, and I suppose they figure it is as good a place as any to live.  In fact I completely agree, it looks fantastic!  No people anywhere…for a little while anyway.  What a beautiful setting.  Bet it doesn’t look like that now.  This family should be on survivor 1960’s edition, they would have won it hands down, they have been on the beach for half a day and they already have coconuts, fresh water, a shelter and even a swing for the baby.

There is one particular scene, the first scene, that taught me so much when I was a kid.  I will never forget it.  The kids are in the back of the car and are told to share a piece of candy, one child breaks it in half and one side is longer than the other…so said child then bites off the longer end to make it even…I tried this on my sister when we were kids…apparently she isn’t as gullible as that kid, cause she crack the shits at me 😦 Ah well I gave it a shot, you can’t blame a kid for trying…