Wild in the Country

Hailing from a unique confluence of artists – the incomparable Elvis Presley, veteran director Philip Dunne and acclaimed screenwriter Clifford Odets – Wild in the Country (1961) is an intriguing blend of melodrama and music that hits the mark with splendid casting. The King plays a hard-luck yet innately talented Shenandoah Valley delinquent guided toward a better future as a writer by a supportive psychiatrist (Hope Lange). Tuesday Weld and Millie Perkins play, respectively, his sultry cousin and childhood sweetheart, also vying for his affections, and John Ireland and Gary Lockwood are a father and son who have it in for our rebel hero. Four Presley tunes and a score by the great Kenyon Hopkins grace the soundtrack.