Love Me Tender

Plot synopsis:
Presley plays Clint Reno, the youngest of the four Reno brothers who stays home to take care of his mother and the family farm as older brothers Vance, Brett and Ray fight in the American Civil War for the Confederate Army. The family is mistakenly informed that eldest brother Vance has been killed on the battlefield. After four years of war, the brothers return home and find that Vance's girlfriend Cathy has married Clint. Although Vance accepts this wholeheartedly ("We always wanted Cathy in the family"), the family has to struggle to reach stability with this issue. The subplot of unresolved passion carries the film; it is clear from the outset upon the Reno brothers return home that Cathy still loves Vance, although she is true to the younger Clint. Honor prevails for Vance, but jealousy turns Clint into an irrationally thinking rival for the love of the heroine. In the film's opening scenes, the main plot is presented; the three Reno brothers, serving as Confederate cavalrymen, attack a Union train carrying Federal payroll of $12,000. They do not know that the war ended only a day before. The Confederates come to a decision to keep the money as spoils of war, an issue that will come back into the plot after the Reno brothers return home. A conflict of interest ensues when Vance tries to return the money against the wishes of some of his fellow Confederates, all of whom are being sought by the U.S. Government for robbery. The film reaches its tragic conclusion with Clint's death during a final shootout. In the end, the money is returned, the Reno brothers are released, and the other three ex-Confederates are arrested. The youngest Reno brother is laid to rest at the family farm

Tags: cult, murder, violence

Review:
Hearing that the eldest son Vance (Egan) has died, Clint (Presley) and Vance's former love (Paget) marry in the aftermath of the murder of her parents and the Reno boys father.
As is in wartime, things become increasingly more difficult when he and his two other brothers Brett (Campbell) and Ray (Drury) to find this, as well the spoils of war haunting them shortly upon their return.It's an honest look at a difficult time in this country, with great performances all around -- from the handsome, impressive lead Richard Egan on down the cast.
Egan gives glimpses into the inner turmoil that sits just below the characters surface, making the character heartbreakingly sympathetic and admirable.It's Elvis Presley's best performance and (dare I say only worthwhile) role and film.
This was not one of the more cheesy moneymakers that Col. Tom Parker stuck him with for the remainder of his career (Girl Happy or Blue Hawaii for instance).Elvis showed great depth as an actor in his role as Clint Reno and also showed the potential to broaden his career from the premier musical superstar of our time into one of the crossover megastars that we see commonly today.His music is an integral part of the movie but it isn't put on display the way his future movies do.
When you watch this film, try to remember he hadn't done any of those 90-minute rock-n-roll videos with the likes of Ann-Margaret and Nancy Sinatra.LOVE ME TENDER is worth viewing if the viewer is willing to set aside their preconceived expectations of "just another Elvis movie.".
That the "King" is not in the main role gives the film more credibility and you can really say that Love Me Tender is a good movie.
With Elvis only as a troubadour works fine and the film remains a proper western too.Perhaps there has been better westerns too but the storyline in this one is enough interesting: a man returns from the American Civil War and finds his wife at home married to another man.
My guess would be that the story for Love Me Tender was probably laying around the offices at 20th Century Fox and would have been a B western starring Richard Egan.
Of course four songs had to be added, including the title tune, which was a rewording of the famous Civil War era ballad Aura Lee.The Reno brothers, Richard Egan, James Drury, and William Campbell go to war, enlisting in the Confederate Army.
The youngest brother Elvis Presley stays home to take care of Mother Reno, played by Mildred Dunnock and the family farm.
When it's reported that Egan was killed, fiancé Debra Paget marries Elvis.Of course all three Reno brothers return, sound of wind and limb.
The day after the Civil War ended, the brothers and others rob a Yankee paymaster and split the money.They're outlaws now, but a reasonable carpetbagger administrator played by Robert Middleton is willing to forgive and forget if he gets the money back.
Of course his hip wiggling gyrations in the post bellum South seem out of place, but that's what the ticket buyers to an Elvis film wanted.And he certainly sang Love Me Tender real good..
