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Stay Away, Joe

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Stay Away, Joe
Theatrical release poster byRobert McGinnis
Directed byPeter Tewksbury
Screenplay by
Based onStay Away, Joe
1953 novel
by Dan Cushman
Produced byDouglas Laurence
Starring
CinematographyFred J. Koenekamp
Edited byGeorge W. Brooks
Music byJack Marshall
Color processMetrocolor
Production
company
Distributed byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date
  • March 8, 1968(1968-03-08)(US)
Running time
102 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$1,500,000 (US/ Canada)[1]

Stay Away, Joeis a 1968 Americancomedywesternfilm with musical interludes, set in modern times and starringElvis Presley,Burgess Meredith,Joan Blondell,Katy JuradoandThomas Gomez.Directed byPeter Tewksbury,the film is based on the 1953 satirical farce novel of the same name by Dan Cushman. The film reached number 65 on theVarietyweekly national box office chart in 1968.

Plot

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Native American rodeo rider Joe Lightcloud is aNavajowhose family still lives on the reservation. He returns to the reservation in a white Cadillac convertible that he uses to drive cattle.

Joe persuades his congressman to give him 20 heifers and a prize bull so that he and his father can prove that the Navajos can successfully raise cattle on the reservation. If their experiment is successful, the government will help all the Navajo people. But Joe's friend Bronc Hoverty accidentally barbecues the prize bull, while Joe sells the heifers to buy home improvements for his stepmother Annie Lightcloud.

Joe is able to borrow a bull named Dominick, but the bull is old and shows no interest in the heifers. Mamie Callahan, the daughter of shotgun-toting tavern owner Glenda Callahan, can't seem to stay away from the girl-chasing Joe. Joe trades in his horse at a used car dealership for a red convertible automobile from which he sells off the parts to obtain cash from a salvage yard. After almost all of the usable car parts are sold, Joe rides around on a beat-up motorcycle.

Joe's younger sister Mary, a bank teller in town, has a chance to marry into the reasonably wealthy Hawkins family. When the prospective mother-in-law visits the Lightcloud's rundown shack, things go well until Glenda Callahan chases Joe through the house firing her shotgun. Mrs. Hawkins promptly faints. The couple eventually reconciles.

To raise money, Joe organizes a contest in which riders have to ride Dominick the bull. Joe has to ride Dominick and hang on in order to win the prize money, which he does. At his father's house, Joe and his friends are involved in a large fight that destroys the house that they have been building.

Cast

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Production

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Burt Kennedywas originally announced as director.[2]

Presley was paid $850,000 plus 40% of the profits.[3]

The screenplay was adapted from the failed Broadway musicalWhoop-Upand retained many of the same plot devices and characters, including Joe's grandfather who refuses to live in a house, preferring his ancestralteepee.

Soundtrack

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For the first time sinceWild in the Country,neither anLP recordnor anextended-play singlewas planned for a Presley filmsoundtrack.Three songs were written for the film by the team ofSid WayneandBen Weisman,who had already contributed close to 50 songs for various Presley movies in the decade.[4]

Although released beforeSpeedway,this film and its soundtrack were made after the first of Presley's last five films in the 1960s in which musical numbers were kept to a minimum.[5]Therecording sessiontook place atRCA Studio BinNashvilleon October 1, 1967. At the end of the session, Presley made hisrecord producerFelton Jarvispromise to never release "Dominick," the song written for him to sing to the bull. However, the song is actually sung to two women in the movie without the bull present.[5]"Dominick" would eventually make its first official CD appearance on theKissin Cousins/Clambake/Stay Away, Joesoundtrack compilation in 1994 (long after the deaths of Presley and Jarvis); it had previously been released, unauthorized, as "Dominick the Impotent Bull" on the 1982 bootleg compilationElvis' Greatest Shit.The other two songs, "Stay Away, Joe"and" All I Needed Was the Rain, "were not even featured on a promotionalsinglefor the film premiere, but instead respectively appeared on thebudget albumsLet's Be Friendsin 1970 andElvis Sings Flaming Starin 1969.

Two additional songs related to the film were recorded at sessions on January 10 and 11, 1968 at the same studio. "Goin' Home" byJoy Byerswould not be used, surfacing on the soundtrack to the next Presley film,Speedway,while a different song entitled "Stay Away,"rewritten from the tune of"Greensleeves"bySid TepperandRoy C. Bennett,would appear as the B-side to the #28hit single"U.S. Male."[6]Released as catalog item 47-9465b on February 28, 1968, the B-side "Stay Away" would peak at #68 on theBillboardHot 100independently of "U.S. Male."[7]The producer in charge of the recordings forMGMwasJeff Alexander.[8]

Personnel

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Film music track listing

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  1. "Stay Away"(Sid TepperandRoy C. Bennett) (melody taken from "Greensleeves) "- heard over opening credits
  2. "Stay Away, Joe"(Sid WayneandBen Weisman)
  3. "All I Needed Was the Rain" (Sid Wayne and Ben Weisman)
  4. "Dominick" (Sid Wayne and Ben Weisman)

Reception

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Kevin Thomas of theLos Angeles Timeswrote that the film "... could scarcely seem more embarrassingly tasteless or ill-timed than right now. In an unintentionally patronizing way it projects an image of theIndianas happy-go-lucky, immoral and irresponsiblejust when the public is becoming aware of how truly tragic his plight is.No amount of good-naturedness—and 'Stay Away, Joe!' undeniably has plenty of that—can compensate for humor based on stereotypes so offensive to minority-group sensitivities. "However, Thomas suggested that if it had been made in a different time,"... it would seem a pretty good picture. It has plenty of bounce, a strong cast... some spunky songs and good color photography of natural locales. "[9]

A review inVarietyreported "generally flat comedy" with "many forcedslapsticksituations ", and echoed Thomas's review by stating that the story was"... out of touch with latterday appreciation of some basic dignity in all human beings... At best, film is a dim artistic accomplishment; at worst, it caters to outdated prejudice.Custerhimself might be embarrassed — for the Indians. "[10]

The Monthly Film Bulletinreported: "Meandering Elvis Presley comedy, rather short on invention except for an amiably hectic finale... The musical offerings are if anything even less memorable than usual."[11]

References

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  1. ^"Big Rental Films of 1968" inVariety,8 January 1969, p. 15. Please note this figure is a rental accruing to distributors.
  2. ^Martin, Betty (June 28, 1967). "Eva Renzie in 'Pink Jungle'".Los Angeles Times.p. e11.
  3. ^Michael A. Hoey,Elvis' Favorite Director: The Amazing 52-Film Career of Norman Taurog,Bear Manor Media 2013
  4. ^Jorgensen, Ernst.Elvis Presley A Life in Music: The Complete Recording Sessions.New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998; p. 239.
  5. ^abJorgensen, op. cit., pp. 229, 239.
  6. ^Jorgensen, op. cit., pp. 241-242.
  7. ^Jorgensen, op. cit., p. 418.
  8. ^Jorgensen, op. cit., p. 239.
  9. ^Thomas, Kevin. "Presley Film in Multiples".Los Angeles Times.April 24, 1968. Part V, p. 10.
  10. ^"Stay Away, Joe".Variety:24. March 13, 1968.
  11. ^"Stay Away, Joe".The Monthly Film Bulletin.36(421): 35. February 1969.
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