This is actually a very good Elvis movie. The plot concerns a bunch of hillbillies, the Kwimpers - a dad, his son, and three orphans, who take over some beach property under the Homestead act after they run out of gas there. Elvis portrays a dummy of sorts - he plays it very naturally and he's quite funny! It's not so much that he's dumb, but he's so guileless, literal, and helpful, he seems that way. With these attributes, he continually gets the best of the bad guys, including a mobster, Simon Oakland, Joanna Moore, from child welfare, and assorted others. The conceit makes for some hilarious scenes. In one, the mobster, after Elvis beats up his thugs, decides to blow up Elvis' family home. They prepare a bomb and put it in a box. When Elvis sees it, he thinks the mobsters have forgotten their package and dutifully returns it. BAM.

One poster mentioned that Elvis doesn't try to look as if he's singing. Apparently, he was notorious for not bothering much with lipsynching, though I'm not sure why. For my money, the only really good song in this film is the title one. And lipsynching or not, Presley looks great.

I guess we can spend time lamenting the fact that Elvis didn't make better films or get the acting opportunities he deserved, or we can enjoy what we have. And Follow That Dream is better than most.