A trio of brothers fresh from a raid of a Union payroll find out that the war is over on their way to turn in the money to their General with the unit.Their commander Vance (Richard Egan) decides there is no Confederate Government to turn the cash in to.
Finally got around to seeing Elvis Presley's debut film in its entirety and in widescreen, and I think it's a good deal better than it's usually given credit for.
Richard Egan plays Vance Reno, who is serving in the Civil War and returns home after the war ends to join his family and reunite with his lover (Debra Paget).
But a tragedy ensues when it's learned that while he was away, his young brother Clint (Elvis) fell in love with and married his girl, after hearing that Vance had died.
Also factoring into the trouble is that Vance has kept some Union cash which he never delivered to its destination when he found out the war had ended in the interim.This turned out to be a good, solid story with fine performances, especially by Richard Egan.
For a film fan who never had any professional acting training or experience, he's really quite good as Clint Reno.
Though he didn't want to sing in this film, Presley was already a big recording star so of course there had to be songs in the movie.
Good beginning to Elvis Presley's film career.
Though this is the one film that Elvis didn't receive top billing for, his tremendous singing and acting ability go a long way toward making it a lot of fun to watch.
"Love Me Tender" was filmed as "The Reno Brothers" and was a solid western drama concerning a train robbery by Confederates before word got around that the war was over.
This was Richard Egan's and Debra Paget's movie; with Elvis Presley in a supporting role as Egan's hot headed kid brother.Therein lies the only fault with this picture.
In 1956 he was faulted for bad acting, which was a bum rap.Any Civil War movie benefits from being told from the Confederate side, as we were the good guys and the best fighters.
Despite switching the film's title from The Reno Brothers to Love Me Tender in order to capitalize on the young singer's popularity, Elvis still took second billing in his big screen debut, a typical Western that takes place just after the completion of the Civil War.
Love Me Tender's plot sets up a love triangle involving two brothers: Elvis' character Clint Reno (love that name) marries his big brother's sweetheart when the elder sibling fails to return from the war, but brother Vance unexpectedly shows up and naturally is not happy about the state of affairs on the family farm.
Headed by a cast that includes Richard Eagen, Debra Paget, Mildred Dunnock, Bruce Bennet, James Drury, and, oh yes, a young crooner making his film debut, Elvis Presley, "Love Me Tender" is a tidy post-Civil War western.
When the three brothers reach home, they face several unexpected changes that propel the rest of the film.Without Presley as Clint, the youngest Reno brother, who stayed home with their mother, "Love Me Tender" would likely have gathered dust in the vaults of Twentieth Century Fox. Not that the film lacks merit.
As an actor, the young rock and roll singer is quite good in the dramatic scenes; he has an easy natural quality, and the camera loves him.
Unfortunately for the film, but fortunately for his fans and music history, "Love Me Tender" features several songs by Presley, which have nothing to do with the Civil War. He delivers the rock songs with his trademark hip swiveling, which sent audiences wild on the Ed Sullivan show, but might have merited strong disapproval from Ante-Bellum Southerners.
A mixed bag, but all on the positive side, "Love Me Tender" showcases a young actor with dramatic potential, some 1950's rock and roll hits, and an engaging western story.
Elvis was truly beautiful in this sweet movie about a man who simply falls in love and marries his brother's girl.
A good film -two good actors Richard Egan, Elvis Presley!.
Richard Egan and Elvis Presley made this film.
I think it is the best film Elvis ever made.Yes a couple of other movies Elvis made (before he got into that "girlie here...girlie there...girlie everywhere thing" thanks to Col. Parker's unfortunate influence...)were good but this one (his first) was him at HIS BEST.Debra Padget and Richard Egan were great I thought.
A movie fans of Richard Egan and Elvis Presley will enjoy!!.
Elvis Presley's first movie "Love Me Tender" had an impact way beyond the imagination of many movie critics of the time.
