#guy lambert

[deke-rivers-1957]

Double Trouble Review

Originally slated to be a Julie Christie movie, the head of MGM Robert O'Brien demanded that it would be written as an Elvis movie instead. Irwin Winkler, Christie's manager, was slated to be the producer in his first Hollywood picture. Supposedly, the inspiration for the new plot was a novel by Mark Brandel with the working title being "You're Killing Me". Given that Julie Christie is a British actress, the movie of course is set in Europe starting in London.

Meanwhile veteran Elvis director Norman Taurog was reaching an age where he couldn't direct like he used to as he was going blind. Winkler would also have another plate to juggle in the form of Annette Day, a young woman from the UK who's making her film debut. Fun fact, she was actually handpicked by the other producer for the film, Judd Bernard when he was on a vacation in London. With all the cards stacked against him was he able to salvage a last minute script overhaul, or were the odds just too much to overcome? Let's find out.

And now for something completely different. For the first part of "Double Trouble", we get b-roll that has nothing to do with Elvis. He doesn't even start singing until after the opening credits end. I will get this out of the way now, but this is a very misleading title. There's no lookalike framing Guy and it's intentionally confusing on who is out to get him. Anyway, we get a surprisingly contemporary dance scene with Guy Lambert hitting up a night club in London. I guess that makes sense since American singers have done shows in London and then throughout Europe. Given that the nature of the movie was meant to be different, I can also see why they couldn't completely scrap the whole club aesthetic.

We get introduced to Claire who is a bit too on the nose on numerous watches as a femme fatale type. Guy immediately knows that she isn't sincere about feeling jealous over Guy's 17 year old girlfriend, Jill. I'll address the obvious issue right now. Guy in this moment of time is not a creep for being with her. He can't be accused of preying on a teenaged girl if he doesn't even know she is not 18. Even if he did know she was 17, their relationship is not depicted in anyway that suggests he even so much as kissed her.

When Jill arrives, he sings "Baby, If You Give Me All Your Love" which is your typical upbeat ballad. I have no idea what this mannequin head is supposed to be. If anyone has any guesses, leave a comment down below. As for the song, I can see this being a favorite if this is somehow someone's first Elvis movie. As it stands it doesn't work pacing wise. Like he sees Jill, sings a song, then goes to talk to her about how they should probably decide if they should get serious or not in not even 2 minutes. What I really want to know is how they even met for Guy to be in this position as we never get that backstory. As in, how could Guy be this deep with Jill and still barely know anything about her? If Claire was his girlfriend, I would get that since he at least knows she is not fully open about herself.

So they get to Guy's apartment as there is absolutely nothing going on between them. She makes tea, serves "bikkies" and just doesn't stop talking. Guy has zero game with her to the point where he puts on his own record "Could I Fall In Love?" only for her to fall asleep. To be fair to Jill, the instrumental was so long that in real life anyone would fall asleep in that situation. Again, it really makes you wonder why Guy is interested in her when they just do not seem compatible at all. Even if you take out the obvious difference being her age (which again he doesn't know), they just do not appear to be on the same page. If she doesn't even kiss Guy until now, you're left with the eternal question of what they actually during their time together that would even spark this type of emotion.

Things take a wild turn when Guy sits down on the tea. That genuinely shocked me the first time around as I wasn't expecting that to happen. I know he was probably wearing heavy duty pants but in real life, Jill would have to call a cab to take Guy to the emergency room for scald wounds on his butt. Jill gets up to leave in a hurry and is just now getting Guy's phone number which again you have to wonder how they even keep in touch with each other to plan stuff. There is also the mystery of why Jill says she is interested only to leave out of nowhere.

The bombardment of L's doesn't stop as after Jill leaves, Guy opens the door and immediately gets punched in the face. Absolutely no build up and he wasn't even the right person. What makes it better and worse is that we never see this guy again. There is just no call back to him at the end where it's revealed he was part of some scheme. He really does just show up, punch Guy out and leave without any additional context as to who he even wanted to punch. Why? Was there meant to be a connection that was just cut? I have so many questions on what the full intent was behind this movie and just how much was changed to fit Elvis being the lead. I would like to think this part was added in to make you think at first that it was Guy who was being targeted but by the end it just isn't clear. Now what's honestly incredible is how Guy is completely out cold all night which in real life would absolutely be a sign of a concussion. It's made even worse when wakes up only to hit himself in the head with his own phone. Keep in mind, this all this happens in the span of about a minute.

