Serious reviews of Kissin’ Cousins lament that it was the start of a bad trend in Elvis movies – low-budget, quickie-filmed, light-weight fluff. Some even call it his worse movie. I don’t care. I like Kissin’ Cousins for one reason: Yvonne Craig.
I don’t think any other actress sizzled on screen with Elvis as hot as she did. Those two radiated lust in Kissin’ Cousins and also in It Happened at The World’s fair.
Although Kissin’ Cousins was filmed after Viva Las Vegas, it was released first on March 6, 1964, making it Elvis’ 14th movie. Sources say it was filmed in three weeks at a cost of only $800,000. By comparison, Viva cost $4,000,000 and took two months to film. Guess which one made more profit for the studio, Elvis, and Col. Parker. After Kissin’ Cousins, the dye was cast for future Elvis movies.
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Movie Posters:
Shots from the Movie:
Elvis Presley plays a dual role in Kissin’ Cousins. Dark-haired Elvis plays Air Force officer Josh Morgan, but as blond-haired Jodie Tatum, he appears as a girl-chasin’ mountain Romeo. Josh is assigned the task of persuading the Tatums, his distant relatives on his mother’s side, to sell their Tennessee mountain land for use as a missile site.
Jodie’s two cousins are Selena and Azalea Tatum, played by Pam Austin and Yvonne Craig. Both vie for Josh’s attention, but Azalea wins out about halfway through. Josh pulls off a little match-making with one of his Air Force buddies and Selena, getting her out of the competition.
Most Elvis movies have pretty girls parading around in scanty bikinis, but they are usually on a beach in Hawaii or Florida. In Kissin’ Cousins we get them in the Smokey Mountain woods and inside the Tatum cabin.
Lobby Cards:
Publicity Shots:
Oops, there’s those bathing suits again.
Hey, this is starting to be a trend.
Come on. Is this the only kind of publicity shots they took? (No, just the ones I chose)
Okay, okay. Here a little trick photography of the two characters Elvis played.
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Back Stage Photo:
If you study this photo for a moment, it appears Yvonne might have had some designs on Elvis away from the script, too.
Foreign Posters:
French Poster
German Poster
I used Google Translate to look up the translation of this title to English. They said it is The Wild Broads of Tennessee. Seriously – check it out.
Italian Poster
This one translated to The Mount of Venus.
I don’t know how to type this title into Google Translate, so who knows what it means.
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Kissing the Co-Star:
Both of Elvis’ characters wound up with the girl. Here, Jodie is kissing Army Corporal Midge Riley, played by Cynthia Pepper.
And Josh about to lock lips with Azalea. But you have to go back to It Happened at the World’s Fair for the best kiss between Elvis and Yvonne Craig.
Well, that’s it. Did I mention that I really like Yvonne Craig?
© 2013 Philip R Arnold, Original Elvis Blogmeister All Rights Reserved www.ElvisBlog.net
Elvis, Elvis Presley, and Graceland are registered trademarks of Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc.
If I think it is natural to Elvis Presley especially the great pop music that he produced all the splendor guy by an abundant amount of drugs was not very old. That he is Yvonne Craig, a handsome young lady, knew so well and in 1964 in ´Kissing Cousins´ acted with her, while in 1966 for Batgirl played, and even put down a double role would almost not noticeable.
Yvonne nevertheless looked delicious with her jeans in overall shape and when she stood on a pit and put her beautiful bottom was bent down tight in her pants! However, I had found it more beautifully as Presley once Yvonne over the knee took a lot for her to give her pants and her friend Cynthia Pepper as well since they also had a nice jeans to! A serving of spanking had both young ladies fixed no harm done if they were taken with Elvis on the right shoulder when he played double role in that forest are!
Hi Jules. Thanks for a very unique comment. I’m glad you enjoy ElvisBlog.
Phil Arnold, Original ElvisBlogmeister
Als ik aan Elvis Presley denk is het natuurlijk vooral de geweldige popmuziek die hij produceerde al werd de prachtkerel door een overvloedige hoeveelheid drugs niet erg oud. Dat hij Yvonne Graig, een knappe jongedame, zo goed kende en in 1964 in ´Kissing Cousins´ met haar mee acteerde, terwijl zij in 1966 voor Batgirl speelde, en zelfs een dubbelrol neerzette zou bijna niet zijn opvallen. Yvonne zag er niettemin heerlijk uit met haar jeans in overallvorm en toen zij op een put stond en bukte werd haar mooie achterwerk goed strak gezet in haar broek! Toch had ik het wel prachtiger gevonden als Presley een keer Yvonne over de knie nam om haar een flink pak voor haar broek te geven en haar vriendin Cynthia Pepper eveneens daar zij ook een mooie jeans aan had! Een portie billenkoek had beide jongedames vast geen kwaad gedaan al werden ze wel bij Elvis over de rechterschouder genomen toen hij in dat bos zijn dubbelrol speelde!
Someone likes Kissin Cousins? That’s a first! Now I’ve been enjoying some of his movies that I should probably be ashamed of, but this is not one of them, I’m afraid. Though I might just warm up to it if I watched it again.
Elvis with blonde hair just doesn’t work for me. I know, he was a blonde as a kid and all but it just doesn’t.