Girls! Girls! Girls!

For similarly titled works, see Girls Girls Girls (disambiguation).

Girls! Girls! Girls!
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Norman Taurog
Screenplay by	Edward Anhalt Allen Weiss
Story by	Allan Weiss
Produced by	Hal B. Wallis
Starring	Elvis Presley Stella Stevens Laurel Goodwin
Cinematography	Loyal Griggs
Edited by	Stanley E. Johnson
Music by	Joseph J. Lilley
Production company	Hal Wallis Productions
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release dates	October 31, 1962 (1962-10-31) (Honolulu) November 21, 1962 (1962-11-21) (Los Angeles)
Running time	106 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$2,600,000 (USA)

Girls! Girls! Girls! is a 1962 Golden Globe-nominated American musical comedy film starring Elvis Presley as a penniless Hawaiian fisherman who loves his life on the sea and dreams of owning his own boat. "Return to Sender", which reached No. 1 on the Billboard pop singles chart, is featured in the film. The film opened at #1 on the Variety box office chart and finished the year at #19 on the year-end list of the top-grossing films of 1962. The film earned $2.6 million at the box office.

The film was the second of three films Presley shot on location in Hawaii.

Plot

Elvis Presley plays Ross Carpenter, a Hawaiian fishing guide and sailor who enjoys boating and sailing out on the sea. When he finds out his boss is retiring to Arizona, he seeks to find a way to buy the Westwind, a boat that he built with his father.

Ross is caught in a love triangle with two women: childish, insensitive club singer Robin (Stella Stevens), and sweet Laurel (Laurel Goodwin). When Wesley Johnson (Jeremy Slate) makes advances on Laurel, Ross punches him out. Wesley owns the boat, so Ross thereby loses it. Laurel, however, is not who she pretends to be. Ross has to choose between her and Robin.

Cast

• Elvis Presley as Ross Carpenter
• Stella Stevens as Robin Gantner
• Laurel Goodwin as Laurel Dodge
• Jeremy Slate as Wesley Johnson
• Benson Fong as Kin Yung
• Robert Strauss as Sam Anderson
• Ann McCrea as Mrs. Arthur Morgan (uncredited)
• Jack Nitzsche as Piano Player in Lounge Band (uncredited)
• Nestor Paiva as Arthur Morgan (uncredited)
• Linda Rand as Village Woman (uncredited)
• Edward Sheehan as Ed-Man on Dock (uncredited)
• Red West as Bongo-Playing Crewman on Tuna Boat (uncredited)

Soundtrack

Main article: Girls! Girls! Girls! (soundtrack)

Reception

A review in Variety wrote that the film put Presley "back into the non-dramatic, purely escapist light musical vein," adding, "Essentially, Presley plays himself in the breezy sea session. He handles the role capably, though one would hardly expect a hardened fisherman to be as soft, smooth and white as the one Presley depicts. The character has little depth, but he is pleasant." The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote in a fairly positive review that the songs were "strung very pleasantly on a story-line of disarming simplicity and bedded comfortably in a stretch of gently fizzing repartee." Margaret Harford of the Los Angeles Times called it "no better or worse than previous Elvis epics."

Awards and nominations

• Golden Globes: Nominated for Best Motion Picture - Musical at the 1963 ceremony. The winner that year was The Music Man. Elvis Presley received a 2nd place Laurel Award for the best male performance in a musical for his acting role in this movie.

Box office

Girls! Girls! Girls! earned $2,600,000 at the box office in the United States.

See also

• List of American films of 1962

External links

• Elvis in Hawaii fansite.
• Girls! Girls! Girls! at IMDb
• Girls! Girls! Girls! at the TCM Movie Database
• Girls! Girls! Girls! at AllMovie

Movie reviews

• Review by Jamie Gillies at Apollo Movie Guide

DVD reviews

• Review of the movie collection "Lights! Camera! Elvis! Collection (King Creole, Blue Hawaii, G.I. Blues, Fun in Acapulco, Roustabout, Girls! Girls! Girls!, Paradise, Hawaiian Style, Easy Come, Easy Go) by Paul Mavis at DVD Talk, August 6, 2007.
• Review by Jon Danziger at digitallyOBSESSED!, February 3, 2003.