Elvis getting hit by the phone looks like it actually hurt since it looked like a real phone. It all happens so fast that I can't even get a screenshot of the exact moment the phone hits Elvis right in the head. Even if it was a fake phone, that had to at least sting a little bit. So he gets a call from Jill's uncle Gerald asking to meet Guy. Throughout the call you just think that Guy has a concussion since his words sound slurred. It has nothing to do with the movie, but I never liked the trope where you have a character get punched out then wake up hours later like nothing happened. I know this was the mid 1960s but looking at it through a modern lens, Guy needs to go to the hospital. Anyway, when Guy and uncle Gerald meet, the movie makes it even more clear that this relationship isn't creepy. Guy immediately breaks things off once he finds out Jill's just a school girl. Uncle Gerald as her guardian would have a right as well to ensure she's safe and Guy doesn't push the matter.

If anything Jill is the one who wants the relationship to work. She takes advantage of uncle Gerald sending her away to a boarding school which makes me wonder why he didn't just do that in the first place. We do get the first sign that uncle Gerald isn't all that he seemed since he somehow knew Jill was dating Guy. I can buy that he knew Jill was sneaking out since a concerned parental figure would want to make sure of such things. But if Jill is just now getting Guy's phone number, how else would he immediately assume Guy is a legit point of concern unless he did have someone to "spy" on her. I know on the first watch you won't immediately get that, but on multiple watches things make even less sense showing that the writers when making these changes didn't have the time to make these events tie together coherently.

The boat scene is actually well done by making it so foggy you can barely see what's happening. That's not sarcasm, this is meant to be London in either spring or winter based on the weather. This smiling guy is so creepy and he will absolutely not have anything to do in this movie except play a red herring on a line to nowhere. I know they are trying to make you think that he will have something to do with at least one plot, but they won't. Meanwhile Jill meets a young man who seemingly looks interested in being with her and a pair of thieves hide stolen diamonds in Guy's luggage. Because we need at least 3 plots going on in this movie. Also fun fact, the shorter thief was also in the Beatles film Hard Days Night as their road manager. I think he is the only actor that was in both a Beatles movie and an Elvis movie. Given how the British invasion coincided with Elvis' downfall in popularity, this is very ironic to have an actor that did play in a Beatles movie as they were his biggest competition.

Guy and his band the 3 Blind Mice (long time followers will get that reference) decide to sing "Long Legged Girl (With A Short Dress On) for whatever reason on the ship's deck in studio perfect sound quality. At this point songs are just thrown in because we need to be reminded that Guy is in fact a singer and that his band the G-Men really do exist. Meanwhile, after Guy essentially breaks things off with Jill a mysterious figure drops what looks like a suitcase over a railing. Then they unhook a luggage cart. It is very obvious someone wants to kill either Guy or Jill. 3 guesses as to who it is and why. Guy is not that famous to make him a John Lennon figure. Jill meanwhile has an inheritance and only one other living relative. The methods of these attempted killings don't even make sense either. For trying to avoid being suspicious, this assassin sure picks the wrong times to do it. Of all places to do it, why do it in front of a crowd full of people. I know they want us to believe the smiling guy is behind it, but if you are trying to be mysterious why make a potential suspect "obvious"?

To make things even more confusing, this random guy in a trench coat picks up the screw. As one does almost like he's investigating what just happened. Surely he won't be suspected of being a villain when he was actually good if not completed uninvolved in the main plot the whole time right? We cut to Guy singing "City By Night" in such a smoky room I can barely see all the details in the club's set. I do appreciate the return to this jazz/swing style of music akin to Elvis' King Creole era. Jill somehow knows the exact club Guy is playing at even though she's supposed to be in Brussels. By the way, so does Claire which makes her reveal all the more obvious when you watch this movie more than once. To make things even more strange, Guy almost gets hit by a car, the guy from the boat following Guy makes another appearance and the thieves look through his apartment. Because we need all these side characters only to not even give the 3 Blind Mice names. We also want to add to the belief that it's Guy who people want assassinated even though he really isn't that famous. Granted once you know the truth this scene does feel weird since anyone driving the car would clearly see Jill was coming out of the other side of the cab.

