Kissin' Cousins (1964)
An Army officer returns to the Smoky Mountains to try to convince his kinfolk to allow the Army to build a missile site on their land. Once he gets there, he discovers that he has a look-alike cousin.
ELViS feudin' ELViS lovin' ELViS swingin'...as he joins his mountain kinfolk for a hey, hey, hayride to a good ol' mountain music!
Captain Robert Salbo: It's part of our national defense system. You know, I-C-B-M.
Pappy Tatum: You-see-B-M, too? How can everybody see it but me?
Big Bear Lake, Big Bear Valley, San Bernardino National Forest, California, USA
Cedar Lake, Big Bear Valley, San Bernardino National Forest, California, USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA
(Studio)
Riffing on the similarity of every Elvis movie to every other Elvis movie, a studio executive once quipped: "Why do we bother to give his movies titles - Couldn't they just be numbered?"
The song "Pappy, Won't You Please Come Home" has been credited on occasion to singer Dolores Edgin, but it seems that co-star Glenda Farrell did her own vocals as Ma Tatum.
Elvis Presley supposedly loathed the "strawberry blond" wig he had to wear as the hillbilly cousin in this film, in part because it made him look as he had before deciding to dye his hair black in the mid-fifties.
Glenda Farrell, who plays Ma Tatum, and Tommy Farrell, who plays MSgt. William George Bailey, are mother and son in real life.
Because Presley's manager Colonel Tom Parker insisted on keeping the budget of all Elvis movies to a minimum, and a $750 optical was required to achieve the effect, the two cousins Presley plays are only seen together in the same shot four times--three in the beginning and once more at the end.
Continuity
Toward the end Jody grabs Pappy's suspenders from the back and the bottom disconnects from his pants. After Pappy breaks free and moves toward the house the suspenders are reattached to his waist.
Factual errors
Captain Salbo tells one of his men, "Get me SAC Headquarters in the Pentagon" SAC has been headquartered at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska since 1948, well before the time frame of this story.
Early in the film the Captain Salbo character wears a tropical Army Class A uniform, without decorations; decorations are mandatory on this uniform, especially with his service record described in the dialogue. Elvis' lieutenant character also wears Air Force service dress (Combo 1) with pilot wings but no decorations. USAF officers in 1964 would have at least the National Defense Service Medal. Also, military creases are not allowed in USAF uniform shirts, as Elvis' character wore.
Cpt. Salbo says the government wants to lease the Tatum's land. They would never just lease it; they would buy it outright, and if they refused to sell, they would have claimed it under the power of eminent domain.
Character error
Captain Salbo introduces himself as being from SAC, the Air Force's Strategic Air Command, but he is wearing an Army, not an Air Force, uniform (as are all the enlisted men).