Kissin' Cousins

Elvis returns to the military comedy genre a few years after 'GI Blues' in this hillbilly romp about a pilot recruited to help convince his kin folk to let the S.A.C. put a missile silo on their land. Elvis also plays a secondary role as his look-alike hillbilly cousin.

The material is straight out of Li'l Abner - man-crazy half-dressed hillbilly females, disgusting possum based cuisine, a mournful coon hound and a patriarch named Pappy, not to mention moonshiners with a powerful dislike for 'Revenuers'. It's pretty familiar stuff, but dished up with enough energy and amiability that for once the whole exercise manages to rise above the usual (low) formulaic quickie level of the 'Elvis movie'. There are a few half decent songs and a couple of rousing musical numbers in the spirit of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (albeit much less elaborately choreographed). Of interest - leading actress Yvonne Craig became famous two years later as Batgirl.