Things become even more weird when the tables have turned and Guy is the nervous one. Like he takes Jill to his hotel room while his band is nowhere to be seen as if they don't exist. He is fully aware of how out of line Jill is acting. I have no idea why he even liked her to begin with when he just seems nothing but annoyed to be around her. This whole scene is weirdly put together since you hear the ADR in some of Elvis' and Annette's lines. You have Jill wear a frilly nightgown as Guy comments at how wrong this is. She even lies about Uncle Gerald beating her as an excuse to stick around. It just feels gross and manipulative. Just make Jill the same age as Annette was if you want the same conflict without also making Guy aware that this will be seen as creepy. It's no longer a matter of things not aging well when you have your own character point out how wrong this is. Once they leave we're treated to a good ol fashioned children's song "Old MacDonald". I wish I was making this up. I know it isn't a pure version of the song but it's still Elvis singing about farm animals on the back of a truck when we didn't need it. Like why does this song exist even in the context of their relationship? Guy is absolutely annoyed with Jill so why would he be all chummy with her like this? At this point to cope with this reality, I like to headcanon that all of this is just a coma dream Guy is having from the concussion he got in the beginning.

This next scene only adds to that theory as they end up in Antwerp and a random guy for literally no reason fakes us out by pointing a prop gun at Jill. There are actual policemen that walk by and hear Jill scream only to do absolutely nothing. You just have to wonder: why? Why do this? Of what purpose does doing this serve when we never see him again? It just doesn't make sense when you watch this movie more than once since the red herrings don't even get to do anything outside of being a cheap scare. We get more shenanigans with the thieves trying to get Guy's suitcase. I know this is meant to be a festival but the next few minutes are basically a fever dream. If anyone is Belgian please let me know if this festival is even real. Guy sings "I Love Only One Girl" which pretty much covers all the European stereotypes and even an Arabian one as a bunch of people with creepy heads dance around. I have never seen anything like it with all these demonic looking outfits, guys in lederhosen, a flamenco dancer. Just strange and is nothing but padding to an already confusing plot.

To make things even more confusing is Claire keeps following Guy, Jill is dressed like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, and some men in masks make like they're going to attack Jill only to play a joke. That man in the trench coat who was following Jill when this all goes down? Does absolutely nothing when it very easily could have been a murder. I get it's supposed to purposely confuse you but the young man from earlier takes things over the top. At least Jill is smart enough to leave her mask like a clue almost like she suspects this young man. See he turns out to be a guy uncle Gerald hired to kill her.

That was the whole point of this and we get a very horrifying scene where a 17 year old girl is about to be thrown down a hole covered by broken wood. For an Elvis movie, this is a very dark turn of events since it really does come out of nowhere. Guy of course saves her but still a 17 year girl almost died. Given the society we live and how movies are escapism this is a bit too on the nose. Especially when you consider that a lot of cases like this start off the same way in the form of a charming young man gaining trust. The death of this young man means we surprisingly get an Elvis character with a canon body count. We see that he falls through the wood and is very clearly dead.

None of this is played off for laughs. Jill is in hysterics and Guy has to throw away his jacket. I'm amazed this death doesn't have anymore attention drawn to it. That could've been the double trouble as we have Guy thinking he will wrongly get in trouble for kidnapping Jill and Guy thinking he will get in trouble for actually killing that guy. I will give the movie props for not being initially predictable as I sure had no idea who was part of uncle Gerald's scheme. It only falls apart once you see it more than once and the red herrings never actually come together. Like did we really need multiple fake outs in one scene only for them to not lead anywhere?

The next day, we get another plot where two guys want to blow up their own ship. Why? I have no idea. Sure the captain says the point is to collect insurance but like? Why? Calling it Damocles makes it even more confusing. Sure there was a prominent sense of fear between Guy and Jill but this boat has absolutely nothing to do with that. These two guys are now just showing up and don't appear to be connected to anything that we just saw. That's the problem with trying to be mysterious: if you include too many red herrings you're going to end up with a bunch of characters that are introduced as being important only to play no role in the main story. Jill is in the papers for being assumed kidnapped, and an old woman with delusions thinks Guy is her missing husband. That last bit is not at all funny and did not age well. Was this actually meant to be a joke? I have no idea since I don't see how anyone would find this funny. This is just sad.