The beautiful Debra Paget was well cast as Elvis's wife, and the popular actor Richard Egan along with Neville Brand playing the heavy gave the movie a lot of substance.The title song "Love Me Tender" became an Elvis classic in 1956 and helped to raise the movie way above many of it's contemporaries.
The story line was pretty much like a tv western and seemed awkward trying to fit Elvis' songs into the script.
Released in 1956 - Love Me Tender would be Elvis Presley's much-anticipated screen debut.
At 21 years of age, Elvis, the Pelvis, actually showed a truly remarkable zeal and assurance in his role as Clint Reno.Set in Texas during the American Civil War - Love Me Tender is a fairly entertaining Western/Drama, filmed in b&w, and featuring 4 musical numbers with Elvis (naturally) being the one at the helm of things.
This would be the one and only time in an Elvis Presley film where the soundtrack actually wasn't more important than the script.Love Me Tender's story revolves around the conflicting politics that take place between the 2 Reno brothers, Clint and Vance, and their mutual love for the same woman.
Rivalry and resentment naturally makes a play in all of this when the woman of their affections, Cathy, makes her final decision about which of the brothers she prefers as her special man.If you're a true, die-hard Western fan, then, perhaps, Elvis' swivelling hips may not be considered acceptable as an authentic period detail, but, all the same, past or present, the young, Texas gals in this flick absolutely loved it..
Three brothers return to the South after the Civil War with a load of Yankee money that the winning side wants back; at the same time, one brother finds out his girl hasn't waited for him.Presley's first film isn't bad.
There is some stiffness here, which isn't unexpected in anybody making his debut (though with Elvis it was something that was never completely shaken off) and his trademark moves during the songs while fun to see feel anachronistic in a Civil War Western film.
The other three songs are not quite as great but are still good, regardless of what can be said about how they're placed and how they fit.He is very well supported by the rest of the cast, the heart-wrenching Richard Egan stealing the film pretty much and Debra Paget is sympathetic and charming.
The conflicts are interesting enough, and the tragic finale is genuinely moving.For a modest budget, 'Love Me Tender' looks good, the western setting while not majestic, evocative or sweeping is handsome and not cheap and the black and white is quite nice.
Nor is the start of the film, until Elvis appears 'Love Me Tender' is pretty dull and uneventful.Parts don't fit with the story or setting as well as ought, one never feels like the film is set in the 1860s instead feeling like a 1950s film set amidst a Civil War backdrop.Overall, a decent if not great film and one of Elvis' better films and performances.
would love to see this one AND King Creole colorized, WOW you have to admit that would be so cool, it would be like watching a movie ABOUT Elvis Presley with Elvis playing himself!
Strictly as a star-vehicle (for a singer who was not yet a movie star), "Love Me Tender" proves to be an interesting footnote in the legend of Elvis Presley; as a piece of western-genre cinema, it is quite dreadful.
Richard Egan (in the most prominent role) does well, and the supporting cast featuring Debra Paget and Neville Brand is solid, yet it is Presley's acting debut which garners the most attention, and with good reason: his self-conscious sneering gives the picture its only intrinsic excitement (as well as a campy kick).
Love Me Tender is a supremely stupid movie, but one that has a certain appeal for nostalgists and lovers of drive-in level plotting and acting (not to mention Elvis fanatics who want to see him before he became a Viva Las Vegas cliché).There's no point in talking about the story itself--who would ever have thought the Post Bellum South looked so much like the hills where the TV show MASH was shot--and there is a whole rebel-whooping crowd of professional actors (except the ridiculous Debra Paget) who have to run blocker for the 22-year-old boy with a great, great voice and charisma, so why should you watch Love Me Tender the next time it shows on AMC?Cuz it's Elvis, singing the title song, the prettiest single piece of music he ever performed..
The singer was you know who, and he made his acting debut here as Clint Reno, naive, hip-swivelling younger brother of Richard Egan.
The singer would become a bonafide movie star with this box-office megahit, but only a handful of his subsequent films would be better, and only a few would even be as good..
As the US Civil War ends, three Confederate brothers and their gang rob a Union train.
Arriving home, they find little brother Elvis Presley (as Clinton "Clint" Reno) has grown up and married.
