''Stay Away, Joe'' is a 1968 American

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

film with musical interludes, set in modern times and starring

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

Burgess Meredith Oliver Burgess Meredith (November 16, 1907 – September 9, 1997) was an American actor and filmmaker whose career encompassed theater, film, and television. Active for more than six decades, Meredith has been called "a virtuosic actor" and "on ...

Katy Jurado María Cristina Estela Marcela Jurado García (16 January 1924 – 5 July 2002), known professionally as Katy Jurado, was a Mexican actress. Jurado began her acting career in Mexico during the Golden Age of Mexican cinema. In 1951, she was rec ...

and

Joan Blondell Joan Blondell (born Rose Joan Bluestein; August 30, 1906 – December 25, 1979) was an American actress who performed in film and television for 50 years. Blondell began her career in vaudeville. After winning a beauty pageant, she embarked on ...

. Directed by

Peter Tewksbury Henry Peter Tewksbury (March 21, 1923 – February 20, 2003) was an American film and television director. Biography Born in Cleveland, he attended Dartmouth College but left to serve as a US Army captain in the Pacific during WWII. Follow ...

, the film is based on the 1953 satirical farce novel of the same name by Dan Cushman. The film reached number 65 on the ''

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'' weekly national box office chart in 1968.

Plot

Native American rodeo rider Joe Lightcloud is a Navajo whose 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 homosexual 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. 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. In a fight 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

as Joe Lightcloud *

as Charlie Lightcloud *

as Glenda Callahan *

as Annie Lightcloud *

Thomas Gomez Thomas Gomez (July 10, 1905 – June 18, 1971) was an American actor. Life and career Born Sabino Tomás Gómez, Jr., in New York City, Gomez began his acting career in theater in 1923, studying under actor Walter Hampden in a production of Cy ...

as Grandpa * Henry Jones as Hy Slager * L.Q. Jones as Bronc Hoverty * Quentin Dean as Mamie Callahan * Douglas Henderson as Congressman Morrissey *

Dick Wilson Dick Wilson (July 30, 1916 – November 18, 2007) was an American actor who was best known as grocery store manager Mr. George Whipple in more than 500 Charmin bathroom tissue television commercials (1965–89, 1999–2000). Biography Dick Wi ...

as Car Salesman * Joe Esposito (uncredited) * Charlie Hodge (uncredited)

Production

Burt Kennedy Burton Raphael Kennedy (September 3, 1922 – February 15, 2001) was an American screenwriter and director known mainly for directing Westerns. Budd Boetticher called him "the best Western writer ever." Biography Kennedy was born in 1922 i ...

was originally announced as director. Presley was paid $850,000 plus 40% of the profits.Michael A. Hoey, ''Elvis' Favorite Director: The Amazing 52-Film Career of Norman Taurog'', Bear Manor Media 2013 The screenplay was adapted from the failed Broadway musical '' Whoop-Up'' and retained many of the same plot devices and characters, including Joe's grandfather who refuses to live in a house, preferring his ancestral

teepee A tipi , often called a lodge in English, is a conical tent, historically made of animal hides or pelts, and in more recent generations of canvas, stretched on a framework of wooden poles. The word is Siouan, and in use in Dakhótiyapi, Lakȟó ...

Soundtrack

For the first time since ''

Wild in the Country ''Wild in the Country'' is a 1961 American musical–drama film directed by Philip Dunne and starring Elvis Presley, Hope Lange, Tuesday Weld, and Millie Perkins. Based on the 1958 novel ''The Lost Country'' by J. R. Salamanca, the screenplay ...

'', neither an LP record nor an extended-play single was planned for a Presley film

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. Three songs were written for the film by the stalwart team of

Sid Wayne Sid Wayne (January 26, 1923 – December 26, 1991) was an American songwriter, lyricist and composer, who wrote a number of well-known songs from the 1950s to the 1980s. Almost every Elvis Presley film contained one or more works written by Wa ...

and Ben Weisman, who had already contributed close to 50 songs for various Presley movies in the decade. Although released before ''

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'', 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.Jorgensen, op. cit., pp. 229, 239. The

recording session The term studio recording means any recording made in a studio, as opposed to a live recording, which is usually made in a concert venue or a theatre, with an audience attending the performance. Studio cast recordings In the case of Broadway m ...

took place at

RCA Studio B RCA Studio B was a music recording studio built in 1956 in Nashville, Tennessee by RCA Victor. Originally known simply as "RCA Studios," Studio B, along with the larger and later RCA Studio A became known in the 1960s for being an essential fa ...

in Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville on October 1, 1967. At the end of the session, Presley made his record producer Felton Jarvis promise 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. "Dominick" would eventually make its first official CD appearance on the ''Kissin Cousins''/''Clambake''/''Stay Away, Joe'' soundtrack 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 compilation ''Elvis' Greatest Shit''. The other two songs, "Stay Away, Joe (song), Stay Away, Joe" and "All I Needed Was the Rain," were not even featured on a promotional single (music), single for the film premiere, but instead respectively appeared on the budget albums ''Let's Be Friends'' in 1970 and ''Elvis Sings Flaming Star'' in 1969. Two additional songs related to the film were recorded at sessions on January 10 and 11, 1968 at the same studio. "Goin' Home" by Joy Byers would not be used, surfacing on the soundtrack to the next Presley film, ''

'', while a different song entitled "Stay Away (Elvis Presley song), Stay Away," rewritten from the tune of "Greensleeves" by Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennett, would appear as the B-side to the #28 hit single "U.S. Male." Released as catalog item 47-9465b on February 28, 1968, the B-side "Stay Away" would peak at #68 on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100 independently of "U.S. Male." The producer in charge of the recordings for MGM was Jeff Alexander.

Personnel

– vocals * The Jordanaires – backing vocals * Pete Drake – pedal steel guitar * Scotty Moore, Chip Young – electric guitar * Charlie Hodge – acoustic guitar * Charlie McCoy – organ (music), organ, harmonica * Hoyt Hawkins – organ (music), organ * Floyd Cramer – piano * Bob Moore – double bass * D.J. Fontana, Buddy Harman – drum kit, drums

Film music track listing

# "Stay Away (Elvis Presley song), Stay Away" (Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennett) (melody taken from "Greensleeves)"- heard over opening credits # "Stay Away, Joe (song), Stay Away, Joe" (

and Ben Weisman) # "All I Needed Was the Rain" (Sid Wayne and Ben Weisman) # "Dominick" (Sid Wayne and Ben Weisman)

Reception

Kevin Thomas of the ''Los Angeles Times'' wrote 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 the Native Americans in the United States, Indian as happy-go-lucky, immoral and irresponsible Civil Rights Act of 1968, just 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." A review in ''

'' reported "generally flat comedy" with "many forced slapstick situations", 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. George Armstrong Custer, Custer himself might be embarrassed — for the Indians." ''The Monthly Film Bulletin'' reported: "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."

References

External links

* * * *
Elvis – The Hollywood Collection (Kissin' Cousins/Girl Happy/Tickle Me/Stay Away, Joe/Live a Little, Love a Little/Charro!)
Review by Stuart Galbraith IV a
DVD Talk
September 11, 2007. {{Peter Tewksbury 1968 films 1960s musical films American Western (genre) comedy films Films directed by Peter Tewksbury Films based on Western (genre) novels Films based on American novels Films scored by Jack Marshall Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Neo-Western films 1960s Western (genre) comedy films 1968 comedy films Films about Native Americans 1960s English-language films 1960s American films