When they get to a hotel all I can think of is, where is the Georgie with the 3 Blind Mice? I know they are not important but at the same time I have to wonder what in the world they would be thinking since we do see they travel across Europe with Guy. Guy meanwhile gets very on the nose with Elvis' real life struggle in Priscilla. It's the inevitable fact that Guy will get together with Jill by the end that makes this whole conflict pointless. Him singing "There's So Much World To See" is pointless. Especially when he says they should end up as not lovers but friends and they would eventually break up anyway. The reason why this is pointless is because even if Claire was an actual option, the movie has spent no time to indicate that they even have chemistry. But it doesn't matter anyway as we get yet another plot point with the Belgian comedic trio, Weirt Brothers taking Guy into custody for allegedly kidnapping Jill and things get even more strange when Claire picks up Jill only to not take her to the police station.

Of course, Claire is in on this plot as she grabs a very specific bottle of wine from the trunk of her car. Instead of, you know, the numerous bottles that are probably already in her house. Obviously, Jill is going to get drugged so it would be easier to kill her. Instead of just going through the easier route of poisoning her with the wine. What also drags on the non-tension is that the police are just playing cards with Guy instead of actually looking for Jill. If she was actually kidnapped and in danger, they should all be out there looking for her.

Guy of course has to be the only competent person in the room by doing his best to find Jill. Which he does and actually beats Claire up. What a movie as all the plots come together. Jill is saved from being overcome by the gas, Claire rats out Uncle Gerald so both are arrested. Guy drinks what I thought was the drugged wine and we get a turn of events where she turns 18 and spills wine on him.

In another turn of events, the mysterious man in the trench coat was really from Scotland Yard looking for the diamond thieves. I legit laughed when Guy just goes flying to tackle him to the floor thinking he was part of the scheme to murder Jill. Instead of telling Guy that he was part of a completely unrelated investigation from the start, we had to have another mystery. Grayson would be so fired as the diamond thieves are never caught.

In a complete non sequitur ending, the two men on the boat succeed in blowing up the boat, and Guy marries Jill. Just to prove a lot of plots were pointless, the diamond thieves lose the suitcase in the explosion. Guy and Jill are now stranded in the middle of the ocean with absolutely no way to get help. But that doesn't now as they kiss as if the boat they were on didn't just explode. It really does end on a kiss like the writers genuinely couldn't figure out how to end the movie. Knowing the complete lead change, I totally understand why. It's still a shame that the movie really does just end and all you go is "that's it?" akin to Patchy the Pirate from Spongebob. For Annette's film debut, she was fine I guess. She just didn't stand out. I don't know if it's the writing or her acting, but outside of the scene where she was about to be thrown down a hole, her acting is forgettable. I do appreciate that we had actual European actors to give the film some credibility and even make Jill British Unfortunately, she never took off like anyone hoped she would. Just like this movie.

Once again, the obvious decision to make Guy the victim of a lookalike framing him for some crime was right there. I have no idea why they named the movie that. The working title is also pretty bad. "You're Killing Me" is just too generic to work and overemphasizes the amount of murders there actually was. Literally just have Elvis' stunt double play a lookalike where he is the one trying to murder Jill for uncle Gerald. Interestingly enough, there is a comparison to the Beatles movie HELP! in that it's a group of people chasing the Beatles throughout Europe. You can see that influence by having the 3 Blind Mice have Beatle cuts and make Georgie British. Another movie that somewhat had the same concept but executed it better was Tickle Me. Yes it had the same problem of not developing connections with some of the characters, but at least the scale of the world worked regarding the mystery behind it. You didn't have the issue of making the main characters scared of every random person they met. Instead you had a small town where everyone legitimately could be a suspect as they would all be close to Pam in some way.

I know this was probably not what Irwin Winkler had in mind and giving the movie a European setting does make it stand out, but this movie is not good. It's a 6 out of 10. I did like the first 15-20 minutes where the little moments genuinely caught me off guard. The problem is that once it's revealed Jill is 17 and she is an heiress the general concept of where this movie will go is spoiled. You already know to some extent that she will be the victim of attempted murder, but the movie doesn't do a good job of balancing mystery with cohesion. The scenes where Jill almost does die is such a dark turn that it almost doesn't fit in with the rest of the movie. The songs are forgettable and Old MacDonald is a complete joke. When you have a situation like this where things completely change you have to simplify the story as opposed to make it a lot more complicated. That just didn't happen. The saving grace of this movie is that it makes for a great way to celebrate 4/20 without having to get intoxicated.