Older brother Richard Egan (as Vance) is hit hard by the news, because pretty Debra Paget (as Cathy) was waiting to be his bride.
While the three lovers work out their marriage problem, others are looking for the missing money...The first Presley film has the "rock 'n' roll" superstar taking over the screen.
Presley sings the multi-million selling classic "Love Me Tender" (which replaced "The Reno Brothers" as the film's title).
Webb ~ Elvis Presley, Richard Egan, Debra Paget, Mildred Dunnock.
Love Me Tender (1956) ** (out of 4) Over-dramatic film set at the end of the Civil War about a family torn apart due to stolen money and a love triangle.
"Love Me Tender" brought to the movies one of the most popular entertainers of all time, Mr. Rock 'N' Roll himself, Elvis Presley.
Why 20th Century Fox felt that starring him in a Western would be successful is merely academic When Elvis broke into gyrations and song, audiences were electrified The storyfilmed in black-and-white CinemaScope was about a bunch of Confederate soldiers who stole a Union Army payroll and then discover that, just five days ago, Lee had surrendered to Grant at Appomattox, ending the Civil War Hiding the money, The Reno brothers (Richard Egan, William Campbell, and James Drury) decide to use it for themselves, and return home to the family farm and their kid brother Clint Presley was cast as a Texas farm boy who marries his cavalry-man brother's sweetheart when news of his brother's death filters through But the brotherplayed by Richard Egan isn't dead at all and incurs Presley's jealousy by resuming his friendship with his former sweetheart the beautiful Cathy Reno (Debra Paget) The situation went from bad to worse In his first motion picture, Elvis proved to be a rugged fighting man, a wonderful loving man and a terrific singing man Hear him sing: "Let Me," "We're Gonna Move," "Poor Boy," and "Love Me Tender.".
This film is a solid Civil war drama w/ a strong cast and a realistic and believable main story and supporting subplots.
When it was announced that 21-one year old Elvis Presley would make his debut as a film actor, the publicity was huge.
Dean was also a trained actor by the time he became a star, whereas the thought of making Elvis Presley into an actor was clearly based on a wish to capitalize on his popularity as a singer.The result, LOVE ME TENDER, was a decent enough start.
It's a straight-forward western, covering the lives of four brothers, three of whom have just returned home from service during the Civil War in 1865.
Both their mother and fourth and youngest brother Clint (Elvis Presley...) are extremely happy to see them back.
In the very last scene, we witness Clint (or really, Elvis) singing "Love Me Tender" to us through a ghost-like image.
I actually found the rest of the actors in this films pretty boring and forgettable, but I think it was made that way so the focus would be on the rising star at that time, Elvis Presley.
The ending was actually my favorite part of the movie, where Clint (Presley) has just been shot and he begs of forgiveness to his brother.
Elvis' First Movie Is A Pretty Good Post Civil War Western.
Elvis' first movie is pretty good.
Indeed, Elvis didn't win top billing, but he has the plum role in "Love Me Tender."The story opens on April 10,1865, and the Reno brothers, are part of a Confederate General Randall's unit that raids a Northern payroll train down around Louisiana and takes the money.
When he shows up, Vance discovers that Cathy has married his younger brother Clint (Elvis Presley) because she thought Vance had died.
Elvis dies in the end, the only time that he ever died in a movie.
A well done post civil war western drama set in April 10, 1865 with the Reno Bros.
Vance (Egan) plans to get married to his sweetheart Cathy (Debra Paget) who's been waiting 4 years but is surprised to find she's already married to his brother who stayed home Clint (Elvis Presley).
Mike Gavin starts filling Clint's head with idea's that Vance's only intention is to run off with all the money & Cathy whom they were in love before & during the war.
This is a good debut for Elvis in a solid western drama with a good story & plot & some twists & surprises.
Elvis sings 4 songs which are good but unnecessary but at least the music doesn't overshadow & dominate the movie & get in the way of the story.
It has an excellent cast & it's one of Elvis' best acting as he does a good job in a supporting role.