Viva Las Vegas Review
“Bright light city gonna set my soul, gonna set my soul on fire…” At least seventy-five percent of all people who hit the Vegas strip for the first time are at least singing that in their heads, and why not? There is no entertainer who is more linked to Las Vegas than Elvis, and “Viva Las Vegas” is the most popular song ever written about sin city.
For many baby boomers, the movie Viva Las Vegas was their first exposure to the bright lights and intense atmosphere of the Vegas casinos. In the film, Elvis Presley plays Lucky Jackson, a racecar driver who takes a job as a waiter in a Las Vegas casino in order to afford an engine for his race car. Playing the love interest in this film is the stunning Ann-Margret.
When you watch this movie, you’re going to get what you expect out of it. It’s campy, it’s a musical and most importantly, it’s Elvis in his prime. This movie is special because we get to see both the King and Las Vegas before they became commercial. Tack on some killer performances by Presley and Margret, and you have a phenomenal film for the time, and probably the best movie that Elvis would ever do, a homage to his future home of Las Vegas.
Stunning visuals, great songs and a chance to look at historical Las Vegas for an hour and twenty minutes make this movie a definite rental, or purchase if you can find it.
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