An: Happy 4/20 everyone. Please indulge responsibly.

Tagging: @codalysssssworld, @presleysweetheart, @smokeymountainboy, @arrolyn1114, @peaceloveelvis,

@mercsandmonsters, @eapep, @atleastpleasetelephone, @without-him, @lucy114505,

@blighted-star, @rjmartin11, @elvisbdoll, @dragonkingsdaughter, @ifyouloveweedletsgosmoke,

@ilovequeen978, @fuzzymusic94, @halieghhh, @tacozebra051, @hooked-on-elvis,

@lola-1013, @father-of-2cats, @southcarolinawoman, @elvisflowerchild, @i-r-i-n-a-a,

@jadeeloveselviss, @xanatenshi, @thelonelyheart, @vintagepresley, @iloveelvis2,

@elvisfangirl92, @angelelvis, @chihirolunvh, @epcoffeelovenotes, @jd5824,

@ahundredlifetime, @alienelvisobsession, @eptodaytommorowforever, @freudianslumber, @wanderingelvis,

@lustnhim, @lvrdollep, @georgefairbrother, @bioshockpunch, @luckydaye777,

@stitchlover0112, @your-nanas-house, @mrsdeanpresley, @leopardandstuds, @joecartwright1842

and @lett-them-eatt-cake.

[hooked-on-elvis]

"City by Night" (1967)

From "Double Trouble" (MGM, 1967) soundtrack

[queensugardaily]

@dawnlyen @guylambertnews @joeclair Such a pleasure to spend the am with u, thx for having me on! (x)

@GuyLambertNews We're all smiles when @dawnlyen  from #QueenSugar aka #GimmieSugar stops by the @joeclair morning show on @WPGC! #WPGC #CBCF (x)

[deke-rivers-1957]

Kung Fu Elvis Part 6

If you're new to this series, the point of this is to find out which Elvis character is the best fighter given an uninterrupted, hand to hand combat styled fight. The goal is to rank each individual Elvis character and then within each tier determine who would win against who.

How I plan on determining this will be by finding each character's age, size and general background. How well a character does in on screen fights will also be considered but analyzed on a case by case basis. Sometimes an Elvis character loses a fight simply because it's a comedy, or due to the low quality stage fighting wins because his opponents are laughably weak.

At the end of the day this is all headcanon as these are all fictional characters. If you disagree with how I rank a character I would love to hear your thoughts on where you would put them.

So to expand on what I was thinking in Danny's tidbit, the beginning clearly shows that black people live in this neighborhood. Yet the scene where Danny goes to school has not a single black student. Granted it could be chalked up as an oversight since the school really only appears once, but it does reflect what New Orleans was like. While segregated schools were deemed illegal in 1954, enforcing that took time. New Orleans wouldn't have desegregated public schools until 1960 (2 years after King Creole was released). Even though black people don't really get a lot of attention, we do see black musicians in Maxie's club. Since we don't see Maxie mistreat them similar to how he mistreats Ronnie or bosses Shark around, we can assume that at the very least Maxie maintains a professional relationship reflect the shift in attitude towards enforcing desegregation. That's why I'm sticking with this taking place in the mid to late 1950s.

The Wikipedia page for this movie says Danny is 19. Like I said, if he was only repeating his senior year the first time that would make him 18 going on 19. He doesn't drink any alcohol nor does he serve alcohol. His original job is a busboy which you can be as young as about 16. For simplicity's sake, Danny will be 19 since he likely would've turned 19 over the course of the movie.

I didn't give Steve a rank but it's still fun to discuss history. For instance, the strongest clue that we are in the mid to late 1960s involve using real life racers in the opening credits. Stock car racing has been super popular in the south since the 1940s, but the real life Charlotte Motor Speedway wouldn't be opened until 1960. If we assume that Richard Petty in the movie is the exact same as the real life person, then his racing career started in 1958 with his best season being in 1967. Buddy Baker while he raced since 1959 wouldn't get his first win until 1967. If Steve Grayson is a very successful racer while these real life racers are participating, then this movie would actually need to be before 1967. And not just for one season but multiple seasons since Steve owes $150k in back taxes. Prize purses wouldn't be that big for Steve to owe that much in one tax year. While the cars used in the movie do include 1967 models, you can still assume that we start in 1964 and then after the montage it's now 1967.

There are many NASCAR series with the youngest racer ever varying, but the typical age limit is 18. Steve doesn't have a canon age, but the real life racers do. Going back to the assumption that everything happens the same way, Richard Petty would 30 and Buddy Baker would be 26 in 1967. For Steve to have his best seasons before 1967, he likely would be older than both of them. Therefore I would put Steve at about 31-32 years old.

This movie is so hard to pinpoint regarding time period with anachronistic it is. You have Blackie talk about a guy having Confederate money which only makes sense if this was 1865 immediately after the Civil War ended. Confederate money essentially became worthless once the Confederacy surrendered so there would be no reason to try using it to buy anything let alone gamble. At the same time you have Johnny singing about dating Lillian Russell who wouldn't even be born until 1860 and wouldn't be famous until at least the 1880s. Knowing that Mardi Gras wouldn't be a state holiday until 1875 doesn't help because we have the characters already know how a masquerade party operates and the Madam Pompadour costume references a woman from the 1700s. The Nellie Bly reference doesn't work either because the real Nellie Bly was born in 1864 and was never a stage performer as she is most well known for her trip around the world in 1889. There's also the issue that radios nor phones seem to exist, yet Johnny is singing black spirituals that wouldn't have known recordings until the 1920s. I just can't break it down any further than late 1860s-early 1920s based on everything we were given being true at the same time.

We know almost nothing about Johnny. He doesn't even have a last name. The legal gambling age doesn't help since the riverboat Johnny is on operates to specifically skirt around state laws and neither would the legal drinking age for the same reason. With cars not existing in plain sight and drivers licenses not even existing until the early 1900s, we can't go off of that either. Judging by his appearance let's just say Johnny is about 30.

I talked in great length about the US-UK relations so I'll focus on how the US-Belgium relations history. The people in Belgium treat Guy favorably meaning the people as a whole didn't see Americans as an enemy. Favorable relations existed since at least the 1800s and still exist today which isn't all that helpful. Belgium doesn't speak English at the same rates as their neighbors so we can't look at a specific date where it became an official language. Therefore we have to look even closer at the cities in Belgium that are featured/mentioned: Brussels and Antwerp. Brussels is big enough that uncle Gerald wants to send Jill to a boarding school there with the economy as a whole experiencing a large growth from foreign investment in the 1960s. As for Antwerp, there was a decade plan from 1956-1965 to modernize their ports. We don't get to see much of it, but Guy and Jill going to the S.S Damocles out of desperation shows some of it. The ship itself is so rusted up, that it looks out of place in an otherwise clean port. Therefore I stand by my opinion that this takes place around 1966.

I already talked about Guy's age in my tidbit and I don't really have anything else to add. I still stand by having him be about 31.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Danny gets into multiple altercations and even fights Maxie while he has a gun. Since Danny survived that fight without getting shot, that boosts his case. His fight against Shark involved a knife and while they should both be disqualifying factors, Danny didn't need to rely on a weapon to win. Shark dying from getting stabbed was an unintended consequence. Danny won because he overpowered Shark which still requires both skill and strength.

Danny does look scrawny. However, he isn't starving. Mr. LeGrand I imagine would allow him to have a cheap meal in between shows. With how successful his shows are after Maxie dies and the city as a whole experiencing economic growth, Danny can live quite comfortably. With his act being very physical, Danny's stamina at his age can only get better. Easily A tier.

Steve punched a man out. And that's it. One punch isn't a fight by my rules so it's disqualified from counting towards a rank.

Racers while not bound to a specific weight do prefer light drivers. As much as Steve has over $100k in debt, he won't starve. His skill as a racer hasn't declined, so he would still be able to live somewhat comfortably. Outside of that, Steve would be mostly sedentary and could only stay fit on his own time. While he would probably still be in B tier he does not rank there's nothing in canon that shows his skill level.

Johnny fought a drunk Braden that ended with Braden getting hit by Mitzi with a champagne bottle. That's outside interference which disqualifies the fight from counting towards a rank.

Johnny is in constant gambling debt on a riverboat. He works there and wouldn't go hungry if he's part of the entertainment group. With how successful his latest act is, the need to gamble is gone. He would be able to live comfortably and unless absolutely necessary, wouldn't need to fight. I would put him C tier as he would just be average, but his only altercation doesn't count so he doesn't rank either.

He only has one fight but it's against a trained hitman. But he won. Without a weapon or outside help. That automatically makes him above average.

Similar to Danny and Johnny, Guy would have a comfortable lifestyle. He even admits to such as he gets a decent amount of money doing international shows. Assuming Jill gets her full inheritance eventually, Guy being married to her means he likely won't have perform to live anymore. He stays in B tier since he does still have skill past 30 but I think Danny could beat him.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To summarize this part:

Danny is in A.

Guy is in B.

Steve and Johnny DNA and will not get a rank.

Tagging: @callieselvisobsessed, @vintagepresley, @somethingaboutelvis, @tupelomiss, @eapep,

@freudianslumber, @makethemorning, @southcarolinawoman, @thelonelyheart, @ssinnerplazahotel,

@squaggleson, @hooked-on-elvis, @smokeymountainboy, @swingdownsweetchariot, @suraemoon,

@be-my-ally, @thatbanditqueen, @pledgingmylovee, @arrolyn1114, @foreverlovingelvis,

@presleyslilbaby and @seredelgi.

[deke-rivers-1957]

Guy Lambert's Rank

Disclaimer: For my tier list I’m basing this off of a one on one fight with no weapons or no outside interference. If a character has to rely on a weapon to win they’re typically ranked lower. If a character has to fight more than one person at a time, I’ll look at it on a case by case basis. Age, size and general background are factors that will be taken into consideration. Since a lot of those details are going to be up to interpretation as these are characters and not real people, feel free to share your own thoughts.

There doesn't appear to be anything specific that tells us when this takes place. I am not European so I'll do my best to breakdown context clues. For one there is the obvious fact that the G-men have Beatles mop-top hair styles which was extremely popular in the mid 1960s. Jill essentially being sent to a boarding school also showcases the time period. Going to one is seen as a combination of both living up to the prestigious family history she has and also Uncle Gerald trying to control her rebellious nature. With the large influence of US popular culture since WWII, traditionalism in the UK started to dwindle. This resulted in young Londoners to take on more counterculture beliefs including the dance scene. Coupled with the Belgian police chief having a 1964 Volkswagen Sedan, we are solidly in the mid 1960s.

Guy does not have a canon age. We don't get to see his passport so we only have the fact that he can work in places that sells alcohol to go off of. Belgium and the UK have unrestricted age limits once you are 18. Since Guy is able to get specific VISAs for England and Belgium for his shows by himself, he is clearly an adult. Therefore the only thing I can base it on is how old Elvis was. Double Trouble was filmed in 1966 making Elvis 31 so therefore Guy is 31 as well.

While Guy did get punched earlier in the movie, that doesn't count as he had no intention of fighting anyone. One lucky hit doesn't make you a good or bad fighter.

This fight scene ended with an actual death. No weapons, no interference. Just making the best use of your environment. While it looks unrealistic for Guy to chop through wood, they prefaced this by having this unnamed hitman (which according to elvis.com.au was named Morley and was played by famous character actor Michael Murphy in his film debut) explain that this wood is so old, it would break easily.

We know nothing about this hitman so I can only base his age on Michael Murphy's age. Since he was born in 1938, that makes him a couple years younger than Elvis. This would make Michael about 28. Michael is stated to be about 6 ft 1 which also gives him a height advantage over Elvis. For Guy to cause him to fall down that broken pile of wood resulting in his death, there has to be a relatively equal amount of skill. His stamina must also be pretty decent since this was not that long after a performance involving rigorous dancing.

Guy hitting Claire and Detective Grayson from Scotland Yard does not count. While he did not have to rely on a weapon, it was essentially two on one and most of the action occurred out of the view of the camera. This was possibly done on purpose because they couldn't show Elvis hitting a woman. Therefore, only his fight against uncle Gerald's hitman will count.

We don't really know much about Guy's combat experience since he doesn't mention anything about the military. So we have to consider him to be an otherwise ordinary man in his early 30s. He can stand his own ground against a hitman and someone from Scotland Yard though.

Since Guy is in his 30s, there is the issue of physical decline. As a performer, that is a reality worth considering. We don't know his injury history pertaining to his performances, therefore we don't know how long he can maintain this level of activity. If he was a bit younger, I would put him in A. However, he is above 30 so as of right now he will go in high B tier.

Tagging: @eapep, @mercsandmonsters, @atleastpleasetelephone, @almightybigbrain, @without-him,

@vampireego, @elvispresleyxoxo, @thelonelyheart, @vintagepresley, @arrolyn1114,

@angelelvis, @auntbee22, @southcarolinawoman, @smokeymountainboy, @hooked-on-elvis,

@underthememphissun and @valloos.

[deke-rivers-1957]

I still can't wrap my head around how Elvis actually had to sing "Old MacDonald Had A Farm" in Double Trouble. There was absolutely no point in it being there.

The scene the song is in serves no purpose; removing it wouldn't hurt anything. So why on earth was the song there? Why did the producers or whoever was in charge want him to sing that of all things? What was the point?

...I think my brain's broke trying to make sense of this.

The only logical explanation I can come up with is "we got Elvis and Annette on a back of the truck going to Antwerp. So much spooky stuff is gonna go down so let's have a light hearted song to break it up". You can also argue "we have to show them going to the next city as opposed to just cutting to them being in Antwerp" but it wasn't a good use of time.

I mentioned the Beatles film Help! and there's a lot of influence taken from how the story is structured. In Help! the Beatles would go from country to country trying to find a way to get the sacrificial ring off of Ringo's finger while hiding from people trying to get it and in between there would be a song of some kind. The only difference is that in Help! the premise from the start is not meant to be taken seriously and even make light of how they try to get the ring off.

In Double Trouble, you have a 17 year girl that is being hunted down across Europe so she can be killed off to get her family's money. That is taken as seriously as possible to the point where you feel very uncomfortable seeing the hitman kill her. There's no funny shenanigans it's cut and dry "a hitman is trying to throw a 17 year old girl down a pile of broken wood so she'll die and never be found". That is insanely dark for a movie that later has the Belgian 3 Stooges doping around as policemen. Completely tone deaf and loses all credibility for actually trying to have a mystery thriller.

I appreciate the question since my reviews try to be concise and I don't always get to make all the points I want to. I can go on tangents just based on one specific part of a scene that make my reviews way too long lol.

[deke-rivers-1957]

Hi, dear! I hope you're doing great. Don't know if you did it already, but I'd love to read check out Guy Lambert (Double Trouble, 1967)'s BIO card. Whenever you have the time. Thank you so much in advance. ♥

You didn't miss it at all @hooked-on-elvis as I've been doing these in movie order so I didn't get to this one yet. It's not perfect but this is a rough idea.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on it and if you have any suggestions let me know.

[deke-rivers-1957]

I came across this old review of Double Trouble while browsing through some stuff. What do you think of this? (I also never knew E liked the Beatles' song "I Saw Her Standing There.")

https://www.elvis.com.au/presley/the-trouble-with-double-trouble.shtml

The inspirations that were mentioned are new to me. I always understood the story was that British actress Julie Christie was slated for the movie. However, actual head of MGM wanted Elvis to have the lead role. They had to completely rewrite the script so it would fit a male lead.

As for the movie being based on Help! I personally don’t see a connection. The ring has a completely different purpose than the diamonds. Even though there was a bit of a mystery in that movie, the focus is more on the comedy. In DT, they wanted to do a bit of everything. The European stuff is likely a hold over from the original script since that aspect didn’t really need to change.

I can’t speak for the references to Peter Sellers since I’m not that familiar with his work. If anything the Wiere Brothers gave me Belgian 3 Stooges vibes. Especially with the phone booth scenes since that strikes me as something they did.

It goes without saying that the 17 going on 18 plot was cringe and I have no idea why that was a choice made. The actual actress was 19 so you can just have the conflict be “oh Guy thinks she’s underage but really she’s not.” The issue isn’t that I’m applying modern ideology to a 60s movie but that given the real life situation this is just too on the nose. I have no idea how Elvis was comfortable doing this role. Especially when you consider that in previous movies they made it perfectly clear that his character never returns the affections from a minor. So having him do that here now that he clearly can’t be in a gray area of early 20s just feels so bizarre and incredibly out of touch.

Thanks for sharing this with me 😊